Page 226 of Vasmora

“You must find your way back to the beginning. To who you are.”

“Find my way back? Where?” Midstride, I paused and threw my hands up in the air. “I arrived in a forest. And now I’m here. Surrounded by fields and flowers.”

“Knowing our beginnings means unraveling fate.”

“Please stop speaking in riddles.”

“Choices brought you here. Therefore, you have to unchoose.”

I puzzled her words for a moment. “If I unchoose them, that would change everything.”

She shrugged. “Perhaps. Or perhaps it would change nothing.” Plucking another asphodel, she brought it to her nose and sniffed. “If you never return to yourself, I suppose you’ll never know.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“It isn’t the first time you’ve been here.”

For the second time in a matter of minutes, my blood chilled. “What?”

“Every thread of fate, from one universe to another, has brought you here time and time again.”

“I’ve lived this before?”

“And you will again. Another version of you. Another vessel for the gods. I failed and burned in the flames. But you … your fate might be different. It must be different.”

Palms covering my face, I shut her out, while my head fought to wrap itself around what she’d told me. Too far outside of my ability to comprehend. As if the secrets of the universe had casually fallen into my lap. And what did it make me? A pawn for the gods? Amusement for their boredom?

Sighing, I lowered my hands. “I thought Morsana was good. I didn’t imagine she was evil and cruel.”

“The desire to be free doesn’t make her cruel, or evil.”

“So, where do I begin?”

A loud commotion erupted from behind me, and I turned to see my sister, Aleysia, standing at the archway to The Eating Woods. Hair shorn to her skull. Her naked body covered in bruises and cuts.

Dread crept into my chest and hooked its teeth in my heart.

The crowd surrounding her chanted in unison. “Banish! Banish! Banish!”

My twin stood at my side. “It seems fate has already decided for you.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

ZEVANDER

Arms crossed, Zevander stood alongside Dolion, who clutched a stack of parchment in one arm. As Branimir climbed out of his small chamber, carrying one of his spiders in the crook of his arm, Dolion lurched forward, but Zevander gripped the old mage’s shoulder to stop him.

“Can they come through this way from the other side when cleaving?” Zevander asked, releasing his hold.

Dolion rubbed at his arm as though he’d been clutched too hard. “No. The cleave will only allow passage one way.”

“Then, how will the spider return?”

Dolion sighed and lifted a spool of golden thread. “I’ll have Branimir tie this as a leash, of sorts. As long as something is connected to the cleaved, the portal will remain open, and any who passed through may return.”

Even if Dolion’s intentions were good, Zevander didn’t appreciate the haste with which he was willing to potentially expose Eidolon, or Branimir, to danger. Particularly given the lengths Zevander had gone to, to secure their home. “And what is the risk, should the other spiders attack?”

“We will have to sever ties and close the portal.”