Five Dark Fates (Three Dark Crowns #4) - Kendare Blake Page 0,18
them inside.
“You won’t be able to use this room for much longer,” Arsinoe says. “Soon, you’ll need a space the size of the Black Council chamber.”
“Soon we will have the Black Council chamber.” Emilia smiles. She motions for Cait to sit, but it is Ellis who takes the chair. Cait always prefers to stand, so much so that Arsinoe suspects that when she dies, they will have to erect a special pyre that will allow them to burn her upright.
“I have asked you here because I wish to know what Arsinoe has discovered regarding the legion curse. It has been several days since she was given the low-magic spell and the letter, and I hoped to hear of some progress.”
For a moment, Cait stares at Emilia as if she, too, is annoyed by the summons, and Arsinoe hopes she will give Emilia an earful. Even Emilia, a warrior and so full of bluster that she nearly blows herself over, would shrink in the face of stern words from Cait Milone.
“I admit,” says Cait, “that I am curious about that as well.” She looks at Arsinoe, and Arsinoe swallows. “What have you found, shuttered away in that room of yours?”
Several times Arsinoe opens and closes her mouth before she can find the words to speak. “Not as much as I’d like.” Every eye in the room drops with disappointment, and she reaches into her pocket for the vial of blood-infused tonic. “But maybe this.”
Emilia unbolts Jules’s door, and the Milones and Billy stand outside, necks craned as Arsinoe administers it. She lifts Jules’s head and uses her sleeve to dab at the tonic that spills from the side of her mouth. Jules closes her eyes, and they wait. But aside from a shaky sigh, there is no change.
“Nothing,” Caragh whispers.
Arsinoe clenches her fists. She knows their disappointment is only because they love Jules so much, but she cannot help wondering what sort of miracle they expected her to perform with some of Madrigal’s blood and a piece of paper.
“Did you read the letter, Cait?” she asks.
“I did.”
“Then you know what’s in it. Or rather, what’s not in it. All Madrigal wrote down were the details of the binding spell and instructions for how to remove it if she died. Not much help now, considering it was removed when she was killed.”
“But there must be something,” Emilia says.
“If you’re so sure, why don’t you try looking.”
“Wait,” says Billy. “I’m no expert, but . . . you have the binding spell that Madrigal used. Couldn’t you just do the same spell again? Rebind the curse?”
“No,” Arsinoe says. “When Madrigal first performed the binding, Jules was a baby. Neither of her gifts had taken root yet. Trying to bind her war gift now would be like trying to stuff an oak back inside an acorn. But—”
“But what?”
She pauses and glances at Jules. Her heartbeat pounds in her ears and sends blood throbbing into her pricked fingertips.
“But maybe it could be tethered.”
“Tethered?”
“Tamed, tied down as a loose sail flapping in the wind. Perhaps it could be bound if it were tied to another person.” Arsinoe’s thoughts race ahead. It would not be a binding but a sharing. Whoever did it would help Jules to shoulder the load.
“Tethered to someone so that they could be the keeper of the curse?” asks Cait. “Like Madrigal was?”
“No. Not exactly. The curse would be . . . shared. And before you ask, I have no idea what that would mean for the other person. They could lose themselves to the curse as well, over time.”
Emilia pounds her fist on the table. “When can you do it?”
“I don’t even know if I should. It would be massive. Not like charming a false-familiar bear or even reaching out to old gifts. It’s bigger than anything I’ve ever tried.”
Emilia turns to Mathilde. “Do you have any particular feeling about this?”
“Nothing yet,” says the seer. “I have seen nothing about Jules’s fate. The thread has gone dark. I will keep listening. Keep reading the smoke for visions.” That is the only aspect of the gift she possesses, Arsinoe has learned. Visions and momentary flashes. The oracles say it is the stronger side of the sight, but Arsinoe does not know why. It would be much more useful to be able to cast the bones and have an answer when you need one.
“Could it harm Jules?” Ellis asks softly.
“It could harm everything,” Arsinoe replies. “It could all go wrong.”