Page 93 of To Dance with Death

The next page, or several, looks like the schematics for the necklace I stole from Anton, the one he flaunted in front of Moranya. He said it would…dispel her illusion. He even wanted me to use it—tried to give it to me.Look for the nearest source of light.

The pendant was made from the mirror. It can dispel Moranya’s disguise, which he explained. It can undo her illusions. The Fate of Dominion gave the mirror to Mercy, but why? And what caused it to crack?

What, exactly, had happened on that fateful day?

As luck would have it, the next page readsKnown Factsat the top, followed by a bulleted list.

I hold my breath and read.

Four years into Queen Mercy’s reign, the Fate of Dominion was sent by the Fates to destroy the world, deeming it too war-ridden to be worth saving.

While there, he met and fell in love with Mercy and decided to stay his hand. In turn, Mercy came to love him.

So she hadn’t seduced him? They fell inlove?

Quickly, I keep reading:

Fearing the Fates would send another to do what he did not, the Fate of Dominion created a mirror that would allow Mercy to drain a Fate’s power—and trap them inside in the process.

Mercy knew that the Fate of Dominion had the power to both birth and destroy realms. Meaning, he could create realms where the souls of mortals could be at peace, rather than cease to exist. So tortured by their loss, Mercy decided to use the mirror on him, thinking only to borrow his power to create the Lair of Souls.

However, in the process, Mercy accidentally pulled too much power from the mirror at once. The mirror cracked—trapping her Fate inside forever with no means of escape.

Written across the bottom, in bold letters is:

Now Mercy wishes to free the Fate of Dominion. This must never be done. Having been imprisoned for centuries, he will seek to destroy our lands once more in recompense for his entrapment.

I pause, my heart freezing.Thisis what Moranya wants from Anton.

She wants him to repair the mirror. Is this why she handed him her realm? Perhaps she hoped to convince him to agree. Maybe the bargain she struck was less about me and more about getting him into her lair, since he had never accepted her hand otherwise.

Furthermore, because of Mercy’s trap and the power she stole, the Fates have stayed away, fearing the same might happen to them. I suspect this is the reason they have reverted to prophecies—a way to pass along omens and warnings at a distance without involving themselves.

So this is why the Fates abandoned us. They fear Moranya.

And yet we are supposed to fear them, along with whatever divinations they send our way?

I know Anton believed the prophecy even after learning this—enough that he asked Sadira to lock him up because of it. Yet I have been watching him rule, which is theverything we were afraid of him doing, and still his good heart remains despite all he believes was done to him. And he hasn’t agreed to repair the mirror—at least, I don’t think so. Perhaps his logic around it still stands. No matter how bitter he is toward the mortal world, he doesn’t wish to see it destroyed.