Chapter 29
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
I met Thom’s healer today, Mira. She was just as lovely as he had said.
She instantly felt like family, a sister.
I saw something there, between them. A flash of a future.
And while it terrified me, it also, for the first time in a long time, gave me hope.
I told him to hold on tight to her. Never let her go.
— From the journal of Violet Andrever
For the next several days, I kept a low profile.
Griff fussed like a mother hen and Finn wasn’t much better.
Freya checked in at least twice a day. But I listened to Andrei and I rested.
And slowly, my channels started to replenish themselves.
I spent a lot of time with Violet’s journal, figuring that if I had to be sitting, at least I could be attempting to figure out what she knew.
As I set the journal aside, it fell open on my bed to a random page. A single word jumped out at me.
Destiny.
I slammed it shut. I’d had quite enough of that for the moment. And I was due to meet Finn, to finally do something other than sit and rest.
The gray light that came with early March filled the library. Finn rose when I entered, greeting me with a rueful smile.
“That can’t be good.”
“Nah, it’s not that bad. But it’s time to tackle the last channel.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Soul? I thought that couldn’t be trained.”
“To the best of my knowledge, it can’t. But the completionist in me says that we need to try. And the only person I could think of to help is the soul priestess.”
I looked at him in astonishment. “The last time I was at the temple, I destroyed half of it!”
“You did that to protect it. And then you rebuilt it.”
“Finn, the last person they’ll want to see there is me!”
He grinned and waggled his eyebrows. “You’d be surprised. Are you willing to try?”
“Can I say no?”
“You could,” he said slowly, “but then I might call Griff to throw you over his shoulder and drag you down there.”
“Griff knows about this plan? Not the throw me over his shoulder part, you fool.” I swatted at him as he opened his mouth. “But the rest of it?”
“He does. And he approved. Does it matter?”
I really hated that it did. But I wasn’t about to admit any of that to Finn.
“Nope,” I said instead.
He held the door for me, and as we stepped out of the library, several guards peeled away from the walls and approached.
The lead guard was a man of presumably middling age, although here you never knew someone’s actual age. He certainly held himself like a warrior, and while his hair was speckled with gray, he still moved with grace. “Your highness, I am Zane Donovan.” He bowed, hand over his heart.
I looked at him, confused for a moment, before I whirled on Finn. “Guards? Really?”
“Did I not mention that?” he asked sheepishly. “It was Griff’s condition. He isn’t available to come with us today.”
I whipped back to the guards. “No offense to you or your men, Zane, but I do not need guards.”
Zane gave me an apologetic smile but held firm. “The Champion said you’d say that. And I was to inform you that while my men and I will protect you with our lives, we do not answer to you. We answer to the Champion.” His voice had a hint of hesitation.
This soldier didn’t know me, but he was right to be worried about my reaction. Except I would never take it out on the poor man sent to do the Champion’s bidding.
Oh no, the Champion himself would be on the receiving end of my temper.
Fuck. Him.
Did he really think so little of me that I needed four guards?
I swept out of the castle with Finn at my side, the guards following respectfully behind us. I pulled my coat tightly around me. There was still a bit of a chill to the air as winter was holding on, determined to eke out a few more days. And yet Blathaine was only two weeks away.
Finn being Finn, he chatted about everything and nothing. I think he was trying to calm my nerves, or his. In what seemed like no time at all, we arrived at the temple, the guards still trailing along behind me. As we entered the temple, they wordlessly spread out, guarding the various exits.
I gritted my teeth. Seriously, Griff? Four of them?
I took in the significant progress that had been made in the last several months.
The temple was dimmer now, with the shattered stained glass still boarded up, like a wound that had yet to heal, although Finn had told me a new one was to arrive any day now.
Joining the ancient furnishings were newer pieces.
Replacements for the benches that had been destroyed were noticeable with the bright colors next to their faded brethren.
The scorch marks had surprisingly been left untouched, as though the battle had now become part of the unbroken history of the temple.
As I looked around, I was torn between an overwhelming sense of relief that this ancient place of worship was being restored and an equally strong sense of guilt that I was the reason it had to be restored.
We were met by a younger acolyte, dressed in robes of off-white, her hood pulled up to cover her hair.
“We’re here to meet with the high priestess of Solais,” Finn told her respectfully.
She disappeared without a word through a door that blended into the wall.
“That leads to the convent,” Finn explained.
I liked to pride myself on being observant, but apparently, there was a whole building I had missed.
We weren’t waiting long before a priestess appeared, dressed in the gold of Solais. I remembered her from the last time I was here. She had been one of the seven priestesses that had helped me defeat the hufen. Her gold hood was pulled up over her hair, bright eyes peering out from the shadow.
“We meet again, your highness.”
“Just Lexa, please.”
I felt her nod more than saw it. “I am Niamh.” She turned to Finn. “Go, young man. She does not need your guidance now.”
He glanced at me, and I shrugged. Bowing his head respectfully to the priestess, he wandered off to sit on the newly repaired purple bench, picking one where he could keep me in eyesight. I mentally rolled my eyes; Griff had him on protection duty too.
“I’m sorry,” I started as soon as we were alone.
Her sharp eyes fastened on me. “For what?”
I waved a hand around me. “The last time I was here. The damage I wrought.”
She fixed me with a piercing look that reminded me of Nana.
“Had you not been here, an entire generation of acolytes and students would have been corrupted. Through your actions, we had infected stone and wood, not people.” She tilted her head, considering.
“After the battle, did you feel like you won?”
“Yes, but—”
“Then do not allow yourself to be burdened by these thoughts. All actions have consequences. Accept them and move on. You have too much in your future to dwell on meaningless things.”
I felt a weight lift off my shoulders at her words. She made it sound so easy.
“I knew it would happen,” she continued.
“With the soul channel comes the gift, and burden, of foresight. I had dreamed of it happening thousands of times. And with each dream, a different outcome. Never one where we survived.” She whipped a hand out of her robes and gripped my wrist tightly.
“Only through you, and the power you channel, was it possible. I thanked Mother Solais and all the gods that you were with us that day.”
She released my wrist and gestured for me to walk with her. We left the temple through the door tucked into the side, and entered a covered stone passageway, two of the guards following at a distance behind us.
I exhaled heavily through my nose. This was going to get old.
The passage ended in a rectangular courtyard garden, bursting with springtime blooms. A flowering tree grew in the middle, its branches dripping with clusters of pink blossoms. We walked along the carefully manicured paths of white pebbles, pausing at one of the benches placed around the garden.
She sat and motioned for me to do the same.
I took in the view, the smell of the fresh flowers intoxicating.
Beyond the covered passageway, several stories of gray stone rose around us.
“Now, to the business at hand. Lord Narvene has asked me to train you in your soul channel. I think you know that there is no training it. There is only learning to live with it.” She paused, thinking.
“There is much the soul channel can do for you. Foresight is only one of the possibilities. Insight is another. But there is so much more. I cannot tell you what form yours will take or how it will manifest.” Her eyes unfocused.
For a moment, her head tilted to the left.
When she straightened, she fixed me with that piercing stare again. “Have the dreams started?”
I tensed.
“I see. Be sure you don’t lose yourself in them. Prophetic dreams have a way of seeming real, drawing you in.”
Prophetic dreams?
“Dreams of what could be, should you continue on the path in front of you. Warnings. Temptations. And choices you make in the dreams could affect your future.”
Was this what Griff was concerned about? Was that why he had given me such a strange look that first night and insisted on staying by my side every night since?
She reached for my hand and closed her eyes. “You have so many paths that could be taken. And they are not set. The kingdom hangs in the balance. The dreams are potential outcomes of potential paths. Do not put too much stock in them, but also take their warnings.”
If that wasn’t contradictory advice, I didn’t know what was.
I was quiet on the walk back with Finn. He realized the priestess had given me much to think about and was content to walk in silence as well.
Once we reached the castle walls, the guards peeled off.
Apparently, they were only required to keep an eye on me when I left the castle grounds.
Finn gave me a quick hug when we parted and opened his mouth, before thinking better of it and giving me a quick smile before walking off without saying a word.