Chapter 8 #2
“If you’d had any formal training, perhaps you might have a better handle on your magic, but even so, Oracles are not well understood.
I’m not surprised to see you burn so easily considering you’ve been managing this all on your own.
” Nakir gave her a gentle squeeze, understanding in his tone.
“You have many gifts aside from your power of prophecy. Find a way to use them. I’m not an expert on Oracles, but I do know that when a vision is important enough, it’ll come to you.
Conserve your powers for when it’s important. ”
She could hardly handle the switch from her mother’s demands to Nakir’s gentle discouragement. It had her chest tightening with a fear she couldn’t place. Her eyes filled with tears again. “I don’t know how to be useful without them,” she confessed, vulnerability spilling from her.
His warm expression softened. “I know. But you’re worth figuring that out.”
“Your mentor,” Alethea asked. “Where is he now?”
“He has much more important things to do than help with our cause,” Nakir explained with a far-off look.
“I already owe him my life, and now I don’t have magic...
let’s just say, he’s not exactly the sentimental type.
I haven’t heard from him since that day.
” There was a small pause before he added, “You should have had a mentor to look out for you and teach you about your magic.”
A small smile crossed her lips as she searched for the smallest glimmer of hope for her future. “Maybe I’ll get one when this is all over.”
Nakir returned her smile, and it warmed her to see him relax. “What will you do with your new freedom?”
“I don’t know. I’ve always wanted to travel,” she told him dreamily. “I’ve only ever been to Azmarin City, but there’s a whole other world out there. I want to see the sands of Rai’Sharr, or maybe visit one of the great libraries. And I hear Wolfecrest is beautiful in the summer.”
“I could give you a list of my favorite places, if you’d like,” he told her. “I can only imagine the people you’ll meet.”
“Maybe I’ll find another Oracle.” There had to be someone out there who understood her.
“Maybe. They’re incredibly rare.” Nakir’s smile faltered. “I’ve only ever met one before.”
Curiosity had her sitting up, adjusting under the covers. “What were they like?”
“Terrifying,” Nakir admitted. “I’d never seen power like that before.”
Alethea knit her brows.
“So, not like me?” she asked, filling the quiet.
Nakir met her gaze, and she was arrested by it.
“No,” he told her. “No one is like you.”
Her breath caught at his statement, spoken so reverently. He brushed a piece of hair behind her ear, and her stomach exploded into butterflies.
“You’re terrifying for an entirely different reason.”
“Wha—” she began, but a voice drew them out of their conversation.
“Nakir!” It was Ker, her voice carrying from just outside the tent, reminding Alethea how little privacy they really had here. “You’re going to want to hear this.”
“Come,” Nakir bade her, offering to help her rise out of the bedroll. “Let’s see what has Kerrigan fired up this time.”
A sinking feeling had Alethea resisting. There was something foreboding in the air, warning of danger. The voices in her head were silent, but her gut made it clear something was wrong. Nevertheless, she let him lead her out of the tent.
The setting sun caught her off-guard—she must have slept for the entire afternoon.
Just outside the opening, where the ground had been worn down to dirt from constant foot traffic, stood Emi, Dawes, Balthasar, Kerrigan, and a young man she recognized as a scouting mage. His face was pale.
“What’s going on, Tobias?” Nakir’s voice was smooth, unconcerned, despite the worried faces of his Dark Court.
“We’ve just received a report from Hyelea. Queen Zenobia knows we’re close. She’s locked down the city without warning. The gates are closed. Hundreds of civilians are stranded outside the city walls. The seaport has also closed down entirely, no one in or out.”
The silence that fell pierced Alethea like a knife. “No—she...” She wanted to say the queen wouldn’t do that, but the words wouldn’t pass her lips.
Hundreds of people depended on their daily commute to the city for work and trade. Many of them were teetering on the edge of starvation already. Being locked out of Hyelea for anything more than a few days could be catastrophic.
“You think Queen Zenobia is afraid to let a few peasants starve while she sits out a siege behind fortified walls?” Kerrigan shot back, full of ice and venom.
“Do we have any idea of how many people are locked out of the city?” Nakir questioned, ignoring the fire mage.
Tobias rubbed his brow with a pained shrug.
“It’s at least a hundred, maybe two. We have reason to believe she has scouts scouring the countryside for us.
They could be on us before sunset tomorrow.
We have our people stationed to intercept, but we’re running the risk of being discovered when her scouts don’t return from their assignments.
Given enough time, she could ostensibly triangulate our position. ”
Nakir crossed his arms, several long fingers stroking his chin. “Understood. Dawes, how far can we stand to spread out?”
Alethea didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. Her ears were full with the sound of her pounding heart as she realized all those people were in danger because of her actions.
She had assumed her mother would bring everyone to safety, because believing otherwise had never felt like an option.
She was so certain, but now she could see...
Zenobia Onasis only cared about herself.
There was no limit to the number of people she would allow to die just to keep her throne.
Alethea slowly backed away from the group, each step silent as she formed a plan of her own.
This was her mistake to fix.
Her heart thundered in her chest as she desperately searched the camp for her horse.
She couldn’t find the mare she’d ridden in on, but she did locate a saddled gray gelding not too far from Nakir’s tent.
Guilt wracked her again as she mounted, praying to whatever god was listening to forgive her for yet another sin.
They would have to add it to her long list of wrongdoings.
Alethea steered the horse back the way she had arrived on that very first day, but she knew beyond that, she’d be hopelessly lost. She had no choice but to force visions to find her way back to Hyelea, where she would have to try to fix her wrongs.