Page 75

“Surprisingly, no.”

“Sometimes, it’s not possible to break it. Sometimes, the caster is too powerful, or the magic has been done with years upon years of rune magic that multiple people have enforced. In times like that, it’s pointless trying to break the runes and you’re better off overwriting them.”

“How do you overwrite them?”

“Take that spoon and try to make it hot like I did,” Revna said. “When making runes, you simply command your mana to spell out what you wish for it to spell out. So think about what you want it to do, and then it’ll come naturally.”

“Even if I don’t know the specific runes?”

“Yes, rune magic is something that comes naturally to us. You’ll be surprised at how your mana will understand what to do.”

Kolfinna held the spoon tightly in her grip and imagined the spoon growing hot in her hand. She willed her mana onto the spoon and focused it on the handle.Hot, I want it to be hot, she thought. Mana buzzed in her fingertips and the handle glowed as runes were written on it.Hot, it read. Her hand warmed and she quickly dropped the spoon, sucking in a pained breath.

“Good,” Revna said. “A bit simple, but good. It’s usually better to write an intricate rune in flowery words because it’s harder to break, but that’s good.”

“Why is it harder to break?”

“Because there’s more that you have to break down. More words mean more mana to break and it’s harder to counteract something that’s too flowery and specific. That’s the key to making runes work, specificity. The more specific you are, the better the runes will work in your favor and the harder it will be for someone to find a loophole. If the runes aretooabstract or vague, the runes won’t work because it’s unclear what you want it to do. Does that make sense?”

“Yes, kinda.” Kolfinna thought for a moment. “The runes in the castle were pretty simple, though.”

“Yes, they’re supposed to be simple for the most part,” she said. “Because they’re there to help you learn. Now, back to the spoon.” She pointed at it. “If you want to counteract that rune, what do you think you should put on it?”

“Cold?” Kolfinna asked.

Revna’s cheeks lifted as she smiled. “Yes, that’s correct. Simple, isn’t it? Try it out.”

Kolfinna did as she was asked. She thought of a tundra and winters, of the coldness of snow and the bone-chilling feeling of ice. Her mind traveled to Blár—to the very frigid and cruel nature of his magic. She harnessed that imagery and wished the spoon would emulate that feeling. Suddenly, the heat dissipated from the spoon until it became a normal temperature. She stared in amazement.Cold like Blár’s winterrunes etched into the space below thehotrune.

“Perfect! Just like that,” Revna said with forced enthusiasm. “People usually learn the basics faster than that, but … well, I guess you should blame your human blood. Anyhow—let’s move on.”

Kolfinna’s smile fell and she stared at the runes on the spoon; was it true that people learned faster than her? That didn’t seem like the case with the fae she knew. Katla, her parents, and the others she had met over the years had never been able to match her abilities. Simply because they were scared to practice, but also because she seemed to learn faster. But was it different when it came to runes?

And this was the second time Revna had mentioned human blood “diluting” her abilities. As far as Kolfinna was concerned, she didn’t think she had human blood.

“If you physically touch the runes, it’ll be easier to break them.” Revna pointed to the rune that saidhot. “If you destroy this rune, then there’s nothing negating the cold rune, so your spoon will then become cold.”

“That makes sense,” Kolfinna said. “But something’s been bothering me for a while. How are we able to use rune magic if this place says we can’t use any magic? Doesn’t rune magic fall in that criterion?”

“Rune magic is magic, but it’s more complex than that. It’s an ability that all fae have. We can read runes and write runes and imbue those runes with our mana. It doesn’t actually count as magic. It’s a written language with mana imbued in it. Also, when you write runes that say no magic, how can that operate if your runes are magic in themselves? Your rune magic is the one doing all the rules you’ve set in place, so if you say no magic, rune magic doesn’t count because then your own runes that set that rule wouldn’t work. Does that make sense?”

“It does … kinda.” Kolfinna nodded, taking mental notes in case she needed it in the future. “It is a bit complex, I suppose. But if that’s the case, why can’t you get out of here?”

“The runes state that if I try to break them, my physical body will perish. The runes are very powerful, so there’s nothing I can do to break out. I’ve tried, I really have, but there’s no way out of it.”

Kolfinna silently placed the spoon back on the tea table, her gaze locked on the heavy pile rug her feet sank into. It must’ve been horrible to be stuck here for centuries on end in complete isolation.

“Well, anyway, that’s the basic gist of runes.” Revna folded her hands on her lap and eased into the couch, her purple eyes drifting from the spoon, to Kolfinna, and then to the window overlooking the drab desert. “You can use it for anything, really. You can make your sword have the power of fire with every strike. You can make your dagger freeze what it touches. You can make the bathtub water warm when you sit inside it. You can make it so no bugs enter your home. The possibilities are endless. Our society was built with runes. Skilled rune users were in high demand. They would engineer all sorts of gadgets and weapons. Things from exploding balls to books that read by themselves to rugs that flew. Rune magic was everywhere. There weren’t many people skilled in runes, but that didn’t matter since there only needed to be a handful of skilled rune users to make sure society ran accordingly.” She sighed. “I’m assuming that’s not the case anymore since the fae are nearly extinct. Is that true?”

“I’ve never heard of what you’re speaking about,” Kolfinna whispered in awe. “What you’re saying is out of a storybook.”

“I assure you, it’s not a storybook!”

“If our society was so advanced, how did it fall?”

“Blame the humans.” The lines around her face were pulled taut. “I didn’t realize our society had fallen, but if it’s as you say … then I suppose we lost the war.”

Kolfinna’s breath caught in her throat. Was Revna alive during the war between the humans and fae over Rosain—previously called Drivhus under fae rule?