It was miserable not wanting. I hated it. Deep down inside of me, I wanted to want. I wanted it more than anything. wanted to feel alive. But I just … I just didn’t.
“Oh,” Meera cried out. And all at once, the warmth of the sun shining down on us was gone. Freezing cold air blasted against my skin. A cold I knew too well. Meera’s aura. A vision.
I grabbed her hands, pulling her body back against mine and slowly helped her to the floor, her head in my lap.
“Meera, breathe,” I commanded. “Relax. Remember what we went over. Let it come to you. Don’t fight it.”
Her hands twitched in mine, starting to resist me.
“Relax,” I said. “Deep breaths. Inhale. Exhale.”
She gasped a choked-out sob, her chest rising and falling, but her breathing slowed, her facial muscles released, and her eyes began to move rapidly back and forth behind her eyelids.
A moment later, her eyes opened, and she sat back up, gingerly holding her head.
“Thank you,” she said shakily. “That was … the least painful one yet.”
“Good,” I said. “I’m glad. You’re getting better at this.” I frowned. “What did you see?”
Meera pushed her hair back off her face, and slowly rose to her feet, slipping the nahashim back into their boxes.
Her aura darkened, like a storm, and my stomach twisted. “It was Rhyan,” she said. “I saw him as an akadim, marching with an army on Glemaria. Under the sun.”
“Daywalker?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Maybe. There was water flowing beneath his boots, he was on … on the cliff where Asherah’s tomb lies. On Gryphon’s Mount. The water turned to fire, and then it—it spread across the Empire.”
I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. I knew that image.
“So Rhyan …” I said slowly.
“Could destroy all of us.” Meera’s voice shook. “There’s something—he’s getting more powerful. More dangerous. Closer to ... to a weapon of some sort.”
I swallowed roughly. Fuck. Poor Rhyan. And Lyr. How was this world so fucked up?
“Do you think … do you think she’s in the Moon Court for him?” I asked.
“I think so. And whatever she finds there, she’s going to have to use against him.”
“Gods.”
“Um,” Meera crossed her arms over her chest, still clearly cold from the vision. “I think I’m going to go lie down.”
I nodded. “Take your time.”
“And since I already had one today, I don’t think I’m going to be up for anymore visions tonight. You should study magic with Aiden.”
“Okay.” I watched Meera leave the common room behind. We were occupying one wing of the safe house. A common room, a small library, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. One I shared with Meera, and one for Dario and Aiden.
I sat down on the couch, my mind still on Lyr and Rhyan, and their fate. Their undeserved fate. What had drawn her to the Moon Court? And did it relate to Meera’s vision?
I lost track of time, and realized I still needed to tell Aiden that I would study with him tonight. But before I could go, the door opened, and Soturion Alistair, the owner of our safe house, walked in.
“My lady,” he said, lowering his chin in respect at once. Like I was an Heir. Or Heir Apparent.
He’d tried to call me “Your Grace,” when we first arrived.
I’d broken him of that habit, but this one seemed to stick.
