𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚎(𝙰𝙲𝙾𝚃𝙰𝚁)

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖞-𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖊

Half an hour passed before we were called to the main tent, where Amren had brought the book.

"Did you bring them?" Rhys asked Amren as Nesta and I silently approached the table.

Amren reached into the pocket of her pewter cloak and chucked a black velvet bag onto the desk. It clacked and thunked as it hit the wood.

"Bones and stones."

Nesta only angled her head at the sight of the bag. She lifted the bag, studying it.

"So, I scatter these like some backstreet charlatan and it'll find the Cauldron?"

"Something like that," Amren confirmed with a low laugh.

Nesta untied the small pouch and dumped out its contents. Three stones, four bones. The latter were brown and gleamed with age; the former were white as the moon and smooth as glass, each marked with a thin, reedy letter I did not recognize.

"Three stones for the faces of the Mother," Amren said upon seeing Nesta's raised brows. "Four bones for whatever reason the charlatans came up with that I cant be bothered to remember."

Nesta and Rhys both snorted. I bit my lip to keep from smiling.

"So what—I just shake them around in my hands and chuck them? How am I to make sense of any of it?" Nesta asked.

"We can figure it out," Cassian said, his voice rough and weary. The fact that he wasn't resting in bed irritated me. "But start with holding them in your hands and thinking about the Cauldron."

"Dont just think about it," Amren corrected. "You must cast your mind toward it. Find the bond that links you."

"I--am I to touch it?" Nesta asked, her voice shaky with the nerves she was trying to hide.

"No," Amren warned. "Just come close. Find it, but do not interact."

Nesta still didn't move. I understood her hesitation. Feyre told me Nesta had a hard time even taking a bath because it reminded her of the cauldron. I got to my feet and went to her side.

"You're okay, Nessie," I murmured in her ear, so no one else heard me. "We won't let anything hurt you."

Nesta glanced at me, nodding before she finally shut her eyes. I placed a hand on her lower back to steady her.

Nesta stood before the map, a fist of bones and stones clenched over it. Her eyes shifted beneath their lids, as if scanning the world.

"I don't see anything."

"Go deeper," Amren urged. "Find that tether between you."

She stiffened, but I stepped closer, and she settled again. A minute went by. Then another. A muscle twitched on Nesta's brow. Her hand bobbed. Her breath then came fast and hard, her lips curling back as she panted through her teeth.

"Nes?" I asked.

"Quiet," Amren snapped.

A small noise came out of her—one of terror that had my stomach dropping.

"Where is it, girl," Amren coaxed. "Open your hand. Let us see."

Nesta's fingers only clutched tighter, the whites of her knuckles as stark as the stones held within them.

Too deep—whatever she had done—

Feyre's eyes glossed over, and I realized she was going into her sister's mind.

"Open your fist," Feyre ordered. "Open it now. Open it now, or it will get in here. Open it now, Nesta!"

With a gasp, Nesta's fingers splayed wide, scattering stones and bones over the map. I caught her with an arm around the waist as she swayed.