51. Kian
It”s not urgent, but when you have a moment, please call me, the text read.
Kian always had a moment for his wife, no matter what he was doing, but he had to find a quiet space to talk to her.
She probably hadn”t waited and had induced a vision without him. Hopefully, she had called one of his sisters to monitor her in case she fainted. It wasn”t only about her now. She needed to think about Allegra.
Leaving the balcony and the sounds of boisterous laughter and clinking glasses, Kian walked into the living room of the cabin, sat down on the couch, and placed the call.
”You didn”t have to call right away,” Syssi said. ”But thanks for doing so.”
”What happened? Did you induce a vision?”
”Amanda watched over me, and I didn”t suffer any ill effects, but regrettably, the Fates decided not to show Khiann, and the vision was about something completely different.”
”That”s indeed regrettable.” Kian”s heart clenched with sorrow for his mother. ”But the Fates must have their good reasons.” He pushed to his feet. ”What did they show you?”
”It was about the Kra-ell pods. Or rather one pod.”
Damn. Kian hadn”t expected that.
”I”m on my way. I”ll be there in a few minutes.” He opened the balcony door and stepped out.
”What about the party?” Syssi asked.
Kian glanced back at the group of males, some sprawled on loungers, others standing next to the railing and puffing on what little was left of their cigars. The party was winding down, with the toasts and laughter giving way to quieter conversations and contemplative sips of whiskey.
”It”s almost over,” he said. ”I”ll just say goodbye to Yamanu.”
”Amanda and I are waiting.”
Kian ended the call, slipped the phone back into his pocket, and walked over to Yamanu, who was standing by the railing and chatting with Arwel.
He put his hand on the Guardian”s shoulder. ”I had a great time, but I need to go. I”ll be back in time to escort you to the altar.”
A big grin spread across Yamanu”s handsome features. ”I”ll hold you to that.” He clapped Kian on the shoulder.
”Do you need me to come with you?” Anandur asked Kian.
”No. I”m just going to my cabin. Stay and enjoy the party.”
It took Kian less than five minutes from the time he had ended the call with Syssi until he opened the door to his cabin. He found Syssi and Amanda seated on the couch, each holding a cup of coffee, which was a good sign. If the news were bad, Amanda would be nursing a drink.
”Hello, ladies.” He leaned to kiss Amanda”s cheek and then Syssi”s. ”You don”t look like you have seen a specter, so I assume that the vision wasn”t about doom and gloom.”
Syssi”s visions were rarely about happy events, which was the reason she dreaded them so much and tried to avoid them most of the time. The only reason she occasionally induced them was when she was trying to help someone else.
Had she used Allegra”s amplifying power?
The door to the bedroom was open, and through the doorway, he could see their daughter sleeping peacefully in her crib.
Hopefully, assisting her mother just by being around wasn”t detrimental to her in any way.
”What did you see?” Kian sat down on an armchair, facing her and Amanda.
Listening to Syssi describe what she had seen, Kian had to fight his natural skepticism. If those words were coming from anyone else, he would have dismissed the story as a dream or a hallucination, but his mate had a perfect track record for prophetic visions that, in one way or another, had come to pass.
”Jasmine needs to be told,” Amanda said after Syssi was done. ”I wish we had more time and didn”t need to make rush decisions, but the cruise is almost over, and Aru and his team plan to head out as soon as they can.”
”I need to think this through,” Kian said. ”It”s not as easy as just telling Jasmine about gods and immortals and asking her to join Aru”s team. We don”t know what methods she uses other than the tarot cards, and whether there is any way she can actually guide the team to the location of the pod.”
”She was there,” Syssi said. ”That means that she knows, or will know, how to get there. I don”t see any other reason for the vision to show me that scene if it wasn”t about to happen.” Syssi leaned toward him. ”We have just one more day at sea, Kian. You need to decide quickly.”
He nodded. ”Perhaps I need to discuss it with Turner. He usually sees clearly through the worst of messes. We also need to tell Mother.” He looked at Amanda. ”She will be so disappointed that Syssi didn”t see what happened to Khiann. It was a long shot, but she had her hopes up.”
”I can try again,” Syssi said. ”I gave it a lot of thought, and there is one commonality between the royal twins and Khiann. They are all in stasis. Maybe that”s why I was shown the twins instead of Khiann. I was thinking about him buried deep in the earth.” She sighed. ”But maybe it”s not the reason, and the Fates just wanted to show me the pod so I would know that Jasmine was needed to find it. This makes me think that they will not show me anything other than the Kra-ell pod until we find it. After that”s done, I will try again, and maybe then I will be granted answers about Khiann.”