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It wasn’t until she reached for her nightgown and kicked off her boots that the realisation hit her. Thea’s hands froze at the buttons of her tunic, her dinner turning to lead in her stomach, cold suddenly washing over her despite the glow of the fire.

Her dagger was missing.

And she knew exactly where she had left it.

CHAPTER FOUR

Althea dreamt of the seer again.

‘Remember me,’the magic wielder whispered into the night as she carved the promise of death into the piece of jade. She had no face. No distinct features. But her voice was a song like a cyren’s call. How many had come before Thea? How many had she handed over to Enovius?

The cold surface of the fate stone pressed into Thea’s palm and she jerked awake with a ragged gasp.

Wren was watching from the bed beside hers.

‘What is it?’ her sister asked, brow furrowed in concern.

Panting, Thea allowed herself a moment to adjust to the dawn light filtering in through the windows and the chill of the crisp morning against her heated skin. The others were still fast asleep.

‘It was nothing,’ she mumbled, her heart still hammering as she released her fate stone, tucking it down the front of her nightgown.

But Wren had seen. ‘You had another nightmare.’

There was no point in arguing. Thea gave a stiff nod, mopping the sweat from her hairline with her sleeve.

‘I really think you should talk to Farissa. She could give you something —’

‘I’m not taking some potion to wipe my mind for sleep,’ Thea snapped. ‘I need to be alert.’

‘Forget I mentioned it,’ Wren replied with a sigh. ‘I just wish you’d confide in someone about it.’

‘You know about it. That’s enough.’

‘Is it? To wear a fate stone… It’s a heavy burden to bear.’

But Thea was done. ‘It’s no burden, but a gift,’ she insisted as she swung her legs from the bed, wincing at the iciness of the floor. ‘To know when you die, is to know how to live, sister.’

‘Well, just remember, it’s not fate until you actually die.’

Thea tugged on her pants and tunic. ‘Noted.’

A groan sounded from the other side of the room. ‘Don’t tell me you two are at each other’s throats already?’ Ida muttered from beneath her pillow.

‘Nothing but sisterly love over here,’ Wren groused as she, too, dragged herself from her bed.

‘Good gods, the world must truly be ending then.’

Thea winked at Wren and tapped the hidden fate stone. ‘Not today.’

If there was one place Thea didn’t want to be that morning, it was the alchemy workshop. The tasks were tedious and she usually ended up with a fresh burn or cut to her hands. She felt naked without her dagger in her boot and she was restless, desperate to scour the Bloodwoods for it before it rusted beneath the damp leaves or some nosy shieldbearer discovered it.

‘Shit.’ She drew her hand back from the bunch of wild lavender she was cutting, skin stinging from where the knife had slipped.

‘You don’t pay any attention.’ Wren tossed her a clean cloth to stem the bleeding on her index finger.

‘Because the job is thankless,’ Thea retorted.

Wren’s hands flew to her hips. ‘Do you even know what we’re making right now?’