Page 93 of The First Scar
"One thread pulled. Two marks flicker. Bind or bleed, little twin-star."
My breath stilled.
Aerys stepped from the shadows behind her sister. Her veiled gaze fixed on me—or so it felt, even through the silk. She moved past without pausing, but a small, talisman clattered to the floor at my feet.
A bone token. Carved and worn smooth by countless caresses. I looked down. The symbol etched into its surface made my stomach drop.
A circle with two opposing glyphs on either side, the Unravel and Griefweaver mirrored. My marks, rendered in bone. The prophecy symbol Serenya had shown me, given physical form.
I blinked—
The token was gone. Just the rough stone floor beneath my boot, as if it had never existed at all.
The twins had already vanished into the crowd.
I sat there, pulse loud in my ears, the echo of Nyra's words still reverberating in my mind.Bind or bleed.
"She's right," I said. My voice came out raw, “If I'm a monster, then I'll be a whole one." I met Dreadscale's gaze, letting him see the burn. "Teach me to wield them properly. If I'm going to be dangerous, I want to be dangerous on purpose."
Dreadscale studied me for a long moment. No judgment. No encouragement. Just that patient, pitiless assessment I was starting to recognize.
"After breakfast," he said finally. "The eastern cavern."
Dreadscale rose silently, his shadow sliding off the bench like water. He gave me one look—don't be late—and then he was gone, swallowed by the crowd.
I was still staring after him when a different kind of shadow fell across our table.
Kaelen.
His eyes swept over Maxx, over Serenya and back to me, missing nothing.
"May I join you?"
It wasn't really a question. I nodded anyway.
He lowered onto the bench across from us. He smelled like ink and candle smoke. For a moment he simply watched me.
"The twins have informed me the prophecy has updated," he said. "You saw it, Amaria. The pathways. You glimpsed what could be."
I said nothing. Waited.
"They call your power a wound. I call it a scalpel. 'The sundered soul binds its warring halves'—that is not a lullaby, Amaria. It is an instruction. The scar mends only when the infection is cut out. You were not born to play their game. You were born to annihilate it."
Annihilate.
The word landed wrong, my throat went dry and I couldn't swallow. I tore the bread on my plate in half. Then in quarters. My fingers worked without permission.
"This Veil ritual is the only way to mend it," Kaelen pressed on, “You are the key. The steps are simple: Mastery. The Codex. The Rupture. We train. We retrieve the Codex. And then we tether you to the wound itself, at the site of the Veil rupture.” His voice dropped, soft as a blade being drawn “Do not mistake this for a burden. It is a privilege. And we will ensure you survive long enough to bear it."
Maxx raised a hand, looking bored. "Quick question from the cheap seats. When you say 'tether,' are we talking about a surgical procedure to stitch the sky back together? Or are we just throwing her into the hole and hoping she acts like a very expensive cork?"
Kaelen stared at him. The silence stretched just long enough to be insulting.
"We tether her to the rupture in the veil wall so she canreachit, Maxx," he said, his voice flat. "She heals it with her fused light and shadow power. The tether is merely the energetic bridge. If I wanted a cork, I would have sent a rock."
I caught Kaelen's eye.
"Annihilate the game?" I said quietly. "The prophecy speaks ofmending. I am not a hammer to shatter the world against, Kaelen." I leaned forward, matching his posture. "I am the forge."
