Chapter 56
The Sightkeepers straightened, hands flying to their hilts as we rounded the feather’s final corner and faced the rocky fountain. It seemed everyone was on edge today.
Vines wrapped around my ribs and squeezed. The last time I’d been here, Heraphia had burned out. That same desperation clung to the air, thicker than the spray off the waterfall.
When the males noted Vaeron’s calm presence—on the exterior at least—they relaxed.
I did not. Because today I’d be forced once again to sit in that damn crystal chair. Forced to pretend the Goddess gifted me a prophecy and hope it was accurate enough that the Korona wouldn’t suspect I was faking.
All while the fate of my mate would be decided the very next day.
“Bye,” I whispered to Vaeron as I slipped my hand out of his. The chain binding us together thrashed at the loss of contact. For once, I wanted to give into its demands and remain by his side.
His piercing blue eyes cradled mine as I backed away, unable to turn and let go. Each step closer to the Divine Atrium was torture. My body rebelled, every movement like wading through quicksand. More than anything, I did not want to go.
But I didn’t have a choice. Not with everything at stake for us.
Vaeron lingered as I stepped beyond the two males tasked with guarding the Seers.
The door to the room stood ajar, as if it were waiting for my entry.
Dread swiped a chill down my spine.
With one last look at my mate, who offered me a subtle nod, I dragged my feet onward.
Smoke curled in my nostrils, bringing bile to my throat. For a flash, it wasn’t the herbal concoction they used to heighten our power—it was the pyre upon which my best friend burned.
White lights floated dim and low, barely revealing the hunched figures in the rows ahead. A few of the females slumped in their chairs, arms crossed over their bellies. Others curled in on themselves, bracing their head in their hands.
Exhaustion simmered within the Seers. Only one glanced up at me as I approached my seat. Even then, she said nothing, too drained for her lips to move.
Attendants bustled about, offering enhancements to each hollow shell. Lyriasthe appeared at my side, her tray brimming with everything I could possibly use to wield my power. Heraphia’s aquamarine was among them.
I sucked in a sharp breath as I lifted it from its cushion. It was heavy enough to rival the grief in my heart and cool like her forehead had been when I kissed it goodbye.
“How are you?” Lyriasthe asked under her breath.
“Alive.” I clutched the stone to my chest and settled against the cushions on my chair.
It wasn’t quite time for us to begin, and yet I couldn’t wait to leave. Tension held my muscles moments from leaping and racing away from this place. The air thickened, and I drowned in smoke.
A hand on my arm had me looking back to the Elessarum member. “I’m right here.”
I nodded, forcing myself to relax the muscles in my shoulders.
The door slammed shut, making me jump. The other Seers barely seemed to register the sound.
Until Iaoth’s shrill voice pierced the air.
Rage stormed inside me. I’d heard Vaeron arguing with his sister through a foggy haze, and I’d figured it was about my lack of presence here. So when her gaze landed on me and she smiled, my suspicions were confirmed.
“Ah, Sylaira,” she cooed like we were old friends, “So glad you have finally rejoined us. All your rest should have you primed to See today. I wonder what the Goddess will offer you?”
I stuck my tongue in the side of my cheek. There was no chance me opening my mouth would result in anything other than barbed words.
When I didn’t respond, she let out a heavy, disappointed sigh and addressed the other side of the room. “Now, my darlings, I know you’re tired, but saving our people is paramount. I trust that you will all open wide for our Goddess.”
No one replied.
Iaoth frowned. Then, she shook her head, the silver circlet on her brow glittering in the low light. “Well, let’s begin with a prayer then.”
She bowed her head. Not many others had to move to do the same from their current posture. I kept mine aloft and glared at the Korona.
“Radiant Mother, creator of all life, hear my prayer. Cleanse this world with Your holy light. I walk in your truth, illuminated by your divine will. Let Your justice flow through my hands,” she began.
My nostrils flared as she continued with her adulation. Each false word that slipped between her teeth twisted a whirlwind of anger tighter inside me.
By the time she finished, it had grown too furious to contain.
If she wanted us to be pious, I’d give her the kind that set her ambitions ablaze. “Goddess, burn away all hatred so that we may find peace within our realms.”
Gasps bloomed from seeds of silence.
Iaoth’s gaze snapped to mine. My lips curled back from my teeth in a vicious grin. Let her swipe her claws at me in front of all these people. They all knew who I was. What my power was supposed to be. Who Heraphia had been to me.
For once, I was not afraid of the Korona.
That hatred I’d asked the Goddess to remove hadn’t been for me.
No, I wanted to watch Iaoth suffer.
She moved toward me, then stopped herself. Our staredown continued, tension rising like the heat of the day. But I didn’t blink, didn’t dare shift in my seat. If this was to be a battle of wills, I intended on winning.
“Peace, indeed. Where our realm is whole and stretches from sea to sea,” she bit out.
Something inside me fractured. How dare she twist my words for her own designs. Energy crackled between my fingers, Iaoth’s attention momentarily flicking there. But she continued her pointed attack anyway.
“And your visions can ensure that comes to pass. I expect great things from you today, Sylaira. I’ll be by to check on you, to ensure you have everything you need to See.”
With that, she finally broke away, snapping her fingers at the attendants. All light disappeared like the maw of a leviathan snapping shut. Only the flickering of embers burning beneath herbs appeared in the void. I banished my leaking magic, teeth gritted in an attempt to rein in my emotions.
Lyriasthe shifted, the sound of ruffling palms reaching my ears a moment before a light breeze.
Surrendering my grip on the crystal chair, I flexed my fingers, working the ache out of them. And then, I sat back, crossing my legs in the wide seat. My knee made no protest—a small blessing that spoke to how hard I’d worked at healing it.
The darkness was disorienting. Perhaps it was meant to encourage us to shut out all distractions and focus our power. But for me, it kept me on edge. My senses were attuned to the subtle shifts in the air, the steps others took in the space.
Wherever the fuck Iaoth was. Her presence alone was enough to keep the hairs on the back of my neck aloft, and as she swept by a second time, I intuited exactly how she made my body react physically to her proximity. The slightest hitch in my breath. The tension in my shoulders.
She would not surprise me today.
A tendril of awareness brushed against my mind.
“Everything okay?” Vaeron hummed, but an undercurrent of concern remained.
“So far,” I told him, allowing him to dive into the depths of my anxiety.
He said nothing, nor did he retreat. And I found that I didn’t want him to. His presence was a comfort. Steady. Undeniable.
Something I’d never thought was possible. Yet he’d proven that he would protect me, even at great risk to himself.
Deep down, that was all I’d ever wanted from my mate. Even if that safeguard had previously been from him.
He wasn’t the biggest monster in the Angel Realm.
Some time later, a baritone voice dragged me from my meditative state.
“Still nothing?” he said. My stomach lurched at the tone—low, commanding, familiar.
Koron Stadiel.
“Not yet. It’s been hours,” Iaoth whispered back.
I stiffened. Lyriasthe found my arm and squeezed. With the barest bit of strength, she guided me closer so she could speak in my ear. “No one has Seen anything. It is unusual.”
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed as I drifted. I’d gotten better over the weeks about tuning out everyone else, about blocking out reminders of my own trauma cursed by Sight.
“When did he arrive?” I asked.
“A few minutes ago,” Lyriasthe murmured, then retreated.
Light trickled across the stone ceiling. Blinking, my eyes refocused, finding the Koron and Korona in the center of the space—the same spot where Heraphia had shared power with her—both adding magic to illuminate us. And beside them was the High Priestess.
Other Seers stirred too.
Males streamed through a beaded entry, pausing at the head of the rows as if they were waiting for their monarch’s command.
I recognized one with cerulean irises from an Elessarum safe haven we’d passed through shortly after the raid that killed my parents.
He didn’t glance at me, merely kept his weary gaze fixed on the Korona.
None of them looked any better than the female Seers.
The weight of the presence though…
It was heavy. Loaded. I tasted the wrongness in the air.
“We have a new idea,” the Koron spoke, finally breaking the silence. “Our High Priestess has spoken with the Goddess. Based on her conversation, we know She wishes for there to be more…happiness among her most gifted.”
The abrasive scoff slipped out of me before I could smother it. The three pinned me with their attention. I lifted my chin in return.
Muscle ticking in his jaw, Stadiel tore his gaze away from me, flicking it over every gathered individual.
“Those of similar eye color will pair up for the remainder of the day,” he continued.
“For what?” a female called out, sounding jaded and the barest bit scared. “I am not sharing power. Not after what happened.”
I held my breath, waiting to see how the monarchs would react.