Cyrene followed in Vera’s wake as they exited the castle a short while later and hurried out to the docks. This wasn’t exactly how she had pictured celebrating the Eos holiday, but she couldn’t have been more excited.

Matilde had left at once to begin preparations for whatever was to come. Meanwhile, Cyrene had sent her friends off to tie up loose ends. Orden had rushed to find Maelia and let her know what had happened. Avoca had gone to collect the Book of the Doma and Cyrene’s Presenting letter from her rooms. While it had been up to Ahlvie to find Dean and let him know what had happened. Cyrene had really preferred to do that one herself, but once everything was underway, Vera had bustled her along to collect the things she needed. It seemed that Vera was as anxious to get started as Cyrene was.

With book and letter in a leather pouch, Cyrene and Vera met Matilde siting in a gondola on the water. There was no gondolier in sight.

“All right. In you go,” Vera said, prodding her forward.

Cyrene carefully eased herself into the boat and dropped her bag onto the floorboard. Vera followed in behind her, taking the seat next to Matilde.

Matilde smirked at her. “Are you ready for your first lesson?”

“Absolutely.”

“Row our boat to the Third Harbor. We have a lot of work to do, and we’d like to get started as soon as possible.”

Cyrene skeptically eyed them both and then glanced at the oar. “You’re serious?”

“Very,” Matilde said.

Vera nodded her head.

“I’ve never rowed a boat in my life. Well,” she said, “just once in my life, and that was because I feared it was life or death.”

“Then, fear this is life or death,” Matilde told her.

Cyrene saw that they weren’t going to budge on this, and she shakily stood. She walked to the stern of the boat and reached for the paddle. She wanted to tell them how ridiculous this exercise was going to be. She had no idea what she was doing, it was the middle of the night, they were going to lose the entire night for training. A gondola wasn’t like the little dinghy she had used to navigate the underground waterways in the Byern castle. But she steeled herself and decided she would give it a try before giving up.

Taking the paddle in her hand, she pushed off from the dock and rowed out onto the open lake. She rowed it about halfway across the lake before her arms were aching, and her breathing was heavy. With every stroke that she pushed, she appreciated what the gondoliers did. They must have the most powerful arm muscles in the world to get across the water so effortlessly all the time. And back muscles. They were going to hurt in the morning. She just knew it.

“Is there a point to this?” she asked as she finally approached the gate to exit the lake.

“We were just seeing how long it would take for you to realize that you should use your magic for this,” Matilde said dryly.

Cyrene froze. “But I thought you were going to train me to do that.”

They glanced at each other, as if they were reading each other’s minds, and then up at Cyrene.

“We are,” Vera said simply.

“I’m dangerous though. I could destroy the island if I tried to move the boat.”

“We would never let that happen,” Matilde told her. “But you must start somewhere, and this is where we’ll begin. Now, grasp for your powers.”

“Gently,” Vera amended. “Like a lover’s caress.”

Cyrene reached for her powers, and they came all too readily to her fingertips. It was euphoric.

“Now, each power has its own thread.”

“A pulse?” Cyrene asked. “That’s what Avoca called them.”

“Similar, yes, but within you, not within the substance. If you want to manipulate water, you have to first find the energy within yourself to do that work,” Vera instructed calmly. “The number of elements you can manipulate determines how many different energies you can feel within. You clearly have all five, and Spirit is the strongest. But to work with Spirit safely, you need to master the other four elements. Let’s start with water, shall we?” Vera took a breath. “I’ll show you what I mean.”

Vera put her hand out in front of herself, and a warm band of gold light wrapped around her arm to her wrist. She slowly and deliberately let Cyrene see the thread of power between her and the water as their boat drifted forward of its own accord.

She dropped her hand and smiled. “Now, you try.”

Cyrene closed her eyes and fumbled for the thread within her that called to the water. She had felt the energies within her for months. Now, she just needed to figure out how to harvest them.

Vera was right. Spirit was the most powerful. It almost seemed to push all the others out of the way when Cyrene stretched down inside herself. She didn’t even know what it could do, but it was so blinding and begged for attention that she almost wanted to open herself up to it. But she pushed the urge aside and took ahold of the line that brought water to her fingertips. She used the movement to push the boat forward, just as she had seen Vera do.

But instead of flowing smoothly, the boat jerked out of control, as if propelled by a tidal wave. A gust of water came over and crashed down onto Cyrene, knocking her from her feet and shoving her onto the floorboard of the boat. The boat stopped moving just before hitting the gate that let them exit the royal grounds.

Cyrene was coughing up lake water as she pushed herself into a sitting position. When her eyes met Matilde and Vera, they were both still seated calmly and serenely. Not a drop of water was on either of them while Cyrene was sure she looked like a fish out of water.

“Very good,” Vera said.

“Adequate,” Matilde said. “But not the worst we’ve ever seen.”

“I’m drenched,” Cyrene groaned.

“That means you were able to access water…even if it seems as if that is not your issue,” Vera said.

“Too much power, if anything,” Matilde agreed.

“We’ll need to start smaller.”

“Much smaller.”

“Are either of you going to clue me in on what’s going on?” Cyrene asked. She was thankful for the warm weather for once because she would have been frozen solid if in Byern.

Matilde shook her head, as if Cyrene’s question was of little import. “Vera will guide us out of here, so we can get to our desired destination before sunrise. Feel your powers, Cyrene, and follow her lead, but don’t try to do anything. Just learn the way she does it.”

The gate rose before them. Cyrene wasn’t sure if that was the result of the guards who were usually stationed overhead or magic, but she didn’t pay any further attention. She just focused on what Vera was doing. She couldn’t actually see the magic Vera was using. And she didn’t entirely know how she was doing it. But there was a sense or a feeling to it. When she concentrated, she could tell what was happening and how much power was being used. If that was common, then she understood why they had freaked out about the amount of magic she had used to get out of the cell Alise and Robard had thrown her in. Moving the boat forward was a millionth of the amount of power she had harnessed to do that.

The journey to Third Harbor was much smoother with Vera leading the way. Soon, they were docked, and despite the fact that Cyrene was still sopping wet, she followed Matilde and Vera off the boat and to a much larger vessel.

Matilde spoke to a man for a few minutes, and Cyrene surveyed him. He was a burly man with a large jagged scar across the right side of his face. He had long hair tied back into a knot at the base of his head with a captain’s hat on his head.

Cyrene’s jaw dropped. “Captain De la Mora?” she asked.

The man raised an eyebrow at her as his eyes crawled over her wet body where the sheer material clung to her. “Do I know you, girl?”

Cyrene crossed her arms over her breasts. “We met in Albion earlier this year.”

“I don’t remember you,” he said dismissively.

Oh, but Cyrene remembered him. She would remember him anywhere. He was the jerk who had refused her, Ahlvie, and Maelia a trip to Eleysia. Captain Lador had agreed to take them out of the harbor, providing their only way out, but he had died. The Braj who had come after Cyrene had killed him. And the new captain, Captain De la Mora, was prejudice against Affiliate and High Order.

“You should,” she said stiffly. “You were leaving the country and refused to let me aboard your ship.”

The Captain narrowed his eyes at her and then frantically looked between Cyrene and the twins. “An Affiliate. Did you know what she was?” he asked Matilde and Vera.

“Yes, we’re quite aware. Now that all of the pleasantries are out of the way, we need to leave straight away.”

“I don’t transport Affiliates,” Captain De la Mora argued.

Matilde shot him a furious look. “You will do just the sort today and every day we need you henceforth.”

She walked onto the boat without a backward glance, and Vera followed her. Cyrene gave him a smile and walked forward, but he roughly grabbed her arm.

“Let me pass!”

“I trust these women with all that I am. That’s the only reason I’m letting you on this ship. But if you try any funny business…”

“You’ll what?” she asked him.

“I’d be happy to throw you overboard and leave you behind,” he spat. Then, he pushed past Cyrene and stormed onto the boat.

Cyrene grumbled under her breath but followed him on board. She hadn’t even done anything, and people everywhere accused her of being corrupt. Her people had such a bad name, and it frightened her. Now that her eyes were open…she wanted to do something about it.

First things first…her magic.

Captain De la Mora made it perfectly clear to the crew that she was to be avoided at all times, and by the time they finally stopped, Cyrene felt sufficiently isolated. Even Matilde and Vera had stayed together below deck, murmuring to themselves. Cyrene had so many questions for them, least of all how they had survived for two thousand years, but they didn’t seem the type to allow questions until they were ready to give answers.

“Be back before sundown, Geof,” Matilde said sharply. She was holding a metal bucket and waved it at him.

“I will. Of course, my lovely Kathrine,” he said as cheerfully as he could muster. “And Mari.”

“You’re a good man,” Vera said. She patted his arm twice and then walked toward the rope ladder that one of the men had thrown down for them.

Cyrene smiled halfheartedly at the Captain, who just glared back at her. Then, she climbed down the ladder and onto a small boat. They arrived at shore on what looked like an isolated volcanic island. It was utter paradise with tropical palm trees, crystal-clear blue water, and pearly-white sand. The mountain loomed high above them, and Cyrene hoped there wasn’t going to be volcanic activity anytime soon. There hadn’t been an eruption in her lifetime, and she hoped to keep it that way.

Once the boat was nearly out of eyesight, Matilde and Vera cleared a spot in the sand and took a seat. Cyrene gingerly followed their lead.

“Before we begin,” Cyrene said quickly, “can I ask you one question?”

“You just did,” Matilde responded quickly.

“I think one will be enough. There’s so much to teach you,” Vera said.

“And I have so much to tell you. Like about this,” she said, reaching into her bag and producing the Book of the Doma that had brought her here in the first place.

Matilde and Vera gasped at the same time. Their eyes in the early morning light were bright and violet as they widened with surprise.

“Where did you get that?” Vera murmured reverently.

“My sister bought it off an Eleysian peddler named Basille Selby, and it was given to me as a gift for my seventeenth birthday,” Cyrene told them.

“May I?” Vera asked.

She reached for the book, and Cyrene regretfully offered it.

“Basille must not have known,” Matilde said, “or else he would have brought it to us.”

“No. How could he have known?” Vera asked.

She flipped through the pages, and Cyrene was sure that she had never looked happier than with a book open in her lap.

“Have you tried to read it?” Matilde asked. Her eyes darted up to Cyrene in panic.

“I did try to read it at first, but I lost minutes and then hours of time. It started to scare me, especially since I was the only one I knew who could even see the words.”

They both nodded in understanding.

“Yes. It is Doma made. The secret of its construction was lost before we were even accepted.”

“I haven’t told you everything,” Cyrene admitted. “The first time I used my magic was to save my own life, and I blacked out. I had a vision or a dream or something of Serafina going through her own Presenting.”

Matilde and Vera shared one of their meaningful looks.

“When you had this vision, were you looking at Serafina, or could you interact with her?” Matilde asked

“No. I was her,” Cyrene told them. “At least, I was trapped in her body, going through all of the motions of what she was doing. I mean…I met Viktor Dremylon. They were in love and wanted to marry before she left to be a Doma.”

Vera startled. “You found that out in your vision?” She thoughtfully chewed on her lip. “Most people don’t know that anymore. They are just bitter enemies instead of bitter lovers.”

“Yes. How tragic,” Matilde said sarcastically. “Tell us more about this vision. You went through her Presenting?”

“Yes. I was there with her through the tunnel. I opened the book. I saw the words written on the wall. When I got back to my body, I could read the pages. They suddenly made sense.”

Both women stared at her wordlessly. She had clearly shocked them.

“What does that mean?”

“That means, Cyrene,” Vera said shakily, “that you are the first person in two thousand years to be given access to Doma secrets and the ability to truly unlock your Doma power.”

“When I was in Eldora, Queen Shira told me it was the lost Book of the Doma. I’ve read some of it, but I couldn’t do anything the book said. I had a block against my powers that I had to work against before I could even access them.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Matilde said. “This is the lost Book of the Doma, and eventually, you will learn how to access its secrets, but this doesn’t change anything at the moment. You are much too inexperienced to be able to work from the book. The only thing more powerful for Doma, besides this book, was the Domina diamond, and that, I fear, has been lost forever.”

“Then, we should get started,” Vera said. “This is just another sign.”

“A sign of what?” Cyrene asked.

Matilde pursed her lips and glared at Vera.

“Look, everyone keeps mentioning the Circadian Prophecy and how I’m a part of it, but I don’t know what that means. Does it have to do with this?” Cyrene asked, shoving her Presenting letter in front of the women.

They read the crumpled paper.

WHAT YOU SEEK LIES WHERE YOU CANNOT SEEK IT.

WHAT YOU FIND CANNOT BE FOUND.

THE THING YOU DESIRE ABOVE ALL ELSE RISKS ALL ELSE.

THE THING YOU FIGHT FOR CANNOT BE WON.

WHEN ALL SEEMS LOST, WHAT WAS LOST CAN BE FOUND.

WHEN ALL BEND, YOU CANNOT BE AS YOU WERE.

“Where did you get this?” Vera asked. She ran a finger down the paper.

“It is my Presenting letter from court when I was made an Affiliate. I thought the first two lines meant that I had magic because I couldn’t seek it, and it couldn’t be found, but I don’t really understand any of it.”

“This is a small section of the Circadian Prophecy, yes,” Matilde verified. “Many who have studied this part have no better understanding of it. Educated men and women have worked on interpretations of the Prophecy for generations. We can only follow the portents the way that we view them.”

“And how do you view them?” she asked desperately.

Vera sighed. “That we were spared in the War of the Light for a reason, and we will do what we can to help bring balance back to this world.”

“And, to do that, you need more training,” Matilde cut in. “So, let’s get started.”