“Did it work?” Lena asked, shivering. Water had puddled in her boots, and her ears rang.

He answered her question with another. “What happened?”

Lena opened her mouth to tell the story. “I…” She hesitated. The memory was falling from her mind like sand through outstretched fingers. “I was back in the forest. Something … bad was happening. I think I was struggling… and I was praying…” She held out her hands, the pain fading now. She glanced up at the hunter statue. Confusion and outrage rushed through her mind. “I think he shot me!”

That’s not a good sign, she thought, her panic rising. The god must’ve known I wasn’t a true believer. Maybe I haven’t let go of the Ancestors entirely. She looked at her hands again, feeling torn between her two worlds.

Emris was peering at her curiously. “How … irregular. I can find out for sure if you don’t mind me searching?”

“Searching?” Lena felt close to tears with confusion. “Whatever it takes. I just want to know.”

“Okay. Hold still,” he said. He held her face in his hands and stared into her eyes. She blinked. His eyes were dark brown, flecked with fiery copper. He searched her face and then abruptly closed his eyes. She felt a tingling sensation in his palms as they rested against her jaw, his thumbs grazing her cheekbones. Warmth flooded her as she tried to look anywhere but at him, her eyes skimming the delicate stonework vines trailing around the temple pillars. She felt his senses—magical senses, she realized—coursing through her into that place beneath her lungs. She could feel it the same way you can feel someone’s breath on your skin. “It’s worked,” he said after a few moments, frowning. He lifted his hands from her face and the warmth left Lena’s body. “I can sense his presence—but Faul’s hold over your magic is unusually weak. How do you feel?”

“Cold and wet,” Lena said. Emris waited for her to answer the question properly, and she shut her eyes, trying to feel the magic place inside herself. But it was different now, she noted with relief: instead of a sickness or a shimmering sensation, it felt like a little cold fire was burning steadily in her stomach. “Better, I guess.”

“That’s good.” He helped her to her feet, the pair of them dripping as they made their way toward the little door at the back of the temple. “Come on. I could use a hot meal and some dry clothes.”