Nightsworn | The Whispering Wall #2

Thirty-Five: Bad Signs

Nova entered Grace's room to find her with her face in a book.

She cleared her throat and Grace jumped, snapping the book shut and shoving it under her chair, before realising it was Nova and sighing. "Christ, Nova. At least knock first."

"I can leave if you're busy," Nova said, turning to go.

"No, no! Not busy. Please come in."

Nova crossed to Grace's bed and sat down, looking around as she did so. She was starting to prefer this place to her spot by the hearth; Faellian never bothered her here. Some small part of her put up a token resistance, wondering what would happen if they were found out, but the longer it went on, the smaller that part got. She knew it was incautious of her, but the calm she felt in this room was addictive. She pointed out a piece of embroidery on the bedside that hadn't been added to since she'd last been in here. "Given up?"

Grace glanced at it as if seeing it for the first time. "Oh. No, I haven't. It's just really boring." She slid the book back out from under the bed. It wasn't a large thing, but it was old, with unfamiliar characters on the cover. Nova supposed it was a language, but it wasn't one she'd ever seen before. "I'm trying to dredge up enough of a language I learned a bit of years ago. Wish I'd paid more attention in that class."

Nova folded her feet up underneath her and tucked the edge of the blanket around them. They were blue with cold from hours of sitting near the wall in Harkenn's study, out of the line of the fire's heat. "What language is it?"

"German," Grace replied, which left Nova no better off than before she'd asked. "An otherworld language. Jordan bought me this." She flipped through it until she found the page she wanted. "Here, look."

Nova cocked her head at the illustration hovering in front of her face. "A portal?"

"Yes, exactly," Grace said. The excitement faded from her face as she returned the book to her lap, devolving into despondency. "But I can't read the damn thing. It's only about two hundred years old, you know – the book, I mean. At least, it was during the timeline I was on back home." She frowned, and then sighed. "Portals move through time too, don't they?"

"Yes," Nova said. "Part of the reason why it's such unpredictable magic. There are too many places, and the scope of the whole timeline in those places. It's incredibly difficult to pinpoint the spot you want to go to. Impossible, if you don't know what you're doing."

Grace closed the book. "But there used to be portals to other places, right? Before the Isolation."

She'd been doing her reading. Nova confessed herself impressed at just how quickly Grace had picked up Common script. "Yes. But they were fixed in place by magic the likes of which has been lost since. When my people escaped their dying world, they had no idea where they'd end up." She offered a sardonic smile. "I expect they were thoroughly disappointed to find it populated and with a ruling family."

"And full of demons," Grace said.

Nova smirked. "And full of demons."

Grace put the book away again, as if suddenly finding it hard to look at. She got up, straightened out her skirts, and then joined Nova on the bed. Her eyes traced the new blisters on Nova's neck and ankles from being chained for days on end, and her lips pressed into a firm line. Nova was relieved when she didn't say anything.

"You haven't been to see me for days," Grace mumbled, breath tickling Nova's hair. An arm snaked around her waist and tugged her back until they lay side by side on the pillow. The dull ache that had taken up residence in Nova's spine over the past week began to ease as she relaxed into the embrace.