Danaos let out a weary sigh, staring into the flames. “I’m worried about Charis. She… she appeared to me just now.”
Alena exchanged a glance with Nik. Was this another one of Charis’ Gifts? “Appeared to you? How?”
Danaos huffed a dry laugh, shaking his head. “Apparently, soulmates can see each other in moments of great distress.” He grabbed the waterskin Nik offered and took a swig. As if reading the unspoken questions in their expressions, he added, “After we acknowledged the bond between us, we could start sensing each other’s magic. That was strange enough. But seeing her—like she was standing right in front of me—that was something else entirely.”
Alena swallowed, her throat dry. That sounded very much like the vision she’d once had of Leukos when she’d fought Gortynius in Dodona. She opened her mouth to ask more, but Danaos turned to Nik instead, cutting her off.
“More and more Achaeans are coming to Tiryns every day,” he said, his frustration bleeding through. “I told her it’s a good sign—that Achaeans are finally uniting, taking action against Rasenna, and joining our ranks. But logistically? It’s a nightmare. We’re running out of room and supplies.” His words came out on a long, ragged exhale. “Is Theodoros around? I’d like his input on a few ideas?—”
“He’s busy,” Nik said. “I’m sure he’ll be free later on.”
Danaos frowned. “My request is urgent.”
Nik leaned back, folding his arms across his chest. “I’m sure it is. But if you disturb him right now, the only chance you’ll get to see Charis will be in your dreams.”
Danaos scowled, his mouth flattening into a hard line.
Alena, still tangled in the memory of her vision of Leukos, barely registered their exchange until Nik cut through her thoughts. “What was it you told Despoina the other day? That you get to relive Charis’ memories of all those years she spent with Leukos?”
Danaos shot him a withering glare. “My sister shouldn’t have told you that.”
Alena’s mind snagged on a single word. “Memories?” she cut in, blood draining from her face. “You see Charis’ memories in your dreams? You witness the scenes but can’t… can’t interact with anyone?”
Danaos blinked in confusion. “Yes, soulmates can see each other’s memories from childhood to the present day. They can also meet in their dreams, but Charis and I?—”
Realisation smacked Alena in the face, and a startled, breathless laugh escaped her—half shock, half disbelief. “Hah!”
Nik raised an eyebrow. “Alena?”
But she was already upright, her racing pulse drowning out the crackling fire and sounds of the camp.
I see it now, and clearly, they are not the only couple.
All the pieces were falling into place, so obvious in hindsight that she wanted to curse herself for being so blind until now. “I need to find Leukos.”
Nik frowned. “He’s training. He should be back by?—”
“Where is he?” Her tone carried more desperation than she intended.
The two men exchanged a wary glance. “By the waterfall,” Nik said with a frown. “Past the brook?—”
“I know the one.”
Without another word, she spun on her heel, boots crunching against the dry earth as she strode down the familiar path, the sudden need to see Leukos propelling her forward.
By the Moon…
There were soulmates. Soulmates!
The answer to all the visions, all the dreams, had been right under her nose the whole time. And of course, Leukos had probably known and hadn’t told her.
Yetagain.
She clenched her fists and quickened her pace, each step pounding out her rising frustration. She was going to throttle him. No—she was going tomurderhim for keeping such a monumental secret from her.
What had he been thinking?
Except, deep down, she already knew. The dreams that had plagued her for months had given her more than glimpses of his past—they’d shown her his heart. Leukos had struggled his whole life, weighed down by inadequacy: not powerful enoughfor his father, not strong enough to save his mother, and now, not in control enough to claim his soulmate.
