“I saw you and the king. It was like I was in her head right before everything happened. I saw you two promising to marry each other, that you were going to battle Verin’s army, and your final kiss before you never saw each other again.” Rune’s face paled as he remembered the moment.
“How?” he managed to grunt as he finished his last stretch toward me, his hand reaching to touch my face again.
“I don’t know. I—"
Except I did know. I think I finally knew the answers, and my stomach began to roll.
“Is . . . is it possible to have two . . .two mates?” I stammered; it couldn’t be.
“Not that I know of. Sapphira, tell me,” he pleaded, and my tears fell.
“I have to go. I have to get back to the palace and the queen, but I promise I will be back. I have to go.” I scrambled away.
“Sapphira!” Rune’s voice raised as I stood.
“I will be back before tonight. I promise, Rune.”
Rune didn’t like it, but he could barely move and I had a seer to visit.
Chapter Forty-Four
Rune’s isolation cave was not far from the palace. But I ran in my torn dress to Celestine’s cave where I knew she waited for me. It was odd seeing her and her wooded home in the daylight. Tea was waiting for me, and this time I kicked it over.
“I don’t want your bullshit tea. What have you been doing to me? Why am I seeing all these things? Visions, memories, whatever the hell they are.” I paced while she grinned, enjoying my fluster.
“I’ve been making a batch of tea for twenty years with opal inside and a tiniest bit of my blood. Opal increases mystical and psychic visions. You are seeing what you needed to see, and since you have seen it, you are ready.” Celestine floated to where I stood. She observed me as she walked around my body like an inspector.
“It can’t be.”
“But it is, my dear. It is.” Her fingers pushed back some of the hair in my face tenderly.
“Why would the queen do that? Marry him?” My mind tried to process what I was learning.
“She didn’t know at first when they wed, since the evil king has always been covered, but then it was too late. She’s continued to keep the peace until another way to defeat him presented itself.” Celestine’s face fell at this admission of truth. The poor queen.
“I can’t believe it. Ugh . . . yes, I really can.”
I wished I hadn’t knocked the tea over. It made me calmer and soothed my overthinking mind. My thoughts raced too fast to focus.
“Your time has run out, you know this, yes?” Celestine’s warm hands wrapped around mine.
I nodded. Whether I was ready or not, it was time to decide. Right here, right now. After I left this cave, there would be no going back.
“Save Tor. Go tonight and unlock the secrets in the onyx. Get her out of that tomb.” She shook my hands slightly with every word, driving her serious tone home with every movement.
“Can you tell me the downside to this? I know there is one. Life works in balances.” It was something I’d learned long ago. Without the bad, there was no good. Everything had an opposite.
“You will be exposing the Fae realm to the Dramens, and they will start a war with our kind. Saving them means a destiny of suffering and loss. However, you will gain so much more in the end . . . a better world for everyone, human and Fae alike. You listen to me, dear. Hear me good. You have the strength of all the creatures of this Earth. We are all with you, and you will never be alone in this fate.”
I knew her demand of saving Tor and the princess were too good to be true. To save them meant war, death, and pain. It all rested on my shoulders.
“I’m not ready for this.” I shook my head. I wished I knew someone else who could take my place and go work miracles with the fate of many people tied to them.
“You are. You already know you are. Stop fighting your destiny.” She willed me to see it, to feel what I knew.
“How would I even get to the Iron City? No doubt those Dramens are almost there with him.” I couldn’t believe I was really doing this, taking a leap of faith.
“I think a certain dragon would be happy to help you get there quickly.” The seer released my hand, while one of her pets landed on her shoulder with a purr.
