Page 100 of Reign of Stars and Fire

Calista’s gaze went to Saga. A tease of a grin played with the corner of her mouth. “Glad she’s happy.”

“You’ve gotten close rather quickly it seems. Most folk are leery of Saga until they learn the truth. I know better than anyone on that.”

Calista’s whisper of a smile faded. “I knew a raven was coming. Got no reason to suspect her when she came in asking nothing for herself and everything for you.”

There was more to it. The girl was skilled at closing off and keeping her truths silent. I could sympathize with the desire to keep walls in place. It took finesse to break them down. Trust. Maybe a touch of force in dire moments.

“You have my thanks again.” I faced the flames. “For standing with her, and for writing my phantom guide.”

As expected, Calista flinched for a breath, there and gone, but a tell of her disquiet all the same.

“But that part was intentional, wasn’t it?” I pressed gently. “You knew a fate worker would be the one to guide me out.”

While Saga slept, leaving me alone to silence, I’d battled to relive the moments during the sleep. Battled to recall the things I’d witnessed. Wraith. He was clear in my mind now. The scars, the mask, the way he rarely answered a question. He’d been a ghost of the past, a boy in the court of Riot Ode.

The boy who’d written a tale for a raven to find happiness. A tale of happiness that broke a kingdom.

“Who are you?” My arm draped possessively around Saga. I waited until Calista looked at me before going on. “A child of the Norns? A goddess? Half a god? A true witch? What I know is no one with simple magic could have sent a spectral with the power of Wraith.”

Calista had always been snappy with her words. A sharp-edged tongue lived in that mouth, but her face paled under the firelight, and she hugged her knees to her chest. “I’m someone just trying to survive. I wrote help for you; doesn’t mean I knew what was coming. I’m not as powerful as you all want me to be.”

I didn’t believe her. If I had to guess, Calista thought a great many thoughts no one ever got to know. Push too hard, however, and she would close me off completely. Somewhere deep in the back of my mind, I could practically hear Wraith’s irritated tone telling me she had a role in this as much as we did.

Like me, she’d been on this path with fated crowns since the beginning.

I leaned forward, voice low. “It frightens you, doesn’t it?”

“What?”

“Admit it. Your seidr has grown stronger, and I think knowing what it is capable of is what scares you. Hells, the isles are proof of what can be done when fate is twisted. Entire worlds are created and new lives, new destinies are shaped. You have the same magic in your blood, and it frightens you.”

“I’m not scared of my own magic. If I was, I wouldn’t show up to keep saving all your asses.”

I chuckled. “You can lie to yourself and others, but I know what hidden fears look like. Speak true, I will not hold it against you. I’m terrified of what we face, and I’d be a fool not to admit it. You and I, we are not enemies. You do not have to hide here. In truth, since I woke, I feel rather protective of your life.”

“Because I helped your cursed king and—”

“Partly, perhaps. Maybe it is because you came to the aid of my wife. Maybe it was your little fated prophecy of my raven that led me to her, I don’t know. But I swear to you, if you feel something, if something has changed for you since joining this fight, I only wish to keep you safe.”

Calista held my stare for a long pause, then whispered. “No one can keep us safe, Golden King. Not from what is coming.”

“And what is coming?”

Her chin quivered. “I don’t know, but I feel it deeper than I have felt anything before. Like my story is concealing an end from me. Why is that?”

The question was sincere. For a moment I could make out the half-starved girl who’d been pulled from the cells of Castle Ravenspire. This was what she feared. Something spoke to her, but she could not make sense of it.

“This land,” I said, “was ruled and broken by seidr. I saw it. But I also saw that the fated gifts of every crown have been tethered together for a purpose. Somewhere, you fit in this tale. Perhaps none of us are meant to know the end, and we must learn to follow our instincts, we must learn to trust each other.”

Before Calista could respond, footsteps shuffled into the hall from one of the back rooms.

“Daj, I can walk.”

My stomach tightened. With care, I eased Saga’s head off my lap and ensured her position looked comfortable enough. She sighed and curled her arms under her head. Gods. After all that had happened, I’d never tire of the way this woman took up space in my chest.

I stood at the same time Gunnar and Hagen rounded the corner.

The prince had his ribs bandaged. His skin was clammy and pale, and he leaned over onto the back of Gorm’s high seat at the table.