48. Lina
Lina
T he blood in my veins halts entirely, twists, and reverses course.
The very ground beneath my feet shifts, leaving me falling, falling, falling forever.
Astella is in the dungeons?
“Don’t worry, Drahkita,” the seer croons. “She has a purpose to fulfill.”
When my breathing restarts, it’s double speed. “No. She?—”
She smiles. “It is very hard when we meet someone on a different path than us. You are doing so well here. But the girl you met is no longer on your path. She is there for crimes committed, and there is no undoing them.”
My brain fights so hard to find reality again, to sort through the panic and the pain and fear to figure out what’s real. Is she talking about Astella? If she is in the dungeon…
“She stole something from our people. She will pay for it now. Would you like to join her in her punishment?”
My lips part but I cannot find the strength to respond.
“She is going to die,” the seer continues calmly. She has no compassion at all. It’s as if she were explaining the patterns of the moon, or the seasons of weather. “Her soul will strengthen the Drak. It is a fair death. She has a wonderful purpose. And she will still have the chance to be reborn.”
I’m very confused, but I don’t want to give her any more information. She can’t know the lengths I would go…
She must read something in my eyes because she raises her hands, as if in surrender, as she steps closer. Her manicured fingers press the underside of my jaw and lifts to force my eyes up to hers.
“You have a gentle spirit. It is a good match for our Drak. You would make a lovely mother. But there is danger in too much compassion. You must learn to find the edges of your softness because if you do not, you will lose yourself to it. This is a cruel world. Sometimes, cruelty is a necessary tactic to survive. I’m sure you’ve done things you would never have dreamed of in the name of survival in your time struggling in the outworld.
This is like that. Trust the Ancient One to do what is right. That is his job.”
“How do I trust someone I have never met?”
Her smile is soft. “That is faith.”
I don’t think I’m capable of faith in someone else’s god just because the only other choice is death.
“Faith will come in time.”
When she removes her fingers from my chin, I keep my head high.
“Blythe has abandoned her concern. But I will still warn you that if you interfere, you will simply link your fate with hers. Do you wish to die, Drahkita Lina?”
I swallow and shake my head. To my surprise, tears well in my eyes. The feeling that clings to my chest is not what I intended when I entered this room.
Defeat.
“Good girl,” she purrs. “You may reunite with your Drak. Continue to please him, and you will have a place here for a very long time to come.”
She doesn’t mean it as a threat, but it lands as one all the same.