Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

A curse wasn’t enough to deter Terena Luca. She would stop at nothing to find her parents, and the fabled artifact she hunted now was worth the risk if it led her to them.

She’d tracked the legend to Agraboda, the once beautiful city decimated by a plague now lost to time. Terena was grateful to find the ruins undisturbed centuries later, feeling in her bones what she sought was still there.

Terena lifted her hand, shielding her eyes against the late afternoon light that glinted off the scattered remains of marble columns.

It’d be dark soon; they’d have to stop for the night.

“Can we please just admit defeat already?”

The whining plea came from her right, and Terena craned her neck to see her brother standing atop a ledge. He posed to look like the horned beast with large fangs and half a leg—the rest wiped away by time—from the wall beneath him.

She tossed a pebble at him. “It’s here,” she called back.

Terena wiped her brow and returned to her work. She dropped a red cloth into the marked off area before stepping outside of it and looked back up at her brother. “This would go a lot faster if you helped, Croak. ”

Croak waved her off. “I’m here, aren’t I? I just don’t think it’s here.”

Terena pursed her lips, stretching out two more markers, then stepped inside the area and dropped to her knees. She ran her fingers over the cold stone, wiping away some debris and dirt with a small brush. “It’s here. For the thousandth time, it’s here.”

Croak mumbled something she didn’t care to hear and dropped from the ledge. Terena heard his shuffling steps as he came close.

“Maybe you got it wrong this time.”

A corner of her mouth lifted, but Terena just shook her head.

“You know, it has been known to happen,” Croak said.

When she still didn’t reply, he came closer, bending over and sneering. “Even the all-knowing and fabulous Terena Luca can be wrong.”

He rose to his full height and Terena glanced up to see him throw back his head, dark brown locks shifting in the breeze. He raised his arms up, his fur-lined cloak flapping back as he bellowed to the sky, “O how the gods wept the day Terena the All-Knowing’s power of foresight failed her and she did not find the Towel of Destiny! Now mankind is doomed to never seeing its dirty likeness ever again!”

“It’s not a towel, idiot,” she replied with a grin, shaking her head again.

“A doily?”

“A shroud.”

“Shroud,” he said, stretching out each letter until the word was barely recognizable. “Sounds weird.”

“You’re weird,” Terena grumbled, then sat back on her heels, her hands at her hips. “And not helpful!”

She reached out and pulled her tool bag closer, blowing on her icy hands before rummaging inside. Pulling out a few markers, she tossed them at him. “Be helpful and mark some areas on the other side of the square. If you can find?—”

“This is boring!” Croak yelled up to the sky, dropping his arms with a swoop as he stomped in a circle behind her. Terena sighed and closed her eyes, shaking her head once before turning back to her work .

“Why the fuck would the shroud be here, anyway? And why does Duke Aurora want someone’s death laundry?”

Terena smothered a grin; she did not want to encourage him. “I don’t care why he wants it,” she called out. Her brother continued his stomping dance. “I care for the coin he’s paying me to find it.”

“Aye, all right,” Croak mumbled. Terena busied herself once more with pressing her fingers into the ground, searching for gaps or a seam, something that would reveal a hiding spot large enough?—

Her brother yelped a second before a loud crash sounded behind her. Terena jumped to her feet; her brother disappeared beneath a cloud of dirt, billowing up to hide his whereabouts. Terena surged toward where he’d been standing, batting away the dust, coughing as she screamed his name.

Dropping, her knees cracking on the ground, and she cursed, pain shooting up her thighs.

Terena got down on her belly and slithered forward, feeling her way to where she’d last seen him, her hands finding the edge of a hole. She peered into the darkness.

“Croak!”

The dust settled, and she swiped at her eyes, blinking against the grit.

“Are you all right? Croak!”

A groan drifted up from the hole and a long time later, the dust cleared enough for her to see her brother’s lanky form sprawled in the dirt below.

“Fuuuck,” he cried, his voice cracking on a whimper.

Terena hung her head, a sigh of relief escaping her mouth. “Are you hurt?”

He whimpered. “Not at all,” he answered, his voice an octave higher. “Just having a lay down.”

“Stay there,” Terena called down. She heard his weak laugh.

“I have rope in my bag. I’ll be right back.”

She turned away, scrambling for the bag she’d left near the walled area she’d been working in. Turning it over, she let the contents drop onto the ground .

No rope.

She turned, eyes darting around until she remembered she’d left it tied to her saddlebags on her mare, Nyx.

Terena yelled out to her brother to hold on as she ran for her horse, cooing nonsense words at the black beauty, and tugged the rope from where she’d secured it.

Her brother shrieked curses at her.

Terena knelt over the hole and peered down at Croak, sitting up now, covered in dirt.

“Can you see anything in there? Is it a room?”

“It’s dark, Ren, I can’t see shit.”

“Tie this around your waist and I’ll pull you up,” she called down.

“Fuck’s sake,” he grumbled, but grabbed the rope, wrapping it around his waist. He made to rise, then stopped.

“Come on, let’s go.”

Her brother continued to look off to his left. He held up a hand to her for silence. “Wait.”

Croak stood slowly and untied the rope. His neck stretched out as he squinted into the darkness.

“Are you kidding me now? What can you possibly see down there?”

Croak flapped his hand at her and took a step. After a moment, he looked up at her. “I think it’s a tomb.”

Terena stilled. In all her research, there’d been no mention of anyone being buried in the palace. Or under it. The royal family lay buried in the crypt beneath the Temple of Gaia, which was a mile from where they stood.

“Croak,” Terena called again, “is it a tomb? Do you see?—”

“Just… give me a second , woman!”

Terena rolled her eyes, dropping her hands to grip the lip of the hole, and waited.

“Ah!”

Terena leaned forward, trying to see into the gloom below.

“Hey! Drop a torch, will you?”

Terena hung her head, then nodded. “Aye, all right. ”

She rose and turned back to her bag, grabbing the torch, flint, and steel. She struck the flint with the steel until it sparked, lit the torch and brought it over to the hole.

“Here it comes,” she yelled down and dropped it.

Croak leaned back toward the opening, yipping when he tried to grab the torch mid-flight and failed. He hissed when it cracked against his long fingers, letting it fall to the ground.

“Idiot,” Terena said.

Croak flapped his injured hand and grabbed the torch with the other. He held it high and awkwardly gave her his middle finger.

He moved back out of sight. Long moments passed before she called out. “Well?”

No answer.

“That’s it,” she mumbled to herself as she rose, wiping her hands on her leather leggings. She strode off toward the nearest column and wrapped the rope around it before tying it off. “Don’t know why I’m even waiting. I need to see this for myself.”

Terena dropped into the hole, shimmying down the rope, a dim glow at her back. She turned when her feet hit the ground and saw her brother holding up the torch.

Her mouth dropped open as she took in the small chamber. Words covered the walls. Terena’s head swam for a few seconds, vertigo overcoming her whenever her visions matched her reality. This chamber, the ceramic tiles at her feet. The writing she couldn’t quite make out in her visions.

It was the same as in the vision.

Another wave of vertigo hit her. She held out her hand to steady herself but Croak grabbed her arm in a practiced way. Putting her hand to her forehead, she breathed in and out a few times.

Her head cleared, and she opened her eyes once more.

“I’m fine, Croak.”

“So, we’re here, right? This is what you’ve seen?”

Terena nodded slowly.

He whipped the torch around, almost hitting her in the face. She cursed and grabbed the torch from him .

“Did any of your research mention a walled-in room like this?”

Terena turned slowly. He was right. She lifted the torch to the opening.

“Sealed off,” she whispered. None of her research said anything about what she was looking at.

“Tell me this is what I think it is,” Croak said excitedly.

He lifted his chin toward the wall to his left.

She moved forward, holding the torch higher as she exhaled. She smirked at him. “If you’re thinking this is orichalcum?—”

“Ori—! Are you serious?”

Terena stepped closer, lifting a hand to run across the words written there.

“And here I thought we wouldn’t find anything fun,” Croak said. He unsheathed his dagger and began chipping some of the ore out of the wall.

“What are you doing?” Terena asked him, her lips pulled back.

“ I have to tell you how valuable this shit is? I’ll sell it to Benson. Or maybe save it for some rich asshole in Metilai.”

“Shit, I didn’t bring anything to write with,” Terena muttered, patting her pockets. She usually kept a small notebook and charcoal on her, but hadn’t thought to unpack it while they’d searched for the shroud.

“Can you go up and grab it?”

Croak didn’t bother to look at her as he stuffed some of the ore into his pockets. “What? You do it.”

“Croak, really? It’s in my bag. Hurry and bring it back.”

He grumbled, stuffing more of the orichalcum into the pockets of his pants and sheathed his dagger before stomping off toward the rope. She didn’t bother to watch him make the climb, instead taking a step closer to the wall, tracing the words written in Ancient Greek. Wonder filled her as she read the story of the shroud and the power it was rumored to have.

The power to bring back the Olympian gods.

Cold shot down her spine, and she shivered.

Terena swung the torch to her right, eager for more. Shuffling forward a few steps, she read the names of the royal House of Galaneas, the last family to rule Agraboda, but no other mention of the gods.

She continued further, stopping when she spied something shadowed. The wall beveled deeper than the previous two. She’d missed it at first because of the shadows. As she drew nearer, the light revealed a small, wide table flashing in the light of the torch.

Terena took two steps closer and saw the table was pure gold with a gilded, oblong box sitting on top. She moved the torch closer and read the words above the box in the ancient language.

Defiling the tomb has proved our undoing.

Learn from us.

Forgive us.

The stories on the walls were of the fall of Ostapolis and King Selenas of Agraboda taking the shroud from Faybhen’s tomb.

Upon his return to Agraboda, the king presented the shroud to his wife as a gift.

The queen died that night. The king and their son a week later.

And someone had put the shroud in this sealed off chamber beneath the palace with a warning.

Terena wasn’t sure why, but she knew her visions of this place and the shroud weren’t meant to lead her to her death, despite what it had done to the city and its people.

She opened her mouth and sighed as she reached out a trembling hand and lifted the top of the box.

Tucked inside and folded neatly was a plain, white cloth. She touched it, her fingers tracing lightly over the linen.

Her heart raced.

Found you.

Croak mumbled as he climbed the rope, pulling himself out of the hole and stretching out on the ground beside it. He yanked his cloak around him, the chill of the stone beneath him seeping through to his wool tunic. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

When he opened them, confusion made him blink.

“Ren,” Croak called out as he slowly sat up, eyes darting around. “Terena!”

Terena came to the opening and held up the torch. “What?”

Croak didn’t answer. Rising to one knee, his hands stretched out to feel for the ground.

“Wait, what’s going on up there? Why’s it so dark?”

Croak shook his head, turning. His gaze narrowed. “I don’t know, but this is not natural. I can’t even see my own fucking hand!”

He slowly unsheathed his sword.

“We’ve been down here maybe five minutes,” she called up.

Croak searched frantically for anything that would tell him he hadn’t gone mad.

A minute later, he heard Terena grunt and moan. She tossed the torch up and he jumped when it landed an inch from his boot. She pulled herself up from the hole, cursing, then snuck closer to him and drew her dagger from the center of the shoulder guard she always wore.

He frowned over at her. “You’re loud, you know that?”

“Do you see anything?” she whispered.

Croak shot her a baffled look. With heavy sarcasm, he said, “No, Ren, I can’t see in the dark. Can you?”

She scowled at him, then turned to light the torches closest to them, creating a small ring of light in the pitch black.

It was better than nothing.

Croak swallowed.

He turned around just as an arrow whizzed past his shoulder, tearing his cloak.

They ducked, stumbling around until they found cover. To their left, shouts sounded out of the darkness.

Croak gasped and looked up as three men appeared in the air, shouting as they landed in front of them. Their heads were covered in black and masks covered the lower half of their faces, scimitars raised high as they rushed at Croak and Terena.

Croak lifted his sword and feinted left as one attacker barreled toward him. He came back and thrust down with his sword, catching the man above his hip as he stumbled past.

“Fucking Magi?!” Croak shrieked, looking around frantically, searching for his sister.

He caught sight of her fighting two Magi. She blocked one with her sword on her left while the other she kept at bay with her dagger. Terena dropped to the ground to kick out the legs of the first Magi.

Croak surged forward with a roar, launching into the air. The Magi closest turned and kicked out, his foot catching Croak in the face and he whirled, falling and rolling on the ground.

To his right, Terena lifted her sword, bringing it down to cleave the wrist of the Magi she fought. She quickly twisted as she dropped to her knee and gutted him with the dagger in her right hand.

Scrambling back, Croak gasped as the last Magi approached, lifted his scimitar, his dark eyes hard.

“Ren!”

The Magi swung down. Croak raised his arm but the Magi jerked forward, dropping his scimitar and landing in front of Croak. Cursing, Croak bolted up, his sword aimed at the Magi, who was now on his knees clutching his shoulder.

When the Magi bent over, Croak saw Terena’s dagger embedded to the hilt. Wiping his face with the back of his sword hand, Croak looked down at the Magi and yanked down the cloth covering the man’s face.

“Why’d you attack us?” he asked, panting, his sword pointed at the Magi. “Now your friends are dead and it’s all your fault.”

The man was still on one knee, his trousers torn from where he’d fallen. He clutched at his bloodied shoulder.

When he lifted his gaze, his nostrils flared and eyes burned.

Then he shifted his eyes to Terena.

“It is you,” the Magi exhaled, his accent thick.

Terena lifted an eyebrow.

“You should not have come for the shroud. You are not ready.”

Croak dropped to his haunches, twisting his wrist so his blade was perpendicular to the Magi’s throat. “What shroud?”

The Magi barely glanced at him, annoyed, before he nodded at Terena. “Do you know what this means? If you take it, it begins again.”

“What begins? What do you mean?” Terena asked, hands splayed as she took a few steps closer.

The Magi looked off to his right and his eyes widened slightly. He licked his lips and looked wild-eyed at Terena.

“I’m usually dead by now,” he mused.

“What’s that now?” Croak frowned.

The man dropped his chin. When he looked back up at Terena, his dark skin was pale beneath a sheen of sweat. “You must kill me.”

Terena scoffed, shooting a look at Croak.

“Take the shroud and go north this time,” the man pleaded. “Do not go to Metilai. You will die there.”

Terena stilled. “What?”

“Take the shroud and go north,” the man said, his voice almost manic now. “You’ve searched your whole life for him. You can get the Twins later. Go north. Now. You have the shroud .”

“I don’t understand.” Terena bit out. “Who?—”

“Please let this be it,” the Magi mumbled. He glanced off to his right again.

The right side of his lips lifted beneath his thick black beard, but his eyes looked sad when he turned back to Terena.

“Who are you talking about? What does the shroud?—”

“Please,” the Magi whispered as he looked up at the black sky.

He mumbled something in a language Croak didn’t know. He looked up at his sister, her face ashen.

The Magi leaned forward so fast, Croak had no chance to react. The man grabbed Croak’s wrist and tugged it forward, slicing his neck on Croak’s blade.

Croak stumbled to his feet, falling a few steps away, and cursed.

“What…,” Terena whispered, drawing out the word as she gawked at the dead Magi. They both watched him slump to the ground, blood soaking into the worn marble beneath them.

“What the fuck?”

Croak’s pulse thundered in his ears. He blinked, then looked around as the area all around them became brighter.

Croak nudged Terena a few times before she glanced at him with a frown.

He pointed to the sky.

All around them, stars appeared, as if something heavy and unnatural had dissipated. The full moon glowed. The sounds of the night drifted toward them, and Croak took a minute to calm himself.

“What just happened? What the fuck with everything just now?”

Terena barked out a laugh and lifted both hands to her head, strands of black hair matted to her face. “No idea.”

She brought a hand down to her mouth and shook her head. Her hazel eyes remained fixed on the dead Magi.

“What did he say?”

Terena looked out at the now moonlit square.

“Ren. What was he mumbling there?” Croak asked again, taking a step toward her.

Terena turned her head as if in a trance. Croak waited, his breath held.

After a long pause she said, “‘The shroud, the heir, and the weapon. Only then will they return.’”

“What’s that mean? Does that mean something to you?”

Terena looked at him and didn’t speak for a long time. Croak’s bones ached from standing so stiff.

“I hear a voice. In my dreams. I don’t know if it’s me.” Terena shook her head and pushed the heels of her hands to her eyes. “Sometimes I think it is, but I don’t… I heard those words before. It was ringing in my head over and over the last time I dreamt of the shroud.”

“The shroud, the heir, and the weapon, huh? Think these three were protecting the shroud?” Croak asked.

“Aye. ”

“So… what weapon? Have you seen that in a vision?”

Terena shook her head.

“What about an heir? Think he was talking about your father?”

Terena’s eyes snapped to him, her face tight. “Who else could he have meant?”

“Makes sense,” Croak said with a shrug. “Baba said he found you up north at Hekate’s temple.”

“I don’t think he’s the heir, though.”

“It’s frozen up there now. Has been for over a year.” Croak said, wiping a hand over his face. “How would we even get there?”

Terena didn’t answer.

After a long pause, he asked, “You got your fancy blanket, then?”

Terena twisted her lips. “Yes, I have the shroud.”

“Can we get out of here now, please? Thank you. Also, I’m taking his scimitar.”

Croak grabbed the Magi’s weapon, then turned and headed for his saddlebags, snatching them up as he mumbled to himself. He heard Terena follow a few seconds later.

“Hey,” she called out and snapped her fingers a few times.

Croak arched an eyebrow when he turned to her. “Really?”

She nodded to her left.

He looked over, then narrowed his eyes when he saw a shadow on an overlook a hundred yards away. “Could be an animal. Or a rock.”

Terena’s dark brows furrowed, and she made a face. Redoing her ponytail, she asked, “Remember how he kept looking over that way? The Magi? It was weird.”

Croak shrugged and turned away dismissively. “This whole thing was weird.”

“We were just attacked by Magi. Guardians of the temples of Olympian gods.” She shook her head in wonder. “Why are they even out here? We’re nowhere near Lakonia.”

“Out drinking maybe and took a wrong turn? This one for sure was drunk or something, the way he was talking. I hear they drink a lot of keikon, so….” Croak shrugged, referring to the hallucinogenic drink the southern priests favored to bring them closer to the gods .

“Next time don’t kill the man we’re trying to get answers out of,” she said reproachfully.

Croak’s brows shot to his hairline. “Are you fucking with me?”

“A little more care next time. That’s all.” She went back to cleaning up the area of her markings, stepping gingerly over the fallen Magi as if they were decorative art in these ruins.

She didn’t notice the mulish look he threw her.

Croak scoffed, shaking his head. “Unbelievable.”

Terena looked back up and planted her hands at her hips. She gestured to the shadow again. “You don’t think it looks like it could be a man? Watching us? It’s still there, whatever it is.”

“Well, real smooth pointing at him then,” Croak said as he turned, blowing on his gloved hands as he walked toward his horse, Cerberus. He dropped the saddlebags over the horse and turned to Terena. “Thank you for all of this, by the way. Enjoyed myself, immensely. Near-death experiences are exciting.”

“Wait. You’re mad at me?”

“Let’s go. Seriously. I’ve had a bad fucking day.”

Terena laughed, incredulous, but she hefted her saddlebags over her shoulder and followed. “We’ve had the same day, you idiot.” She pulled herself up on Nyx and tugged on the reins to turn her.

“If he is with them, it doesn’t seem to matter we know he’s here. He’s not doing anything to come closer.”

“Then let’s leave him to his business and be about ours. Which is getting the fuck out of here,” Croak called out as he led the way.