Edda and Willis entered with Ariana and emerged without her a few minutes later.
“She is to remain in there until she walks out herself,” Edda informed me. “Willis will stay here with her. You may go.”
“I am staying here,” I told her. There was no way I would leave Ariana while she was drugged. She was in no condition to create trouble. However, her Bavadrins were another story.
“Suit yourself.” Edda waved a hand in the air as if it did not make a difference to her and turned to leave.
“You hurt her,” I found myself saying to the old bat, bringing up the time she attacked Ariana with her words. “When you spoke to her that way. Why did you do it? Was it just for me to hear her defend the Lysians?”
Edda turned. A look of surprise passed over her features. “Well, aren’t you a clever beast? But you would do well not to try to understand the reasons for my actions. However, I will offeryou this. No, it was not just for you to hear her defend you, though I realized that may be a benefit, and for that reason, I left the balcony door open. The only thing you need to know is that everything I do is for that girl. My actions served to help Ariana. There is a darkness that looms, and the thread that tethers me to her is unraveling. I am afraid that it may break, and before that is to happen, I must help her see that she no longer has a genuine need for me. She is more than capable of standing on her own.”
“You are a Seer,” I stated what I long suspected. If she was truly a Seer, it was no use for me, for I could never hope to trust her or the things she says.
The Bavadrin smiled darkly. “As if you had not already assumed this about me.” She then turned to the night sky before looking back at me. “I hope you have a lovely night, Lysian.” She then left.
Willis took a seat on a step outside the entrance to the small temple, and after a minute, I followed suit. A breeze ran a lap around us before disappearing, leaving nothing but still-chilled air. Soft noises began to come from within the temple. Ariana mumbled something incoherent in between the sounds of her teeth chattering. Her pulse picked up. I wondered what the discomfort she felt was like.
“What are you listening to?” Willis pulled my attention from the temple.
“What makes you think I am listening to something?” I turned to find him staring at me. The scars on my back suddenly itched, as if knowing I sat with the man who had put them there.
“I have been around enough animals in my life to know the gentle shift of their heads when searching for sound,” he replied. “Is it Ariana?”
Animals. I nodded. “I can hear her shivering and mumbling incoherently.”
Willis turned, looking out at nothing in particular. “She will be fine,” he said with certainty.
In the new silence, I couldn’t help but continue to monitor what was going on within the temple. None of it brought me any peace. Ariana was going through something uncomfortable, and in turn, it made me uncomfortable. I needed to focus on something else. Anything else. For this was perhaps even more tortuous than when I sat waiting in one of their prison cells.
“What do you make of the Lysians and me?” I asked Willis with genuine curiosity. His eyes were cold when they looked upon us, however he did not lash out like Landin, nor did he smell of fear.
Willis chortled. “It does not matter what I think.”
“Still. I would like to know.” I shrugged.
He sighed, turning his golden gaze towards me. “You and your kind are very lost and confused. You assume you have power, and in some sense, you do, but you have less than you think.” Again, certainty was very much present in his words. He truly believed what he said.
“And what power do you think you have that I do not?”
“We have Ariana. You may have her physically for the time being, but you do not have her, not really, and you never will,” he answered, turning from me and looking into the darkness before him. There was a stoic silence around him.
“You wish to kill me?” I asked simply. Whatever his answer, it would not upset me, for I could understand why he would want my death.
“No.” He kept his focus on the darkness before him.
“No?” I asked in surprise. I would have bet otherwise. Despite his calm and lack of outward hostility, it was obvious he did not have any favor towards us.
“You spared Landin’s life, and you have not brought harm to Ariana. If I was to kill you, then who would take your place?Would they be worse? That is not a decision I am equipped to make, nor do I have the power to make it.” He alluded that Ariana would be the one to make such a decision. What would she choose if she were given the option?
“Landin is a curious one,” I stated.
Willis ran his tongue over his teeth and nodded in the darkness. I nearly thought my attempt at continuing a conversation with him over, but then he spoke. “Landin is afraid. When fear takes hold of him, he loses all sense of empathy. He lashes out and tries to force things to go his way. But, of course, it never works out that way for him, yet he is stuck following that same pattern.”
“He should have been afraid when he allowed Ariana into my prison cell.” I pointed out the first mistake he ever made in my presence.
Willis viewed me. “We underestimated you and your kind. That will not happen again.”
“You were always silent, never tried to talk to me while I was down there,” I pointed out.
