Chapter 20

Alone at Eidolon Castle, Zevander studies a small red bloodstone and obsesses over the raven-haired mortal who resisted his sablefyre. The fragment is too small for Dolion’s collection, leaving Zevander to either find another of her bloodline or return to Mortasia. Dolion has vanished, and unsettling visions of the girl plague Zevander.

Kazhimyr arrives with a royal summons: Dolion Gevarys has been heard raving about Cadavros inside Corvus Keep, the abandoned prison for Carnificans—Aethyrians driven mad and cannibalistic by excess vivicantem. A mimicrow confirmed Dolion’s voice, suggesting he is alive and possibly tied to illegal demutomancy with bloodstones.

Zevander reflects that his own sablefyre crafted the pure stones and could also destroy them, but he still needs Dolion to break his curse. Determined not to obey the king’s order to assassinate Dolion, Zevander proposes that only he and Kazhimyr handle the mission, limiting witnesses to his intended defiance.

Kazhimyr warns of the Carnificans’ strength, but relents. They trade bleak humor about their odds and agree to depart at dusk, expecting a five-day ride to the keep. Zevander masks his true plan while concealing prior failures, his fixation on the mortal, and Rykaia’s suffering.

Separately, Torryn has been assigned to hunt a flammellian who uses unauthorized potions and unreleased spells, murdering sexsells in The Hovel—an urgent matter given Rykaia’s visits to brothels. As Zevander and Kazhimyr prepare, the stakes converge: Dolion’s fate, Zevander’s curse, and threats tied to forbidden magic.