Page 44 of Every Spiral of Fate (This Woven Kingdom #4)

Forty-Three

“SOMETHING IS WRONG,” SAID THE prince, crossing his arms. “I’ve always relied upon my instincts, Hazan, you know this about me—and I can tell you, unequivocally, that we’ve missed something.”

Once again, Alizeh was disoriented.

It took her some time to understand that she was standing back inside the cave, steady on her feet, the Book of Arya still dropped on the ground before her.

The room was fully intact all around, as if it had never been destroyed—and everyone was arranged just as she’d left them, as if no time had elapsed.

No one turned to look at her; no one asked where she’d gone; no one even seemed to notice that she’d returned.

Or else—no one had noticed that she’d left .

“I feel it as surely as the breath that leaves my body,” Kamran was saying. “We’re somehow trundling toward disaster—and I don’t want him near her.” He pointed at Cyrus without looking at him.

This jolted Alizeh forcefully back into the moment.

Cyrus stood in silence across the room, impassively studying a dark corner, as was becoming his habit.

“There’s always been something suspicious about him,” the prince went on, “but I grow more convinced by the second that this entire odyssey is questionable. Mark my words now—we will regret ever having accepted help from him—”

“Kamran,” said Hazan with great patience, “I fear you are overreacting—”

“Overreacting? When she’s suddenly being attacked by the darkest of unseen forces? We still don’t know who’s to blame for the black magic that poisoned her last month, though I continue to suspect there is only one person at fault—”

“Can someone tell me what’s happening?” said Alizeh, alarmed. “Kamran, why are you so upset?”

“What can you mean?” he said in anguish. “You’re being attacked by the devil!”

Heavens, she’d nearly forgotten.

“Oh,” she said, blinking. “Well, yes, but that’s not new—”

“Begging your pardon, Your Majesty, but shouldn’t we be worried about the ticking clock?” asked Deen. “Is anyone watching the book to see if it changes?”

“I’ve got it,” she assured him, scooping the tome up off the ground. “You need not …”

Her voice trailed off as she spoke, for the pages had fluttered as she righted the book, and where once there was a smear of her own blood on the paper, there was now a symbol: A single spiral.

Alizeh turned the page: A geometric diamond.

The line drawings were simple, yet they pulsed with energy. Alizeh quickly searched the rest of the book, but nothing else had revealed itself. She wiped dust from the freshly blank cover, where no word was currently illuminated.

In fact, the book was cool in her hands.

After two back-to-back tasks, the cave appeared to be allowing her a moment of calm.

“And why should such corruption come near you?” Kamran was saying to her. “Have you never considered it might have something to do with him?” He pointed again at Cyrus, who’d closed his eyes, as if praying for patience. “He might be the one exposing you to such evil—”

“That’s not possible,” said Alizeh, shaking her head. “The devil has been visiting me since the very day I was born. My parents told me he was the first to offer congratulations at my cradle.”

“ What? ” Huda gaped at her.

“That can’t be true, miss,” said Omid.

“I only wish it weren’t,” said Alizeh.

Hazan looked unsettled. “Why did you never tell me this, Your Majesty?”

“I don’t know,” she said, considering the question.

“Certainly I should have, for it’s a detail of great concern in my life.

It’s only that you and I had so little time to talk in those early days, and then just as we’d reunited I was shot, then taken ill, and then nearly killed again, and then there was the blood oath and the— Well, we were very busy, weren’t we? ”

“Yet you told Cyrus,” said Kamran, his voice carefully dispassionate.

Alizeh hesitated. “Yes,” she said. “Well. He’s so regularly assaulted by Iblees that it’s a hard subject to ignore.

It was in fact one of the reasons I felt I could understand his daily torment.

” She turned to study Cyrus then, her voice softening.

“You cannot know, not until you’ve experienced it, just how awful it is to have the devil inside your head. ”

Cyrus looked up, his eyes charged with feeling.

“But it is unusual,” said Deen delicately, “if not impossible, to receive direct communication from the devil, Your Majesty.”

“It’s impossible,” said Cyrus, speaking for the first time since her return.

“I don’t know about impossible,” said Alizeh. “Doubtless it’s an uncommon occurrence, but it’s hard to know whether—”

“It’s impossible ,” he said again, emphatically.

“He’s right,” said Hazan. “It isn’t done, Your Majesty. Ever.”

“Just imagine, dear,” said Huda. “If the devil could speak to anyone he liked, he might be all the time assailing us. Think of how much damage he could do then. He’s not allowed to use black magic unless he’s been invited to do so. Neither is he allowed to speak to anyone who hasn’t summoned him.”

This rendered her still.

She knew all this about the devil, and yet, while it had occurred to her that her situation was unique, it had not occurred to her that it was impossible.

“There’s an exception,” said Kamran, “for newly crowned sovereigns, who are known to receive communication from Iblees. My grandfather warned me of the horrors of the event when I was but a child. It’s so rare and brutal a phenomenon that we spend years preparing to brave the moment—or else we might all fall prey to his schemes. ”

“I see,” said Alizeh, who was beginning to feel strange. “Then perhaps you might imagine how difficult it is to brave this brutal phenomenon on a regular basis.”

Huda gasped. “A regular basis?”

“How often does he come to you?” asked Cyrus.

“It used to be every few months,” Alizeh responded. “Though in the last year the frequency of his visits has increased. Occasionally he’ll visit me twice in the same week.”

Cyrus tensed. “And does he always speak to you? Or is it merely sensation?”

Alizeh met his eyes then, her heart contracting as she felt the heat in his gaze. “He always speaks to me.”

Cyrus absorbed this like a blow, exhaling roughly. He looked almost grief-stricken when he said, “I’m so sorry.”

It felt, suddenly, like they were the only two people in the room.

Alizeh couldn’t remember why she’d never had this conversation.

In fact, she’d never talked about it with anyone.

It was only just occurring to her that she might’ve shared this strange, isolating experience with Cyrus, the only person among them who might’ve understood.

For so long she’d been ashamed of the way the devil spoke to her, as if he had any right to her mind.

And recently—

Well—

She was sorry to say that she simply hadn’t trusted Cyrus enough, in their early days, to discuss such things with him.

Now, Cyrus was looking at her with disarming emotion that was still, somehow, inscrutable. She didn’t know what he was thinking; she only knew that he ached.

“What does he say to you?” he asked.

“It’s always some terrible, occasionally indecipherable riddle,” she returned softly.

“It’s always been that way. Though sometimes I’m able to sort out his meanings.

” She looked at Kamran. “He tried to warn me about King Zaal, for example. He told me of your grandfather’s situation with the serpents months before the ball. ”

The prince was stunned. “He told you about my grandfather? But why?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. He also showed me a rendering of your likeness the day before I saw you for the first time—in the royal square, do you remember?”

“He’s sent you visual messages?” said Cyrus, thunderstruck. “Is that unusual?” she asked. “One time I almost saw his face.”

The entire room seemed to draw back at that, collective astonishment leaving them all silent.

“I didn’t know he had a face,” said Omid.

“He doesn’t,” said Hazan, bewildered. “Not really. He’s been reduced to little more than a whisper. They say his flesh melted as he was cast out of the sky. He lost what remained of his body thousands of years ago.”

“Well,” said Alizeh, forcing a smile. “I have no idea why he’s taken such an interest in me, only that he’s always been about.” She tapped pointedly at the Book of Arya, which she still held in her hands. “Anyhow, I should probably tell you all—”

“Should we perhaps figure out how to proceed to the next phase of this journey?” asked Deen. “While I’m charmed, really, by this desolate cave, I fear it’s a little concerning that we haven’t been called to accomplish another task—”

“Oh, but I have, actually—”

“It sounds a bit as if the devil’s obsessed with you, miss,” said Omid.

“Don’t be disgusting!” said Huda, horrified.

“I’m not trying to be disgusting,” said the boy. “I only mean— It’s odd, isn’t it? He’s all the time bothering her, sending her strange messages, trying to show her his melted face? Why does he always want to talk to her?”

“He doesn’t have a face,” said Hazan, sounding tired.

“Have you tried communicating with anyone else?” Cyrus asked her. “Someone other than Iblees?”

Alizeh stilled, then met his gaze. “What do you mean?”

Cyrus shook his head at her in wonder, though his voice was gentle when he spoke.

“Alizeh,” he said, “there’s only one possible explanation for your open, unprecedented communication with the devil.

I’ve long suspected it, though I had no idea of the scope of it.

I’d never considered that a person might come into possession of such powers instinctively, without years of training, for I’ve never heard of a person born with telepathy. ”

“Telepathy?” Alizeh felt her pulse spike. “But I don’t— Are you suggesting I can communicate using only my mind?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Why?”

“Because,” he said desperately. “Can you not see it? You were born a Diviner—”

“The book!” Omid pointed. “The book, the book—”

The volume flared with heat in her hands, and Alizeh startled, quickly turning it over as her friends clustered around her. The book glowed slightly, the group huddling impossibly closer as letters pressed themselves into the cover one at a time.

Slowly, finally, there formed a new word—

PLEDGE