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"I've been practicing it for some time already," she said, not sounding offended. "And the idea of my parents trying to stop me is incentive enough to keep doing it."

"Your parents must have some idea of what you've been through," you pointed out. "Haven't they been through the same thing?"

Verity sighed. She wore the hood of her dark cloak up most of the time, even when no one was passing you on the road. "They aren't Fairgrieves. They adopted me, after my blood-parents left Pasema."

"Where did they go?" Letha asked, beside you.

"They tried to run from who we are," Verity said. "And people found them, and…put a stop to it." You glimpsed her distant gaze behind her hood. "So I'm giving the world what it wants first. Then no one will look for me."

"And you're sure they'll believe it of you? Your own parents?" Letha asked.

Verity shrugged. "That's really up to Jun now," she said, "isn't it?"

Today

This morning, three years on, you're walking toward Pasema in broad daylight. Alvis turned down Chancellor Savva's offer of a carriage or an escort, wanting to avoid any eavesdropping servants or companions. This hasn't worked out quite the way he intended, since you can hardly go five steps without running into another party eager to thank you for your service. It's early spring, and southbound travelers are thick on the roads.

You made slow progress between Archa and Pasema on your first quest, still in the midst of devising your plan, so you expected to have time to spare. But the rush of fellow travelers has delayed you so much that you're arriving on the day the portal is fated to open again, assuming the prophecy's return is real.

Pasema is by no means a busy town, and the crowds gradually thin out as you grow closer. It's on the fourth day when you and Alvis are alone enough to really talk, and somehow the conversation again turns to what people will or won't believe of Verity.

"Whatever this is, it's nothing to do with her," Alvis says. "Even if she wanted to—which she wouldn't—she has no way of making anything happen in the sky. She has no demonic powers that you didn't invent, and she never even liked elemental magic much."

"Alvis." You wait until he meets your eyes. "Is there nothing else Verity told you about her family history? You two were close, weren't you?" You never did determine quite how close, even after observing them for months, so you leave the question ambiguous.

Alvis looks startled, but not offended, so this seems to have been the right move. "Only that no one in her family showed any demonic powers at all after Damian Fairgrieve," he says. "So there's no reason to think she would. Feel free to ask her more if we see her, though we won't, of course."

"You don't think Verity might turn up?" you ask. "If anything would draw her out, it seems like the prophecy's return could do it."

Alvis shakes his head. "She said she wanted to be gone, and I believe her."

Next

The portal is tucked away in the northern hills behind Pasema, not visible from the main road. In person, it's no more than a vague shimmer in the air. Alvis's research suggested the portal itself doesn't look like much even when it's open, but you made it look darkly horrifying when you called forth your first demon, just for the effect.

Pasema looks like any other village you passed on the way up from Archa as you approach it later that afternoon. You're just beginning to see the shape of the buildings when Alvis stops walking.

"I've been trying to decide if we should walk straight in and announce ourselves, or try to keep quiet," he says. "They might have heard we're coming, or suspect it, but we can try to keep anyone from recognizing us specifically, at least right away. We could get a heroes' welcome if they know who we are, and it'll be easier to get information from the villagers. But then it's easier to keep our secrets if we don't risk getting questions we might not know the answers to before we know what's going on. What do you think?"