“You gave Tierney magic?” Blossom asked.

“I did,” Dienia said, but she said nothing more. The pages of the books in the shape of a person fluttered.

“Why?” Eiva asked. “What is it you want him to do? And why did you go against Mortua?”

Dienia sighed. A long, weary sound. “So many questions. You have come to the right place to seek knowledge, but I doubt you will like the answers.” There was something hard in her voice now, a coldness. “I gave Tierney, King of Acra, magic through my book, Knowledge Unending. You already know what he used that magic for, and he did it at my direction. He could not have come up with this himself. The fool. Now he will use that magic to prevent the souls of those who die in the war with Urvus from moving on.” She sounded very pleased with herself.

“Why would you go against Mortua?” Rian asked.

The fluttering pages of the books stopped suddenly. The books in the shape of a person all shut themselves, the sound echoing through the vast room.

“I have always hated Mortua,” Dienia said with surprising vehemence. “She receives far more worship than I and always has. I don’t understand why. What can she, the Goddess of Death, offer the people of Ivrua? I could offer them knowledge. I could offer them so much more than simply death. You are too late to stop me. Tierney has already enchanted the swords that his knights will use during the war against Urvus. The war will only be the beginning.”

“And if Mortua discovers your plan, that you were behind the daggers?” Halbert asked.

Dienia laughed. “The other gods won’t believe you. The Sancta definitely won’t. Who are you going to tell that could stop me? Who could you tell that could make any difference against me? As for Tierney, the magic I gave him will destroy him. He wouldn’t make good use of the true knowledge I could give him. As much as I would like to see your futile attempts to thwart my plans, since you’re here I might as well be rid of you.”

Books flew off the shelves all around them, flying straight at Rian, Halbert, Eiva, Blossom, and Leaf. The books stopped suddenly, as though they had hit an invisible wall. They fell to the ground, other than the ones held together by Dienia’s presence. Another presence had entered the Sanctum. A terrifying presence.

“Mortua.” Dienia’s voice shook a little. “I was just about to get rid of these trespassers. I will let you have the two undead.”

“I heard everything you said, Dienia,” Mortua said. “I’ve had my suspicions about you for a while now. Ransey told me you were behind the daggers that stopped the souls of the sacrificed from moving on, but now I’ve heard it straight from you.”

“Perhaps Ransey has lost his touch,” Dienia said.

“He has,” Mortua said, “but that does not change that he was right.”

The full force of Mortua’s presence rushed at Dienia. Rian glimpsed a gray light streaking into the books that contained Dienia, then the books flew across the room in every direction. Rian ducked, a book flying over his head. Dienia’s presence was much weaker now. Rian felt it flee. The Sanctum flickered around them, barely holding itself together.

“That will suffice for now,” Mortua said. “Unfortunately, I don’t have the strength to destroy her without the help of the other gods, but she is sufficiently weakened. As for the five of you…”

A flash of dark green flared to life in a circle around the five of them. Then they were back in the library in the castle of Veron. Blossom stumbled. Leaf steadied her with a hand on her shoulder. Knowledge Unending shut itself on the podium.

“That was close,” Blossom said quietly. “I think she was about to kill us all.”

“I think she’ll want Dienia’s plan stopped more,” Leaf said. “We should tell Ninette and Odell what Dienia said.”

Eiva went with Blossom and Leaf to talk to the king and queen. Rian and Halbert went to the room where Ransey was still resting. He was sitting up, propped up on a pillow, and was wearing clean clothes.

“How are your wounds?” Halbert asked.

Ransey frowned briefly, looking away. “Healing quickly. Eiva has been bringing me meat from the butcher, so I won’t have to feed on anyone.”

“Mortua has weakened Dienia,” Halbert said. He told Ransey what had happened in Dienia’s Sanctum.

Ransey sighed. “So much death over a petty squabble between the gods.”

“You don’t want to eat the flesh of the living and the dead. You don’t want to be a monster,” Halbert said.

“I do what my lady asks of me,” Ransey said quietly, then he sighed again. “I know what I am…” He shook his head. “Dienia’s petty rage against Mortua caused the death of many innocents.”

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“And you wonder if Mortua is any better,” Halbert said.

Ransey continued to avoid looking at Halbert. “After everything I’ve done, why would you care? There is no hope for me, and even if there was, why would you want to help me?”

Halbert was silent for a moment. “You were the only friend I had for a long time. I know you are more than what Mortua has made you. You were raised in Aster, raised to do anything Mortua asked of you, but you know she is no better than Dienia.”

Ransey frowned hard. “I will leave Veron tomorrow night. My wounds should have finished healing by then.” He said nothing more, not looking at Rian or Halbert.

Rian and Halbert left the castle, helping the Ectu continue to prepare for the war. At sunset, Rian, Halbert, and Eiva sat in silence in the graveyard, near a tree at the back. That’s where they were when someone wearing a black cloak with the hood up stumbled into the graveyard. The three of them stood at the same time. Whoever it was stopped with distance between them, breathing hard. The cloaked person took an unsteady step closer, then lunged at Eiva, moving impossibly fast for a human.

Rian and Halbert grabbed the cloaked person, holding him back. Rian almost let go when the hood of the cloak fell back. Andred’s black hair was messy as ever. It had gotten a little longer since Rian had last seen him. His pale grayish red eyes glowed faintly. His sharp fangs were getting longer as he stared at Eiva. Andred was almost too strong for Rian and Halbert to hold him back.

“I’ll be at the inn,” Eiva said, her voice shaking a little. She turned and hurried away from the graveyard.

Andred stopped struggling. He didn’t run after Eiva when Rian and Halbert let go of him. His fangs had shortened, almost unnoticeable unless he opened his mouth. Andred turned away from the two of them. Rian didn’t know what to say. Was there a way to bring his father back from this?

“How long have you resisted the thirst?” Halbert asked.

“Too long…” Andred said quietly. “And also not long enough. I’ve avoided people as much as I can, but when I resisted the thirst for too long, sunlight burned me.” He still didn’t turn around. “I…” He was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice shook. “I killed a boy hardly older than Rian. I don’t want to hurt anyone else.”

“I’m sorry, Andred,” Halbert said. “I don’t know of a way to undo this.”

“I heard the Ectu came to Veron and hoped to ask Leaf if he’d seen you,” Andred said. “He told me where you were, and about the coming war.” He turned to face them now, a terrible, haunted look in his eyes. “A war I cannot help you fight. I came to ask you to end me, so that I won’t hurt anyone else.”

Despite no longer having a heart, a terrible pressure clenched in Rian’s chest. There had to be another way.

Rian reached out to the part of Trivius inside of him, opening his mind to him. “Is there a way to help my father?”

“There is a ritual,” Trivius said in Rian’s mind, his voice more distant than ever. “A way to send his soul to the true land of the dead. It will only work if he’s willing, which is why you couldn’t use it on Norris and Arwel. Having fed on the living, there is no way for Andred to become a true undead, such as you and Halbert.”

Rian didn’t want to lose his father too, but his father wouldn’t forgive himself if he killed anyone else. He could see it in his father’s eyes that he wouldn’t forgive himself for the death he had already caused.

“What will happen if his magic has burned away his soul?” Rian asked. He was afraid to ask what had happened to Arwel, and he wasn’t ready to hear the answer.

“There was nothing left of Norris’s soul, nothing left to move on,” Trivius said. “It is unlikely your father will have used his magic if he has resisted his need for blood. Use your magic. You don’t need to free me to fully embrace your power as the Speaker of the Dead.”

“I won’t free you,” Rian thought.

“Not yet,” Trivius said, sounding amused. His presence faded into the back of Rian’s mind again.

Halbert and Andred were talking, but Rian hadn’t heard most of the conversation. Rian hesitated, not wanting to do this, not wanting to lose his father. But this was his father’s choice to make.

“There’s a way to send your soul to the true land of the dead,” Rian said. “If you’re willing.”

Andred blinked. “How do you know?”

Halbert stiffened. “Did Trivius speak to you?”

“I asked him,” Rian said. He told them what Trivius had said, barely keeping his voice steady.

Andred looked relieved. “I’m willing. I don’t want to hurt anyone else.” He frowned hard. “If I remain, I will kill again. Either that or the sun will burn me away, but the burning made it hard to think. That’s when I attacked…” He looked away. When he looked at Rian again, there was worry in his eyes. “How did you speak to Trivius?”

“A part of him went in me when I sealed him back into the Bone Garden,” Rian said. “Maybe we can find another way—”

“There isn’t one,” Andred said. “I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop the Sancta Knights. When they killed your mother, Frida, and Dow, I couldn’t think clearly. I shouldn’t have called on my magic.”

Rian avoided thinking about his mother, bound in Mortua’s Sanctum until he had freed her. Thinking about it made him angry, enough the magic of the Speaker of the Dead might come to the surface on its own.

“We went to Mortua’s Sanctum and freed mother’s soul,” Rian said. “And Frida and Dow.” And all the other souls trapped there. “They’ve gone to the true land of the dead.”

Andred’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know that was possible.” He smiled. “At least Mortua doesn’t have them anymore. I feared what she would do to them.”

Rian still didn’t know if what he’d done with the souls in Mortua’s Sanctum had been the right choice. What was the true land of the dead like? He had a strong feeling it had been the right choice, that the true land of the dead was a good thing, but where did that certainty come from? His magic? Trivius?