Chapter 51
MYRA
"Who the fuck are you?" Laurince asked the woman chained to the wall.
The woman did not flinch. She only stared at Myra, her dull, gray eyes fixed on her.
"You knew we were coming?" Myra asked.
"I always know," the seer said. Her black hair fell across her face in thick, greasy strands.
"Do you know her?" Laurince asked Myra in shock.
"It's...complicated," Myra said to Laurince, recalling the first time she had met the woman. If she stared at the ground long enough, she could almost make out the stain where the guard had cut off Mynhos's hand by order of the king.
Shivering, she returned her attention to the woman. "Do you know where my brother is?" she asked.
The woman chained to the wall nodded. "Close the door. We do not have much time," the seer said, glancing behind them.
Myra stepped forward, but Laurince snatched her wrist, pulling her back.
"What are you doing?" Laurince demanded, his eyes wide. "We don't have time to chat."
"She knows where he is," Myra urged, tugging her arm free from Laurince's grasp. "Stay outside if you wish, but I want answers."
She passed the threshold of the woman's cell. When Myra turned to shut the door, Laurince slapped it away with his hand.
"Fine," Laurince whispered, though his reluctance was apparent as he helped the king inside.
Rian sat against the wall with a groan in relief, and the cell door clicked shut behind them.
"Care to explain now," Laurince demanded.
"I am the very reason you are here," the woman said ominously.
"Excuse me?" Laurince's eyes widened. He reached for his sword.
"She is the reason Domitius knew to take Kallie, the reason I was taken," Myra said. "She has been providing the king with his information."
"So she's a fucking traitor," Laurince hissed, pulling out his sword, the metal sliding against the leather sheath, shattering the silence.
The woman chuckled. "Put the sword away, you fool."
"You're a traitor," Laurince spat.
"Today is not the day I will die," the seer said, unfazed by Laurince's anger
"No? Are you sure about that," Laurince challenged. He made to step forward, but before he could, Myra placed her hand atop his.
With a sneer, Laurince met her gaze. Myra felt for the invisible strings connecting to his emotions, but she didn't pull or transform them.
She waited.
After a moment that seemed to span time, Laurince's hand finally relaxed beneath hers. Although a deep-rooted wariness still sparkled in his eyes, he sheathed his sword.
He turned to the seer. "You have one minute to explain."
"Hush," she hissed, holding up a finger to her lips, her chains rattling.
"What--" Laurince began before Myra shushed him, too.
Loud footsteps sounded down the hall, rushing past the cell.
Laurince straightened, and Myra could sense the panic rising within him as he realized how close they had been to being seen.
When the sound of the boots disappeared, Laurince turned to the woman. But before he could ask her the question that was no doubt sitting on his tongue, the seer spoke, "Do not fret. They do not know that the handmaiden and the king have slipped free from their cells. The beasts held captive deeper in the dungeon have grown increasingly restless and will serve as a distraction for the time you require to escape."
"The beasts? What beasts?" Laurince pressed.
"The king has been raising an army thanks to the woman standing beside you."
Myra straightened as everyone turned to her, but she had no defense to offer. She knew what she had done, but it wasn't until now that she felt the true weight of those actions.
"Do not blame yourself, child. You had no choice. If you hadn't assisted, he would have found another way," the woman said, calling their attention back to her. "Kage always does."
"Who is Kage?" Laurince asked, confused.
The woman released a heavy sigh, a strand of hair fluttering in front of her face. "King Domitius. His first name is one that he wishes to wipe from existence, though our past has a way of following us no matter how much we try to escape it." The woman shifted, her chains rattling slightly. "But it is not names you wish to discuss. Unfortunately, the answer you seek is not the one you wish to gain."
"What do you mean?" Myra asked, stepping further into the room.
"The boy is out of reach," the seer said with a flick of her wrist.
Myra gasped. "My brother is gone?"
The woman cocked her head to the side, her eyes narrowing slightly and growing unfocused. Then, she straightened. "In a manner of speaking, yes."
"Where?" Myra asked, rushing forward and falling to her knees before the seer. She snatched the woman's hands as panic rose in her throat. The seer's fingers were frail in her palms, and Myra quickly softened her hold on them, afraid of breaking them.
"Where is he?" she demanded.
The seer shook her head. "It does not matter where he is, for his mind is the thing that is truly gone."
"What? What are you saying?" Myra demanded. "He's alive. He's--"
"Gone, my dear," the seer interrupted. Pity soaked her countenance. "He's been gone far longer than you think. If you would only open your eyes and let yourself see, you would know this already."
"Speak sense!" Myra shouted.
She faintly heard Laurince hiss her name, begging her to be quiet, but Myra did not care. She needed to know where Mynhos was.
"The king promised to keep him alive if I did what he asked," Myra said.
"Being alive and living are two different things," the seer replied, her voice sounding far away. "You were not the only gift Kage received that fateful day your parents died."
"What are you saying?"
The seer offered a sad smile, one that struck Myra in the chest. "Kage does not keep people alive for no reason."
"What are you talking about? This has nothing to do with--"
Myra's words were cut off, though, as the seer gripped her hand with surprising strength, a look of horror brandishing her eyes nearly stripped of their gray hue.
"He kept you alive because you served a purpose," the woman hissed. "For years, you have kept the princess loyal to him. But why is your brother still alive? That is the question you should be asking."
"What is she talking about?" Laurince asked, still standing near the door. "We did not come here for this."
Myra shook her head and ignored Laurince, her attention solely on the seer. "I--I don't know. He never had a gift. He was just a boy."
"There is always a reason for why he takes someone. He took Kalisandre because of her gift of manipulation in the hopes of weaponizing her. He took me to guide him down the path. But why did he seek out your family?" the seer demanded.
"He took us because of me," Myra said firmly. "He used me to manipulate Kallie. I...I already know this."
The woman shook her head. "No, my dear. You were only a bonus gift."
I was going to just take the one child, but I suppose I can make use of both.
The king's voice sifted into her mind, the words he spoke before he killed her parents. Myra had given those words little thought over the years, but now she couldn't help but wonder if she had been wrong to ignore them.
Myra's brows drew together. "But my brother is giftless. He's just a normal human."
"No one is normal. Everyone serves a purpose in this world, and your brother is more powerful than you think."
Myra didn't understand. Her brother did not have a gift. But if what the seer said was true...
Myra scooted closer, her knees scraping against the grime on the floor. "We have to save him! You have to tell us where he is! We have to make sure the king cannot use him too."
"Myra," Laurince warned.
Time was ticking, yet Myra would not leave until she got her answers.
She shook her head, tears burning the back of her eyes. "We can't. Not until she tells us where he is," she pleaded.
"He is gone. I have told you this. Listen to the guard. You must not waste your time, for you will not find him within a cell. You will see him, but you will not be able to reach him," the seer said.
Tears began to fall. Myra would not leave without Mynhos. She made him a promise.
"I have to try at least," Myra whispered, her entire body trembling.
"Try you will, but you will fail. The king has had his claws in him for far too long. Not even your gift can free him."
"But--"
"You and your brother are not the same," the seer said with a shake of her head. "Your brother has already been made into a weapon."
"He cannot just keep my brother! I made a promise," she cried.
"Some promises are not meant to be kept." The seer wrapped her fingers around Myra's hand, pulling Mrya closer. Her words grew harsher, sharper, the previously gentle tone gone. "If you do not grab the blade, you all will die."
"Blade? What blade?" Myra asked, voice panicked as her gaze flitted across the woman's face.
The woman dropped Myra's hands and sunk back against the wall. "That is all I can say. If I say more, the future will shift, and there is no telling the outcome if that happens."
Tears laced the bottom of Myra's eyes, threatening to spill over.
"Go now," the seer ordered. "Do not go searching the dungeons. You will not find anything but death there."
Myra stared at the seer, and her vision began to blur. "Come with us," Myra begged.
The seer shook her head.
"But you've been helping him! You've been telling him the future."
The woman smiled, but it did not reach her eyes. "The future is not something he can control. The future is constantly moving, shifting. To many, knowing what is to come is seen as a gift, a blessing even. People view it as a way to prevent the inevitable. But in truth, it is a curse. I am too weak. I haven't left this castle for over twenty years. If you take me, I will slow you down. The captain is strong but not strong enough to carry more than the king."
"Myra," Laurince said from behind her, "she's right. We need to go."
Myra looked over her shoulder at Laurince hovering inside the door. He was already picking Rian back up, preparing to move. But Myra remained seated in front of the seer.
"You will need to move fast. You cannot do that with me," the seer explained, her expression neutral.
"But we can't just leave you here," Myra said, unwilling to face the truth.
"I can do more here than I can if I leave. If things follow fate's path, we may see each other again. Leave now," the seer commanded, her eyes a sea of emotions that Myra could barely begin to parse. "Leave so that hope lives on."
Myra's lips parted, another protest forming, but the woman shook her head, the chains around her neck rattling.
Myra's shoulders dropped, guilt already filling her body and dragging her down as she was forced to face the woman's dreaded fate.
Even if they wanted to take her, the woman was chained to the wall, and Myra had a strange feeling that the keys Laurince had procured did not include the key to the seer. The king would not have been so foolish as to let someone other than himself hold onto the key that kept the future captive.
The seer offered her a small smile as if she knew Myra was finally realizing the truth. The corner of her lip twitched, and her eyes glistened with acceptance of her fate.
"You can do me one favor, though," she whispered.
"Anything," Myra said, scooting closer.
The woman smiled softly. "Tell my son I love him. Tell him he shouldn't fear his true self. He must embrace it."
Laurince had reached for Myra and was pulling her up by the elbow. "We have to go now."
But Myra wasn't done. She fought him, pulling away. "But who's your son?"
Her lips moved, her voice not even a whisper as Laurince dragged Myra out of the cell room. But Myra heard the name as if she had screamed it.