Chapter 28 #3
“I had eyes once.” Her voice was a lullaby, sweet and light, and bewitching.
“Eyes like winter’s first frost… and the Summer Kings courted my attention, holding me close and warding off any who might steal my precious gift from their bony grasps.
Those kings came and went, rising like flames to burn into ashes that scattered on the warm breath of this land.
Then he came… your father… dripping poison in his wake that tainted this sacred ground…
and when I told him of his fate—when I spoke the truth of my visions to him—he carved out my eyes so I could no longer see. ”
She laughed, the sound haunting and sinister, without a trace of amusement, as she resumed her weaving, manipulating threads of spun gold and amber.
“It did not stop my visions from coming,” she whispered. “I can see perfectly well without my eyes… and for that he cast me from the castle, banishing me to this forest that has been my home for two centuries now.”
She angled her head towards her work.
“You wear his mark.”
I looked at what she was weaving, hovering in the air in brilliant gold and amber that sparked like fire, and couldn’t recognise it in its unfinished state.
“I don’t.” I shook my head, the bite in my words and that anger that rose inside me surprising me as I said that and then added, “And I’m nothing like my so-called father.”
“Not that mark,” she murmured, continuing her work. “The Shadow King’s mark.”
“I don’t wear that either.” My fingers absently brushed that hollow spot again as I snarled, “They took it from me.”
“He will return it.”
My heart stilled. “Did you see that in a vision?”
She nodded solemnly. “It will cost him greatly.”
That had worry lancing me to shatter the warmth that had dared to bloom at the thought he would give me back the mark that had become a cherished part of me.
“What will cost him?” I whispered, afraid of the answer.
The female ‘looked’ at me again, her tone soft but edged with sorrow. “The fragile threads of silver and shadow that entwine your souls, and glitter brightly as gold.”
Love.
Our love would cost him greatly.
“What will it cost him?” I feared she would say his court or his head.
She shook hers. “That I do not know. I only know that he will pay a price for his actions, and that he knows he should not do what is coming, and yet… he will do it anyway… because of this.”
She lifted her hands slightly and I looked there, at the near-perfect imitation of Kaeleron’s brand, and my hand flew back to my chest as a thought formed, one that had me shaking in both rage and fear.
“He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t come here. He isn’t. He’s sending someone else for me. He isn’t coming personally… because if he does…” Then he would break the accord. I firmly shook my head. “He wouldn’t be so reckless.”
He would.
Gods, I knew he would.
His vow hadn’t been idle words spoken in the tempest of passionate feelings.
He would tear down this world to take me back and no accord, no law, would stop him.
The female wove something else in the air as the brand faded. It looked like a flower.
It took shape as she said, “He will come when the blooms do. He will not wait for his queen. He will take her.”
A shiver danced down my spine, tripping through my heart to warm it.
His queen.
I ached to be that queen.
“How can I stop him?” I took another halting step towards her, desperation welling up inside me to make me bold. “If he comes to the Summer Court, he’ll break the accord, and they’ll execute him and the Shadow Court will be punished for his actions.”
She swirled her fingers, weaving the magic. “There is no stopping fate. Your future is carved.”
I looked at her hands, at the threads that turned gold and ruby.
“Most glittering of gold,” I whispered. “Carved from blades of bone and blood.”
A wild sort of desperation flooded me.
I lunged towards her. “Tell me what you know. Did you see the same vision? Tell me the future you saw. Anything that might help me. Tell me why Lucia is guiding me.”
She shook her head as she pushed to her bare feet. “I am tired and have been sitting too long.”
She stepped from beneath the shade of the tree and tilted her head back, as if she was peering at the sky.
“My eyes were beautiful. Winter’s first frost,” she murmured and I could feel her drifting away from me, reminding me of another female. “My greatest treasure. Return them to me and I shall tell you what I know.”
I stilled.
Treasure.
And screamed as I was hurled backwards, my spine hitting a tree hard enough to knock the wind from my lungs, and as my rear hit the ground, air blasted against me, hurling grains of dirt into my face.
I raised my arms, crossing them in front of my head to shield my eyes, as the sound of wings beating filled the silence.
I opened those eyes in time to see the barbed tail of a great silver beast whipping above the trees before it disappeared out of sight.
A dragon.
Like Neve.
I had so many questions, but one rang out louder than the rest, lifted by the pressing need burning inside me.
Where could I find the eyes of a dragon?