Khamal tips his head to the sky and screams. He feels the warmth of his own blood, already trailing down his stomach. He feels the touch of Adhiya even now. And it is in this moment that he is free.
He binds the island, binds this tower, so that neither Sariya nor Muqallad will be allowed to leave. They will be trapped. They will wait for his return, and if the fates are kind, he will return a wiser man than he is now.
Muqallad stares into Khamal’s eyes. He knows. He knows, and he works to prevent what is happening.
“Help me!” through gritted teeth he shouts.
But it is too late. Khamal slips free of his mortal frame, and in doing so, cements the spell around the tower.
Nikandr woke, sweating, his chest so constricted he could hardly breathe. He could not find it in himself to cough. He was too weak, and he felt as though once he started, he would not stop until he was dead. And so he lay there holding his soulstone tightly in one hand, breathing shallowly, feeling the gentle tug of the wind upon their ship until slowly, slowly, the feeling of tightness faded.
He swallowed and took in a deeper breath. To be so caught by this spell made him feel powerless. It was something he resented. But he also felt grateful. He was alive, and so there was hope that he would weather this storm.
He kissed his soulstone and stood, testing his breath for a moment before unlatching one of the landward windows and peering into the night. Nasim’s ship lay in this direction. He was sure of it. He didn’t need the stars to feel where Nasim was now, some many leagues ahead of them.
Unable to sleep, he left his cabin and wandered the deck. Several men stood watch, with Viggen tending the helm. Jahalan normally slept on deck, but when Nikandr moved toward the forward patch of deck where he normally laid out his blanket, Nikandr found him sitting there, studying the sky. Nikandr waited, not wanting to interrupt, but just as unwilling to return to his cabin.
“Come,” Jahalan said, making space for Nikandr to sit.
“I saw the city again,” Nikandr said as he sat on the blanket. “I can feel it. We’re coming closer.” He studied the stars for a time as a chill wind blew abeam the ship. “Khamal died in my dream. He was murdered by the others-Muqallad and Sariya.”
Jahalan was already shaking his head. “They were arqesh.”
“Meaning what? That they could not have found it in themselves to commit murder?”
“Just so.”
“The Maharraht murder.”
“The Maharraht are not arqesh. They are selfish, thinking only of themselves.”
“They claim they are doing it for you. For all of us.”
“ Da, they claim this. But what they’re really doing is alleviating their own fears, their built-up hostility toward the Landed. Were they really doing it for the Aramahn, they would help. They would preach forgiveness. They would teach through kindness.”
“You don’t teach.”
Jahalan turned his head to regard Nikandr. “I abandoned the path to vashaqiram long ago.”
“And yet you feel angry over the Maharraht.”
“They are an affront to our history.”
“But not your future?”
“The fates lead us where they will. We are no longer the people we once were. Neither are you. Why hold on to such things? What does it gain us?” “It gains us our legacy.” “ Da, your legacy. Where would the Landed be without that?” “Be careful, Jahalan.”
Jahalan paused. “I am sorry, Nikandr. I know you put your faith in your ancestors, but even you will admit that they have helped you little these last many years.”
“They see well beyond what we can see.”
They were interrupted by Viggen’s calls for reports from the crewmen manning the rigging.
When they were done, Jahalan continued, “I have been thinking of this chase we’re on, of your dreams as well.”
“And?”
“I think we should turn back while we have the chance.”
“There’s little enough to fear now. Ashan is leading us.”
“All the more reason to abandon the chase. He’s taking us for his purposes. Or perhaps the boy’s. Either way, it’s foolish for us to go on. Ghayavand is a place the living should no longer be. Nasim-if your dreams are right-may have a place there, and Ashan may be able to keep himself alive, but the rest of us will not be so lucky. It’s a place where the worlds are torn, and believe me when I say that Adhiya will not welcome us with open arms.”
“We all go to Adhiya, do we not?”
“In our own time, and in our own ways, but we go now to a place that should be left alone until the world sees fit to heal it, not before.”
“Perhaps it has already healed.”
“If you believe that you are a fool.”
Nikandr laughed softly. “Perhaps I am. But I cannot abandon him now.”
“You don’t owe him anything.”
“It’s not him, though I do feel as though I owe him something. You must have felt it. Nasim is entangled with the future of Anuskaya, perhaps the future of the world. I cannot abandon him, not now. We are linked too closely.”
“Your father needs you, as does your Duchy. If you value them, you should return home, where you can do some good.”
Nikandr stood. “I have always valued your advice, Jahalan, but in this you are wrong. We will go to the island, and we will bring Nasim back if we are able.”
“You do so not just at your peril, Nikandr, but mine as well. And Viggen’s. And the rest of the crew.”
“Then so be it.”
CHAPTER 41
Atiana floats along the wind, her awareness encompassing the sea, the air, the islands hundreds of leagues away. She is no longer of her body. She is of the world, no different than the clouds or the currents of the sea.
But there is something, a scent that reminds her of who she used to be. Who she is. But how can this be? How can Nikandr be among them in the aether?
It doesn’t matter. He is present, and that is enough. Through him, she can feel another. The boy. Nasim.
She is not experienced in navigating the dark, and yet she knows what she is seeing has not been noticed before-at least by the Matri. There is an imprint of Nasim in Adhiya and an echo in Erahm. He walks between worlds…
Such a thing cannot be-she knows this-and yet here it is.
And it explains much. His confusion. How else would a boy grow up when struggling to understand the very world that holds him? His pain. How could he not be torn? His attraction to Nikandr, a lodestone, a raft among the waves.
It is because of Nasim that Saphia was attacked. It is because of him that Atiana is attacked now. He has allowed the hezhan to follow-or perhaps he doesn’t even realize. Either way, they feed upon her, as they do the Matra. If she could draw him closer to Adhiya, the hezhan may not be so easily able to follow.
She pushes with all her might, as she did with the babe. She has little strength, but she feels it working. The worlds, at least in this one small place, are pushed further apart. Nasim slips toward Nikandr and toward the physical world.
And then her strength is lost.
She woke once, though she was unable to open her eyes. She lay there on the edge of sleep, on the edge of waking, for a long time, and she heard people speaking-most likely of her-but try as she might she was unable to rouse herself to wakefulness.
She dreamed of storms wracking the island. At first she thought it was Kiravashya, where she had been born and raised, but she came to realize it was Khalakovo’s largest island, Uyadensk. The storms were so fierce that they wiped the island clean. Gone was the city; gone was Palotza Radiskoye; gone was Iramanshah and the tiny fishing village of Izhny; everything was gone, and afterward it felt how the beginning of the world must have felt: pristine and full of hope.
As she had hours or days before, she woke several more times, and again she was unable to wake fully. She tried. She railed, but whenever she did she would slip backward into her dreams, and her screams
of impotent rage would be directed toward Mileva or Ishkyna or Father for leaving her here.
And then the cycle would begin anew.
She shivered as something brushed the skin along her forearm. She had difficulty opening her eyes, but when she saw who sat next to her bed, her lethargy faded.
“Matra,” Atiana said, pulling herself up in her bed. She took in the room, realizing she had been returned to her cell deep beneath the palotza.
Saphia studied her with sharp eyes. Her skin was pink and healthy. She leaned to one side in her chair, perhaps to ease her pain, but otherwise she seemed more hale than she’d been in years. “Are you well, child?” she asked. Her voice was not scratchy, an indication that she had been awake and free of the aether for some time.
“I am tired. Nothing more. May I ask what news?”
“The blockade continues. My husband has been treating with your father, to no avail.”
Atiana shook her head. “He won’t back down, not with Bolgravya and Dhalingrad pushing him so, but neither will he go to war over me.”
“Over you, nyet, but there is more in the balance. The failed abduction of Nasim. The wounded and dead. But more than anything, the reasons behind your marriage. We are all of us in trouble, and I think it strikes your father worst of all.”
Not wishing to admit the truth of it, Atiana didn’t respond.
“You don’t have to reply-I know how dire the situation is on Vostroma-but now that a wall has been erected between north and south, it will be difficult to tear down.”
“Has my father asked of me?”
“Through your mother he has demanded your return, and for the death of the Grand Duke he has asked for the ships that were promised as well as the alabaster.”
Atiana couldn’t help but chuckle ruefully. “For the good of Bolgravya, of course.”
“Of course.”
She wanted to ask if her father had asked of her well-being, but she knew better. She was still-no matter how well the Khalakovos might be treating her-in the awkward position of political prisoner, and Father was not a man who would show any outward signs of concern or affection, even for his daughter, even now, and though it burned, Atiana knew he was right.
Saphia drew in a deep breath. “I came to speak with you of your time in the dark.”
Atiana’s memories were faint, nearly to the point of forgetting them altogether, but she was getting better at stitching her time in the dark together. She worked backward from the end, telling Saphia her story in bits and pieces. As she did, the entirety of her memories returned.
Saphia considered her words. “Nasim’s hold on me seemed no harder for him than toying with a mouse. And in the end, when I was released, I don’t believe he understood what he’d done. He seemed to forget me in as little time as it had taken to seize me.”
Atiana paused, Saphia’s words reminding her of those final moments with Nasim. “There was something more…”
Saphia’s gaze sharpened. “Go on.”
“I don’t know whether you felt it, Matra, but Nasim… He walks between worlds.”
“What do you mean?” Saphia’s words were clipped.
“He lives in Erahm and Adhiya, both. I felt it when I followed the trail from you to him. It is why he is such a troubled child. I believe it is why he didn’t understand what he’d done to you, and why he forgot you so quickly. He thinks you and I are as ephemeral as the hezhan.”
Saphia frowned. Her gaze became distant, perhaps reliving the horror of the past week in her mind, but then she seemed to focus once more on Atiana. “How did you secure my release?”
“I pushed on the walls of the aether.”
“Pushed?”
“I know no other way to explain it. I felt the walls close in around him, just like with the babe in Izhny, just like in Iramanshah when you were…”
“When I was what?”
Atiana stared, trying desperately to hide her fear.
Saphia pulled herself higher in her chair, staring down at Atiana with cold, piercing eyes. “When I was what?”
“When you were preparing to assume the boy.”
As Atiana laid there, she felt as if Saphia could lay her bare with little more than her will and a cold stare. “You understand, Atiana”-she let the words fall between them like a gauntlet-“it would be unwise to repeat such a thing…”
“I do, Matra.”
“The damage it could cause Khalakovo is immeasurable.”
“Of course, Matra. I would never think of mentioning it.”
“Yet you did, here, with me.”
“Of course. It was something you needed to know.”
Her voice lost some of its edge. “You were speaking of Iramanshah.”
“ Da,” Atiana said, pausing to regain her composure. “I’ve thought on it much. The narrowing is related to all of these events. If I could take the dark once more, knowing what I know now, I’m sure I could find more.”
“Knowing what you know now…”
“ Da, Matra.”
“ Nyet. Rest. Regain your strength. When that is done, we will speak again of the dark.”
She rang a bell sitting on the table next to her, a signal that Atiana’s audience was at an end. Atiana knew already that Saphia, despite her promise to speak again of the dark, would never allow her to enter it again.
But Atiana needed to. If she was ever going to find out what was happening on Khalakovo, she would have to do so outside the walls of Radiskoye.
Olgana entered the room, preparing to take Saphia away, and Atiana realized she could not remain in this room and have any chance of escape.
“Please, Matra,” Atiana said as Olgana reached Saphia’s chair.
Saphia held up one hand, forestalling Olgana.
“This room weighs upon me, more than you can know.” She motioned to the dark, stone walls around her. “If I am to recover, I would see the sun.”
Saphia considered the room before resting her steely gaze on Atiana once more.
“Let it not be said that the Khalakovos do not repay their debts.” She waved her hand, and Olgana wheeled her around and steered her toward the door. “You will have your old rooms back.”
Days later, Atiana stood at the windows of the room she’d been prom-ised-the ones her family had been given upon their arrival-and drew back the curtains to stare out into the southern gardens. The sun had yet to rise, but its light could be seen on the horizon, pale yellow against the indigo sky. The windows opened to allow air to flow in those rare days of summer, but she could easily use them to leave the confines of her room. That would only deliver her into the garden, but the garden was all she needed.
After waiting for the pair of guardsmen to pass her window, she unlatched the window and opened it. It swung open soundlessly. She had tested it the day before, and after finding a light squeak she had used the rendered fat from her dinner of roasted chicken to grease the hinges.
She swung herself outside, mindful of the river rock that sat in the flower bed beneath the window. She slipped to the nearby hedges, watching the guardsmen along the wall. Their attention was turned outward, however- after the attack, they were still wary of a threat from the outside.
Moving as quickly as she dared, she made her way to the place where Nikandr had come with his dog, Berza. She had forgotten about the path that led down from the palotza to the cliffs below, but when she had kneeled next to Nikandr that day, consoling him for what her brother had done, she had noticed the uppermost reaches of it and remembered.
She moved through two squat, gray boulders to the thin path. She turned along the first of the switchbacks, feeling the wind press her against the stone face of the cliff before turning sideways and threatening to pull her from it entirely. The wind played tricks-as much for her as for the ships that found themselves too close to it-but she continued at a fast pace, unable to believe her luck.
Don’t count yourself lucky yet, Tiana, she told herself. There’s still a wa
ys to go.
Nearly an hour later, she came to the end of the trail. It ended some hundred feet above the surface of the waves. Years ago, it had continued on all the way down to the sea itself, but the Khalakovos had considered it not useful enough to repair when a quake had ripped away a good portion of it. That only served to help her cause; no one would think to search for her here, thinking her incapable of braving the waters below.
Indeed. As she stared downward-the water churning, white and frothing with rage-she found herself doubting. Doubting that she could jump. Doubting that she could rise to the surface. Doubting that she could make her way westward to the shore and arrive in Volgorod unseen.
This was foolish, she thought. Why risk such a thing just to speak with a woman whom she wasn’t sure she could trust? Would Rehada help? Would she be able to help?
Perhaps, Atiana thought, and perhaps not, but she had to try, and all that stood in her way was the drop from this cliff.
The wind picked up, blowing scree against the side of her face. It bit her skin. Stung her neck.
She stared at the waves, crashing in unending rhythms. Her breath came quickly, and desperately.
She stared up, wondering if it were too late to return.
And then a bell began to ring, over and over, the alarm that she’d escaped.
She stared down, taking a full breath, releasing it slowly.
I can do this, she thought. I am a Matra, in mind if nothing else. I have taken the dark, and I have braved the currents beyond this world to return whole. If I can do that, I can brave the waters of this world.
“Ancients protect me,” she whispered.
And she leapt.
She arced downward with increasing pace, the sound of the surf breaking against her ears.
And then she crashed against the surface of the water.
CHAPTER 42
As the sun began to rise, the bell at Rehada’s door jingled. It rang again, and once more by the time she had managed to rub the sleep from her eyes and pull on her robe and make her way down the creaking stairs. When she opened the door, she stared, dumbfounded.
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