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Kato nudged a snarl of cords with his boot, unplugging them from the console and letting the power leach out. “We’re just going to say the hole was already here, right?”

Skye nodded. “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”

Chapter 39

The visions that came to Taly in dreams were like whispers—fragmented, fleeting, and maddeningly vague. They came without warning, without focus.

Scrying, on the other hand, wasn’t passive. It wasn’t sitting back and waiting for the Weave to drop her a breadcrumb trail. It was deliberate—sharp and precise.

It was also a little bit like trying to find a single thread in an ocean of string.

That’s why she used a talisman—in this case, Vaughn’s amulet. It was her compass pointing the way through the infinity of the Weave.

The ouroboros rested cool and heavy around her neck. Taly poured her focus into it. Her fingers moved instinctively over the keys of the piano in front of her. The familiar melody came unbidden, muscle memory taking over.

The cool touch of ivory, the rhythm of the tune—it was her tether. It kept her grounded in her body while her mind stretched outward, following the amulet’s path through the Weave, tracing its journey from owner to owner, place to place.

Flashes of memory struck like lightning: a noble’s hand clutching the amulet in desperation, a bloodstained battle where it was lost, a figure slipping through a hidden door.

The threads tangled, the images jumbling and blurring into chaos. Her concentration broke, and her fingers faltered, a discordant note breaking the melody.

She growled through her teeth. The history of the amulet was thick with greed and the weight of too many hands trying to claim it. It made it hard to pick out anything solid. Too manyvoices, too many grasping wills, all layered over each other like sediment.

She repositioned her fingers on the keys and continued.

A grand chamber flickered into view, its walls lined with heavy velvet curtains, and Azura—cloaked in deep, regal colors—was hurried through the riftway as it opened. Guards flanked her, their faces tense, their movements swift and purposeful.

Taly narrowed her focus and tried to follow. But a flicker—black and fleeting—skittered at the edges of her vision. It was almost nothing. Almost.

Her concentration shattered like glass.

Taly sighed and opened her eyes to the real world, rubbing the bridge of her nose and the headache forming there.

Kairó vuun’manii?

She blinked, then shook herself, rubbing the niggle from her ear.

Kairó vuun’manii?

A shiver ran through her. It was a side effect of scrying. She’d put up her antennae to the full vastness of the Weave, and they were still buzzing. Eventually, the volume would go back down.

Vetha’mannii, shan kairó.

“Gah!” Taly scrubbed her hands over her face, trying to rub the visions away like dirt clinging to her skin.

The music room was dark. Andfreezing. Picking up the poker from beside the mantle, she prodded the fire back to life. With the Long Night now officially upon them, winter had tightened its grip once more, reclaiming what little territory it had ceded to the arrival of spring and its promise of warmth.

The fire sputtered back into existence. Taly threw on a few fresh logs.

Kairó vuun’manii?

“Oh my Shards. You’ve got to be kidding me.” With a sharp exhale, she shoved herself to her feet.

This was usually the point where she would go find Skye. Riding him into oblivion was a surprisingly good reset. But he wasn’t here, so she went for a run instead.

She made an easy lap of the city, Calcifer loping beside her in the form of a great, shaggy dog. On her way back up the hill, she saw two figures standing outside the townhouse gates.

Instead of slowing down, she pushed harder, her legs burning as she picked up speed.