Page 95 of Unraveling Fate

Behind the cottage,Taran froze his ax mid-swing. Ruairi dropped the firewood he’d been stacking.

“Was that…?” Taran didn’t finish. A tugging sensation he hadn’t felt for centuries blurred his vision, and he struggled to keep the wood pile in focus.

Drostan jogged around the corner of the house. “Someone’s in the cave.”

The plain around Reyna fractured.A dim room, like some kind of subterranean chamber, layered itself over the grass and tree.Something heavy covered her head, obscuring her line of sight. She could just make out two people talking through the slit in front of her eyes.

She grabbed at where the safe should be, found cold glass and sighed in relief. The vault was still there.Shewas still next to the vault, still on the plain, but somehow, she was seeing this other room—A cave?—at the same time. She felt both springy grass and hard rock under her feet, but when she lifted her hand in the plain to touch the safe, her hand in the cave room refused to move.

Fear struck like lightning, and she fought to douse it.

Don’t panic. Don’t panic.Maybe this was some kind of protection or alarm system on the vault?But it wasn’t here the last time I tried to open it.

Cave-Reyna strained to turn her head. Plain-Reyna spun wildly.

Two of me. There are two of me. Or me in two different places?She needed all of her in the same place.How do I get myself in one place? Think.At her forge, when she melded two different pieces of metal together, a seam grew where they touched, then melted together into one whole.

I need to find the seam.

Cadenza climbedthe melody of the vault box like a ladder.

A long ladder.

A long ladder that made her arms tired.

If matching the frequency of the safe was like spinning through the numbers of a combination lock, this had to be the longest combination in lock history. None of the objects she’d practiced matching had fought her, but the safe’s melody slippedand slid away from her. She snatched at it, fighting to keep up. The shuffle of high heels and the scrape of chair legs on the floor jarred her concentration. The clink of forks on plates threatened to yank her off key. Even the glare of the stage lights threw out its own brassy notes.

If Canon weren’t keeping Thomas busy, there’s no way he’d not know what I’m doing.A chill crept down her spine. How exactly was Canon distracting him?

The melody scurried further, and she slipped down a rung on the ladder.

Breathe. Focus.She opened her clenched fists as if she could drop the distractions to the ground.

The band leader shook his head at her in confusion. The aria section had finished, what was she doing? Cadenza signaled him to play through it again. And kept climbing.

Taran’s axfell to the ground as the cave sucked half his spirit into a suit of armor. The visor on his helmet rendered the view of Thomas and the candidate murky. If the candidate chose correctly, Taran and the other Guardians would fully materialize in the armor to greet and swear allegiance to their new Crown.

Or they were supposed to. The last time the Guardians had been pulled to the cave was for the Crown after the one who’d died in the same raid as Taran’s mother. That had been before his raid on Ercildoun, and before the curse. He didn’t know what would happen to his body now if a new Crown were chosen.

What is he playing at?Taran didn’t need to speak it out loud.

Steady on,Drostan’s voice filled his mind. During this in-between, half-there, half-not state, the Guardians communicated thought to thought. The Fates intended it as aproving point to ensure they were all of one mind when a new Crown was found. No treachery possible when everyone could read everyone else’s thoughts. Thomas could hear the candidate’s thoughts to ascertain purity of intentions, but he couldn’t hear the Guardians.

Seriously,Ruairi sent out.After all this time, now he decides to do his duty?

He must know, athair.Taran’s body at the cottage cringed, but no earthquake current ran from him to the ground. Their talents were off the table while in-between.Thomas knows what Cadenza and Reyna are up to, and he’s brought in some poor fool as candidate to keep us tied up here and out of the way.

Aye,Ruairi agreed.If we’re here, Cyrus must be here too, which means no critter for the hand off and no backup if they need it.

I’m right here, thanks.Cyrus’s voice jumped into the muddle of minds.I can think-speak with the best of them, you know.Taran swore he could feel Cyrus roll his eyes.

You’re not thinking, lads.Drostan’s thoughts cut through their worry.Thomas is in the cave. If he wanted to stop Cadenza and Reyna, he’d be out there, not in here. He can’t do a bloody thing about the vault from in the cave. It must be a real candidate.

The candidate moved to the table. Whether proper choice or failure, the in-between should be over soon.

Athair,Taran thought.We’re forgetting our new colleague won’t know what’s going on, or how to join our wee ‘group chat.’

Oh, dear,Drostan thought.Reyna.