Chapter 12 #3
“Aurora,” he said, taking her hands in his. “Drakon has only been alive for one month. I questioned Batea as well as her attendants. They all confirm the same thing.”
“I’m not mad, Theron,” she said, snatching away her hand. “I—”
“Please, if only for a moment, I want you to consider something. Memories are strange things. I have seen it time and again in my court when I rule on petitions that come before me. Each petitioner believes themselves to be telling the truth, but when questioned, they both report the same event as happening in a completely different way. Neither are lying, neither are mad, but their recollections have been altered. Even seeing the same petitioners again after some time has passed changes the story they tell. And the more violent the incident, the more varied the testimony. I want to discuss what happened to you because I know it was horrifying. I have seen the evidence of your old injuries with my magic. That kind of ordeal colours one’s perceptions even more.
Is it not possible that what you suffered has been blended with your visions of the future? ”
She tried to cool her anger, yet it welled up inside her, setting her magic off. Like a pit of snakes, it seethed and roiled inside her. Calm. Focus. If he knows the truth, maybe then… Or maybe she was a fool to hope.
“My memories are as intact as my mind, Theron. Provided I live long enough, one day I will have to fear sliding into madness, but that day is a long way off.”
“How would you know? Do you truly believe the mad know themselves to be so afflicted?”
“Is this your way of telling me you never intend to believe a word I say? That you intend to discredit me to all who might heed my warnings?” she asked, hackles rising.
“Don’t put words in my mouth, Aurora. I desperately wish to help you.”
“Then stop assuming I’m mad!”
“Then tell me what happened to you in your homeland,” he said, pretending to be all that was calm and rational.
“To what end? After hearing me speak, will you believe me? Or do you intend to use everything I tell you to insist that I can’t possibly be recalling my own past correctly?” she asked, tears threatening in her anger.
“I hope that, in discussing your past, together we can separate the truth from the misconceptions. That I can help you heal your mind as I have helped heal your body.”
Stubborn ass. He couldn’t imagine a world in which he was wrong. And if he couldn’t conceive of such a thing, how was she to convince him?
“And are you prepared to accept that the one mired in misconceptions is you, and not me?”
“Aurora,” he sighed. “I am not the one who believes a month-old beast without even a tenth of the magics you recall it having is the very same one who destroyed their homeland at least several months past. Can you explain that to me?”
Of course she could. But would he believe her, even if she laid it out for him, or was he incapable of accepting something he had not already concluded for himself?
She took a deep breath, willing her anger to subside.
If he had not already stabbed her in the back twice, explaining it to him wouldn’t feel like swallowing glass shards. Perhaps if she changed her approach?
“What is my magic, Theron?”
“Time.”
“And what have you seen me do with my magic?”
“Visions and stopping time for people or groups, aging a man to near death.”
“Alright, and what else, theoretically, could someone who controls time be capable of? Someone in possession of an ancient artefact easily confused for a calendar?”
He frowned, puzzling it out for himself. Yes, maybe this approach was better. If he could accept the abilities her magic gave her, then convincing him of her full truth was close at hand.
“You think you…can travel through time? Who else…” He paled as he trailed off, swallowing nervously. “Who else have you told?”
Relief nearly made her collapse. She’d gotten through to him.
“Orithyia and Hyllus.”
“And they believed you?”
“Yes. Though Orithyia required some convincing. I told her where the first monstrosities would appear, and yet she never once acknowledged that I was right about it.”
He appeared even more pained. Why?
“And what makes you think she ever believed you? You’ve seen what she’s capable of. Isn’t it more likely she sees you as a useful pawn and doesn’t believe you at all?”
That…wasn’t what she was expecting him to say.
“H-Hyllus believes me too.”
Theron sighed, pity in his gaze.
“Hyllus, while kind-hearted and brave, is extremely credulous, Aurora.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that Hyllus had the magic of divine eyes, had looked into the Tapestry itself and seen the truth. But that was a secret she’d sworn to keep.
“You don’t believe me,” she said, her voice as hollow as her heart. Of course he wouldn’t, not this stubborn, overconfident king. He’d made up his mind, and nothing she said would change that.
“Would you?” he asked.