You are the inheritor of my Eye?

Yes.

Why do you not use it as you should?

I was never taught—

Learning comes from experiencing, young woman. Experience can only be achieved via connection and use.

There were echoes of Beira in that statement, and amusement slithered through me. But before I could reply, the voice added, What is it you wish?

What makes you think I want something?

Few can find this monument. Fewer still can access her heart. Only those who seek answers to the unanswerable ever try.

A statement that didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but then, I was talking to an old goddess who’d passed from this world long ago. I was probably lucky she’d even deemed me worthy of speaking to. A vision sent me here. I’m unsure why.

You cannot direct or interpret the Eye’s visions?

No.

There was a long, seemingly surprised pause. The Triune should make that impossible.

Confusion stirred through me and seemed to echo across the black stillness. What’s a Triune?

There was a ponderous sigh. The Aodhán line has fallen far, it would seem.

Meaning it’s another gift from the gods?

The Triune is three—foresight, protection, and knowledge. They were designed to give the Aodhán all the tools they might need to fight those who seek the rebirth of the dark gods in the tangible world. You have the Eye and the knives—I can feel the presence of both.

I do, but I had no idea they were part of this Triune. What, then, is the third part?

It is the codex—a book that holds the vast knowledge of all creation.

No book would ever be large enough to contain all of that.

No book ever written by man or woman, true.

And can you tell me where this book is?

What once was gifted to your line remains in it. Look to the west.

West of what? As clues went, that was damnably vague. But I had a feeling she would give me nothing more, and I was right.

Finding it is of the essence, she continued. Darkness rises in the East. Ninkil is the first but far from the least of your problems now that the relics are again unleashed onto the world.

You know about that?

I am gone, but I am not entirely forgotten. I hear.

Don’t suppose you know who stole them or where they might be hidden?

Those questions are for you to answer. It is your destiny—your purpose. Keep faith with the Eye, complete the Triune’s circle, and pay the price to make them your own. You will be far better equipped to deal with what comes.

What price?

She didn’t answer. She simply said, I wish you luck. You will need it.

Her presence retreated, and I was dragged back through the black, the distant flash of purple growing clearer and brighter.

Then I was in my body and on the ground, sucking in air as every muscle trembled and it felt like a freight train was moving through my head. Lugh was sitting beside me, his good arm resting against my spine, holding me up.