Page 7 of Dark as the Cursed Abyss

“Hello, my darling, how are you?” the princess asked, holding out her other hand with a few seeds as an offering to the psychí.

“You spoil Alaric, my lady.” Iris’s cool voice spilled across the room, trailing through the air like thick olive oil that coats your throat in peaceful bliss.

“He deserves to be spoiled, Ri, he has to put up with you locked in this tower the majority of the day.” Chloe gave the creature a peck on the top of his head and Alaric rustled his coiffed feathers.

“You very well know he explores the isle at night, which he prefers I’ll have you know.” Iris chirped out a snicker and Alaric flew back straight into the gilded cage carved into the wall. He stretched his wings before settling in on a spinning wheel, clacking his talons against the metal as he spun and spun.

“Do you have news for me? Anything that might help before our journey? You’ve been so…vague…lately.” Chloe knelt next to the seer and tilted her head onto Iris’s shoulder. “It’s disconcerting.”

Iris leaned into the young wolf momentarily before reaching for a piece of parchment and a quill. “The future is supposed to be vague, my friend. The paths I see are just that, paths, not the route you are forced to take by the Fates or by the will of gods olde and new. You can take the outcomes and bend them to your will, as you have done many times before.”

“But that is too burdensome, Ri. I just want to know—will we survive this trip or not?”

Inky black seeped on the paper in a blob at first before Iris began to etch her quill in the air. The liquid spread on the parchment, veining out in many directions, the same ancient runes that filled the walls marking every branch of the tree that formed. Touching Iris’s other arm, Chloe closed her eyes and dove into the abyss of memories and futures to come.

Hundreds of doors spread out before her, but most were marked with the sanguine X of death.

Only one glimmered like the sea beneath the Nexian caldera on a sunny day.

Only one called to Chloe like a lullaby.

Instinctively, Chloe shifted, bounding toward the unopened door. Lightning and the sweet smell of first snowfall lingered in the air as she approached. Closer and closer she ran toward the bliss that hid behind the glowing wrought iron.

The door swung open. White curtains lined a great hall she had not seen in years. Flowers donned the tables and ivy wove its way down a center isle to the dais. There stood a woman, dressed in fascinating lace and silk, a veil covering her head. Chloe did not need to see a face to know who stood before her, ribbon tied around her hands and blood still dripping from the cut in her palm.

Farah wore no jewelry, as was custom in Hespali for soldiers and spies alike. None, that is, except an ostentatious ring. Thin, triple bands of gold circled her right ring finger, an emerald sat on top, stretching the full length between Farah’s knuckles.

With a whimper, Chloe fell to the ground, her paws shot with arrows holding her in place as she watched the southern princess dedicate herself to the crown.

As she watched her become an heir.

Talons ripped into Chloe’s fur as she was pulled out of the vision. Sweat built at the nape of her neck, now in human form. It lingered there before spreading down her back, soaking the thin tunic she wore.

“She cannot,” Chloe whispered through heaving breaths. “I will not allow it.”

“It is not our decision, my friend. The Fates have shown their courses, we can only hope to choose the right one.” She slid a cup of tea over toward Chloe, who still writhed on the floor.

Where did she even get tea?

Bringing the steaming cup to her lips, Chloe inhaled the spiced drink, allowing her thoughts to still. There had to be another way. One that didn’t involve the poor spy wasting away in Hespali.

One that didn’t involve him.

“I do not accept that the only path without death is the one you showed me, Iris. It makes no logical sense.”

“The Fates allow me to see what could be, you know that princess. From there it is merely our will that sets us on the right path. Sometimes that path requires death for the benefit of others. Sacrifice for those we love is merely that—love.”

“I repeat, I will not accept it, Iris. I will find another way. We will return with Avra’s fleet and her army and it will not be because of that.”

“As you wish, Princess. As you wish.” Iris stood, collecting the tea Chloe had barely taken a sip of—and yet the cup was empty.

Time tended to warp and blur in this spire. Whether it was the calming incense Iris always burned, or something much more powerful, Chloe had lost hours. The sun was nearing its crest over the isle, which meant she needed to make haste for the Parataxis.

Chloe was never late for her duties, and today would not be her first time.

Winding her way back down the tower, something fell from Chloe’s cloak pocket, clinking as it bounced down the stairs. The young wolf chased after it. She had not put anything in this cloak earlier in the day, unless it was a trinket she’d left from the prior season?

She reached the bottom step, bending down to pick up the small glittering object that now rested on the opalite tile.