Rian saw flashes of memories in the darkness, but they weren’t his. He didn’t see his family or Fen village. He saw a castle that might have been the one in Derwen, but the stones looked newer and the castle was smaller. He knelt before the king and queen on their thrones, but they weren’t the king and queen of Virida that Rian knew. He saw some sort of shrine, the flickering image of a huge skeletal being looking down at him. A being with long curving horns and red light in its eye sockets.

The darkness and the memories that weren’t his vanished suddenly. He was lying on the ground, the grassy plains of Virida, staring up at the morning sky. The sun was rising. He got to his feet unsteadily. The way to Mortua’s Sanctum was gone, and Halbert and Eiva stood not far off.

Eiva looked worried. “Are you alright?”

“I think so.” Rian was far from sure about that. Who’s memories had those been? The red light was gone from his bones, but they were still cracked and he was deeply exhausted. “I need burial ground.”

“We’ll find some,” Halbert said. “We can’t risk going to a graveyard in a village yet. We’ll try to find some burial ground out in the forest.”

The three of them started across the plains, not saying anything about what had happened in Mortua’s Sanctum. Rian didn’t like how that magic had felt, how easily it had answered his will. It had felt like a part of him.

“It is a part of you,” Trivius said in Rian’s mind. “I gave it to you.”

“When?” Rian thought.

He wasn’t sure why he thought that. Trivius could have done it when part of him had gone into Rian or any time after. But some part of him didn’t think he had.

“You will remember, in time,” Trivius said.

The sun had finished setting when Rian, Halbert, and Eiva reached the forest. They didn’t stop until the plains had been out of sight behind them for a while. Rian didn’t sense any burial ground nearby. There were bones beneath the ground, but not enough of them to make this burial ground. Leaves rustled and twigs snapped back the way they came. The three of them turned to face Davena.

“Did you follow us?” Eiva asked, a hand on the hilt of her sword.

Davena’s eyes were wide, and she was pale. “I did. I knew you would continue to search for me if I didn’t confront you.” She stood straighter. “I’m hoping you’ll leave me be if I tell you who enchanted the daggers.”

“Why would you tell us now?” Rian asked.

“He has gotten only more deranged and consumed by his magic,” Davena said. “I know he will be the end of me if I stay close to him.” She frowned. “And it gets worse. He’s working with Dienia on this. The Goddess of Knowledge herself was a part of this plan against Mortua.”

Why would Dienia go against Mortua?

Eiva looked at Rian and Halbert. “What should we do?” She still had a hand on the hilt of her sword.

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“I’m done fighting Mortua,” Davena said, a weariness in her eyes. “It’s clear it’s no use. Even after all I’ve done, her power has only grown. Please...”

“Very well,” Halbert said. “Who enchanted the daggers? Who is working with Dienia?”

Davena breathed out. “Thank you. It was the King Tierney of Acra. He helped me in exchange for me helping him. He’s determined to have Ninette. He’s barely even noticed what I’ve been up to. Before he was obsessed with Ninette, he was searching for a wife of high birth to give him an heir, though he has temporarily stopped that with his interest in Ninette. She’s much too old to bear him children. As for Dienia, I don’t know what she’s after in all of this.”

“Didn’t he have a wife a long time ago?” Eiva asked.

Davena nodded. “He did. He was cursed by his first wife, whom he beheaded right after. He was no less dreadful back then. The curse was powerful enough to last, and Tierney is unable to have children. I thought he had learned dark magic while trying to break the curse, but I heard him talking to Dienia. She let him use her book, Knowledge Unending. The terrible magic in those daggers came from Dienia.” She sighed. “The king would have helped me do anything so long as I helped him poison Odell. He was furious when I failed, but now he’s making new plans. I don’t know what these plans are. When he left me out of them, I knew my usefulness to him was coming to an end.”

Eiva looked at Rian and Halbert. “The king could be up to anything. And why would Dienia be working against Mortua?”

“Can you tell us anything else about his magic from Dienia?” Halbert asked.

Davena shook her head. “Only that it changed him. It’s like it’s consuming him from within, but he doesn’t see that Dienia is using him for her own ends.” She took a step back. “I told you who was behind the daggers. Will you let me go?”

“Yes,” Eiva said.

Ransey stepped out from behind a tree and ran Davena through from behind with his sword. Davena gasped. Ransey leaned in close and took a bite out of her neck, tearing the flesh with his sharp, brown stained teeth. Eiva drew her sword swiftly. Ransey pulled his sword out of Davena, letting her fall to the ground.

“Do you not see what Mortua has done to you?” Halbert asked.

Ransey laughed, but it was shaky. “Does this bother you, Halbert?” His voice sounded rough and dry.

Eiva struck at Ransey. Ransey blocked with his sword, disarming her easily, but not striking at her. Halbert summoned his spectral grayish blue sword. Ransey backed away from Halbert. Was that regret in his eyes? Ransey turned and ran, quickly out of sight among the trees.

“Where do you think he’ll go?” Eiva asked, picking up her sword and sheathing it.

“He likely heard all Davena said,” Halbert said. His spectral sword vanished. “If Ransey knows, then Mortua will know. He may go after the King of Acra, or he might return to the Sancta.”

“Will the Sancta approve of him?” Rian asked.

Halbert sighed. “Mortua will ensure they do. The Sancta will believe what the gods tell them, not what they see.”

Rian couldn’t get that look in Ransey’s eyes out of his head. Did Ransey truly want this?

“Do you think it’s true?” Eiva asked. “Do you think Dienia is really the one behind this, just using the King of Acra?”

Halbert said nothing for a long moment. “She could be. We know what Mortua is like. Would it be so hard to believe the other gods are just as vengeful and deceptive?”

Rian, Eiva, and Halbert buried Davena in the forest, then Rian and Halbert kept watch while Eiva slept. In the morning the three of them started back toward Acra without a word. They would have to pass through Acra to get to Urvus, to warn Ninette and Odell that the King of Acra had magic from the Goddess of Knowledge.