Cora was sitting at the table. Cainan scanned the rest of the room as best as he could through the crack, but as far as he could tell, his daughter was nowhere to be found. His wife was preparing the evening meal. Or at least that’s what she was supposed to be doing, though it seemed that her progress had stalled, only half the vegetables chopped for the stew. Instead, she was holding up a knife, staring into the gleaming metal at her own wavering reflection. Whispering to herself, her words ragged susurrations that made Cainan want to pull out his own hair. No, he thought, pleading with whomever might be listening. No, gods, please no. Not again.

“There are infinite combinations…a thousand thousand…must learn each one…but there are no bats here…no godsblood…so how can we do it? How will we do it? We need to leave, don’t we? Yes, we must. NO!” The whispers transitioned into a horrific shriek so abruptly that Cainan flinched, one arm scraping against the partially open door.

He froze, unable to tear his gaze away from the woman he loved, the woman who was a jagged shard of what she’d been eighty years ago when he’d watched her care for injured creatures in the forest.

Slowly, she altered the angle of the knife, until it was his distant reflection and not hers that appeared on the polished metal face. “Hello, my love,” she said. “You always did enjoy watching me, didn’t you?”

Cainan stepped inside, gently closing the door behind him. “Cora, I’m worried about you.”

“So am I.”

“Tell me what I need to do to help you.”

“There is nothing you can do. The remaining Divided will soon arrive. We are more than halfway there already. Five gleaming shards, like a shattered mirror reflecting the truth better than it could before it was broken. But tonight…”

“What about tonight?”

“Everything will change.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean…change?”

“We need to break the cycle.”

“What cycle? And who is ‘we’? Me and you?”

She shook her head, smile forming as though amused as she finally put down the knife. “No, my love, you are not a part of this. You choose not to be a part of this in the way you look at me, like I’m mad. Like you don’t know me. But this book can open your eyes as mine have been opened.” She tapped the cover of a book resting on the table he hadn’t noticed.

He ignored it, because some book was nothing next to this woman and the love they once shared. A love he wanted back more than anything. “I don’t know you anymore, but I want to. Please explain to me what you mean.”

“The One Who Speaks to Me won’t allow that. This is my duty, not yours.”

A lump had been growing in Cainan’s throat from the moment he set eyes on her, and now a sob got caught by it. Seeing her this way…it was breaking his heart. “And what about your duty to your family? What about your duty to your child?”