Anathema

Zevander brings Rykaia to Eidolon, his family castle overlooking the kingdom of Nyxteros. The manor’s servant, Vendryck, takes Rykaia, and Zevander laments needing to restrain his sister. Rykaia possesses the Lunasier magic that their mother had, which both Branimir and Zevander lost when Cadavros burned it out of them.

Zevander’s soft bed reminds him of his youth, when he was enslaved by the Solassions, Nyxteros’s enemies. He leaves a stone of vivicantem with the Golvyn, a half-man, half-rat creature who lives in the castle’s walls. His mother asks him to take raw meat to Branimir in the dungeon. Because Branimir was fully infected by sablefyre (unlike Zevander, who was able to arrest the magic’s full power before it took over), he has turned into a human-spider hybrid. He is dangerous and unpredictable, leading to imprisonment for his own safety and the safety of his family.

Branimir’s emaciated form emerges from the darkness, and he confesses to killing Rykaia’s cat, Gwynny, telling Zevander to let him starve. Zevander sees a multitude of spiders in Branimir’s cell—Branimir has a magic connection to the spiders and struggles to contain his dark thoughts. Branimir lunges at Zevander, but a scorpion sigil appears on Zevander’s arm, summoning scorpions to protect him.

Taking a bath, Zevander notes the 10 steel rods in his penis, implanted by the Bellatryx, a group of half-Solassion, half-Zephromyte women warriors to whom Zevander was enslaved for a century. General Loyce, the woman who owned Zevander, relished his suffering, and Zevander does not masturbate or have intimate relationships because of his memories of that time. Now, Zevander cuts himself with a poisoned blade, using the poison to ward off the sablefyre. He fears that one day, the sablefyre will fully corrupt him like Branimir.

Maevyth, Agatha, and Moros chat. Agatha tells Maevyth to lift her skirt for Moros, but Moros asks Maevyth to join him for lunch. Maevyth agrees and puts on underwear. Maevyth sees Agatha, Aleysia, and a guard and realizes that Agatha plans to sell Aleysia to the guard.

At Moro’s lunch, officials discuss the war with the neighboring kingdom of Lyveria. Moros discovered a new mineral by the Lyverian border and shows the group some white stones (later revealed to be vivicantem). Everyone denounces the Lyverians, calling them primitive. Moros says that the Lyverians collect bones for rituals to Morsana, the Goddess of Death.

Some people accuse Maevyth of being evil, recalling her role in Lilleven Pontrey’s death when she was young: Maevyth told the girl to get trampled just before Lilleven got trampled by a carriage. Someone calls Maevyth “anathema,” but Moros calls the group superstitious. Moros reveals that he and Maevyth are getting married next week.

Moros asks the officer next to Maevyth about Lyverians invading Vonkovya. The officer is not concerned, but Moros worries that the Vonkovyan military looks weak. The officer touches Maevyth’s leg under the table. Maevyth suggests leaving the Lyverians alone, and everyone laughs. Moros says that Vonkovya needs the Lyverians’ resources.

A servant spills tea on Maevyth, and Moros orders her to help Maevyth clean up. In the kitchen, Maevyth discovers that the girl, Danyra, is Lyverian and that Moros abuses his servants. Shireen, the head servant, interrupts, dismissing Danyra and implying that Maevyth could order her to kill Danyra for the mistake.

Maevyth tells Lolla that Moros is abusing a Lyverian servant in his home. Lolla says that Moros might be brutal with his servants but will not abuse his wife. Maevyth tells her how Shireen implied that Maevyth could have Danyra killed.

Maevyth runs to her room and holds the egg she found in the moonlight, catching a silhouette of the creature inside. Aleysia storms in, complaining about Agatha. In addition to selling Aleysia to the guard, Agatha also set up a date for Riftyn, and Aleysia fears that Riftyn will fall for the new woman. They agree that neither of them can marry the men Agatha picked.

Maevyth wakes up to someone yelling for help. She creeps downstairs and hears the screams coming from Felix’s basement morgue. Agatha finds Maevyth and accuses her of hearing voices, which could get her banished.

Maevyth goes back to her room, waits for Agatha to go to bed, and then returns to the basement. She finds Danyra dead and strapped to Felix’s examining table. Felix is sexually assaulting Danyra’s body, and in her head, Maevyth hears Danyra’s voice begging her for help. Maevyth trips on a bucket, alerting Felix, and runs back to her room. Danyra’s voice keeps asking for help, and Maevyth apologizes.

Two days later, Maevyth cuts her finger, and Aleysia dabs it clean. Maevyth tells her that Moros had Danyra killed. Aleysia is not shocked. She confesses that she has not menstruated in two months and has already told Riftyn that she is pregnant. Maevyth says that the child will be shunned since Riftyn and Aleysia are related through marriage. Aleysia plans to have an abortion. When Maevyth checks on her finger, the cut is already healed.

Zevander approaches the Umbravale, the barrier preventing entry into the Hagsmist forest that connects Aethyria to Mortasia. Three guards approach Zevander, and he burns two to ash, leaving the third alive. He uses Dolion’s spell to pass through the barrier and travels through the forest. He comes to the archway of bone outside Foxglove Parish in Mortasia. He touches some blood on the arch, and it molds into a bloodstone streaked with silver. Zevander tracks the blood to a cottage not far from the archway.

Zevander enters the home, following the blood. He finds two figures in their beds and is struck by the scent of oranges. Zevander finds an egg in a blanket, which he thinks is a drake egg. Uncovering the person in bed, he finds a woman, the source of the orange scent, and is overcome by arousal.

Zevander tries to burn the woman alive, but the spell ricochets back to him. He summons scorpions to sting her, but they sting his arm instead. Zevander resolves to cut her throat with his dagger, but the woman wakes up, revealing a silver streak in her eye.

Maevyth wakes up and sees Zevander standing over her. Before she can scream, he disappears. The egg rattles, and she picks it up in time to see a small, bird-like dragon break free from the shell. It accidentally cuts her hand but does not seem interested in her blood.

She takes the dragon downstairs to feed it. Spotting a rat, the dragon darts out and eats it. She names the dragon Raivox, after a Vonkovyan warrior. Bringing Raivox back to bed, Maevyth hears Danyra’s voice and ignores it. Maevyth assumes that Zevander was another illusion.

Zevander debates whether to try to kill Maevyth again. He treks through the forest, momentarily stepping into shadows to avoid passing creatures. He used Evanidusz, the power to vanish, to escape from Maevyth’s house, and it used up his magical strength.

He breaches the Umbravale to return to Aethyria and releases the guard there from his scorpions. He leaves one scorpion to burrow into the guard’s skin. If the guard says anything about Zevander, the scorpion will kill him. Zevander instructs the guard to alert him if anyone comes through the forest.

Maevyth leaves Raivox in a shed with some blankets. The Crone Witch sees her and explains that Maevyth sealed an exchange of blood when she cut herself on the archway and killed the raven. Maevyth now exists between the boundaries of life and death, which is why she can hear Danyra’s voice.

The Crone Witch tells Maevyth how, when she was Maevyth’s age, she and her brother went into the forest and found a creature in it. It killed her brother, and the Crone Witch ran to the Umbravale. She did not touch it and instead fled the forest. To discredit her, the Governor spread the rumor that the Crone Witch kidnapped children. When the Crone Witch asks, Maevyth lies about the egg, saying that it hatched a large bird that Maevyth freed.

Zevander finds himself obsessed with Maevyth, which disturbs him. He wonders if Maevyth is a veniszka, a mortal witch. Kazhimyr, another Letalisz, delivers a message about a new target from King Sagaerin. Kazhimyr was a slave to the Solassions with Zevander, although unlike Zevander, he kept his freezing blood magic.

Zevander’s new target is Dolion, who fled to Corvus Keep after he left, an abandoned castle inhabited by Carnificans, who are addicted to vivicantem. Zevander wonders what happened to Dolion’s bloodstones. Another Letalisz, Torryn, has been ordered to kill the flammapul user that hurt Rykaia for killing sexsells, or sex workers, with illegal potions. Torryn is in love with Rykaia and eager to kill the man.

Zevander and Kazhimyr decide to infiltrate Corvus Keep alone to find Dolion. Zevander cannot reveal his connection to Dolion, but he needs to keep Dolion alive so that he can finish their work with the bloodstones and free himself from his curse.

Maevyth checks on Raivox and finds him eating Agatha’s cat. Raivox has eaten all but the cat’s head. Maevyth pushes the head toward the dragon, but he refuses to eat it. Maevyth tries to hide it, but Riftyn interrupts her. Riftyn tells Maevyth that Aleysia is worried about Maevyth getting married as a “virgin,” which Maevyth doubts. He offers to have sex with Maevyth, which repulses her. Riftyn finally leaves, and Maevyth tucks Raivox into his nest, burying the cat’s head. Lolla yells for Maevyth and says that Aleysia confessed to being pregnant with Riftyn’s child, which means that she will be banished.

At Corvus Keep, Zevander and Kazhimyr wade through a swamp. Zevander says that he will imprison Dolion in Eidolon instead of killing him, but Kazhimyr does not like the plan. A horde of Carnificans attacks them, but they dispatch the attackers using Zevander’s scorpions and Kazhimyr’s freezing mist. They go into Corvus Keep, where they are attacked by more Carnificans. They pass through a protective ward that prevents the Carnificans from following and realize that Dolion must be making the ward with the bloodstones.

Zevander finds Dolion with three mimicrows, birds that relay messages for the Magestroli, and kills them. Dolion predicts that Zevander will join Cadavros in destroying Aethyria with the help of a Corvugon, a bird-like dragon thought to be extinct.

He tells Zevander the history of Corvus Keep and the mortal race of Corvikae that lived there. The Corvikae were the favorites of the Goddess of Death, Morsana. The Solassions forced the Corvikae into the Crussurian Trench between Aethyria and Mortasia and killed them off. Dolion suspects that Maevyth is the last of the Corvikae bloodline and believes that they should not kill her.

Kazhimyr is shocked to find out that Zevander went to Mortasia. Zevander confesses that he could not kill the woman and that she has a Corvugon. Dolion teleports all three of them to their horses, where they find more Carnificans. Three mages attack Zevander, Kazhimyr, and Dolion. They kill the mages, but Dolion says that more will come.

Maevyth rushes toward the Vonkovyan soldiers dragging Aleysia away. Agatha, Felix, Lolla, and Riftyn do nothing. Maevyth punches a guard and stabs him, but he punches her in the chest and shoves Aleysia into the carriage. Agatha slaps Maevyth, who spits in her face, and tells Riftyn and Felix to bring Maevyth to Moros.

Riftyn and Felix drag Maevyth, bound with rope, to Moros, but Moros tells them to unbind her. Maevyth kicks Riftyn, and Moros brings Maevyth to a large basement. Maevyth sees strange creatures in jars and two women in a giant water tank. Moros says that he went to a fair as a child with many oddities like these. When he found out that the show was fake, he decided to make one of his own. The two women are Lyverians whom Moros kidnapped; he sewed their legs together to approximate mermaids. Maevyth is horrified.

In another room, she finds a humanoid mutant with a melted face and bony spines coming out of its back. Moros reveals that the creature is the officer who touched Maevyth at lunch and that the mutations are caused by the white stones he found. Moros tells Maevyth they must go to Aleysia’s Banishing.

Maevyth wishes that she could be with Aleysia before the Banishing, which will begin at any moment. Maevyth thinks of the “mermaids,” and a voice tells her that Moros will do something horrible to her. Maevyth sees Danyra’s spirit in the corner of the room, and she tells Maevyth to escape. Danyra holds up her palm, scarred with a pattern of lines that grow silver.