“Bring the Vice Premier here straight away,” she shouted.
Images flashed through her mind, memories she thought were dreams brought back into vivid detail in her mind. Then her eyes fluttered closed, and she was lost for a time in the past.
A voice roused her from bed. Rubbing sleepy eyes, Liane sat up straight and blinked into the darkness.
“Come, it’s time,” it said.
As a child, she knew no better and kicked off her blankets to follow its command. They were staying at the summer hunting lodge, and back then, she didn’t have guards at her door. She padded out of her bedchamber and into Mother and Father’s room, where they were sleeping. The sword was waiting, glowing faintly in the moonlight.
“I’ve been waiting for you, Liane,” the sword spoke to her, but she didn’t question it because she’d been dreaming of it for weeks before.
And when she grasped the hilt, she felt its magic coursing through her, but it didn’t hurt; it felt warm and familiar.
“Now to the fountain. Hurry, there isn’t much time,” the sword urged her.
Shockingly all the guards outside were sleeping, and there was no one to stop her from wandering off into the forest alone. The dual-colored stag was waiting for her at the forest’s edge, blinking at her passively with its mismatched eyes. Then it bound away, leading her on a chase. She chased after it without tiring and without pricking her bare feet on the bramble. The sword kept her safe. After a long while, she wasn’t sure how long, she came to the edge of the fountain. The water was dark and deep, and the edge green and golden, bursting with life. She knelt beside it and gazed into that dark, bottomless void, and the cosmos stretched out before her as the golden sword glowed again in her hand.
“Don’t be afraid. It’s time. Step into the water,” the voice said.
Liane stood up, one foot hovering over the edge, and dipped her toe in. The water crept up, grasping around her leg, tugging her down, holding onto her like a warm embrace. Then she heard shouting, and her concentration broke.
Mother. She was worried about her.
“We must finish,” the sword urged. “Do not look away. It is almost complete.”
But Mother was crying and shouting her name. She couldn’t avoid the call. She turned to see her mother in her nightgown and coat running toward her. As soon as she looked away, pain seared through her, burning her from the inside and roasting her alive. A deep cut sliced along her back, and she became nothing but searing pain.
She dreamed of that night again, in more painful detail than usual. That was when the fevers started, and she’d first hallucinated. Liane thought she must have only dozed for a moment, but when she opened her eyes, she was lying beneath a blanket of stars. Was she back in the forest or falling through that endless void in the pool of water? No. She realized she was staring up at a domed ceiling painted to look like the night sky, inside the temple. What about Heinrich, had he made his move? She had to warn someone. But she was too weak to move or even raise up the thin blanket off her body.
Voices murmured around her, but she could not quite make out what they were saying, and it took all her concertation to make out the words.
“The goddess’ chosen has revealed herself. She’s the answer we’ve been seeking, and you’ve kept her from us.”
“You’re wrong. Liane can’t be her chosen one,” Mother said, her voice tight and terrified.
Chosen, for what…? Then she thought of her dream and the sword speaking to her, but it couldn’t be real. It was just a dream.
“You should’ve told me the moment you knew,” the Avatheos’ voice snapped like a whip crack, echoing across the room and bouncing back at them.
“I saw too many paths to be certain. In some, the princess married and lived a long, happy life, and in others, I saw her falling to the darkness, raising the dead to command. There was never certainty,” the Vice Premier replied coolly.
“Your love for the child clouded your judgment. I thought more of you. Now go. I will decide on a punishment for you later.”
Rolling her head to the side, Liane saw the Vice Premier bow her head and back out of the room, leaving the Avatheos and Mother. With their backs turned to her, neither of them had realized Liane was awake. They wouldn’t have kept speaking candidly if they knew.
Mother paced restlessly, in a way that she’d never seen before. She always seemed calm, unflappable. Right now, the lines around her mouth were pulled taut, and her hair was frizzed and messy. Certainty landed on Liane’s chest, with a horrid crushing feeling.
“Why have you kept the truth from me?” the Avatheos said.
Liane wanted to ask her the same question.
Mother stopped pacing to face the Avatheos. “She was a child. Much too young to be burdened with such purpose, especially one whose fate was uncertain.”
“I dreamed of her at her birth, born beneath the dragon star. I knew the time was coming. And on her thirteenth birthday, I dreamed again and wrote you, but you denied it. Now she is twenty-six. You’ve delayed us by nearly three decades. Your selfishness could have destroyed the kingdom, the continent!”
Mother didn’t answer, and Liane wanted to shake answers from her. If these dreams were real, if the hallucinations weren’t hallucinations. Then… then… Every thirteenth year, there was a thirteenth month. Liane had been born in one of those years. They were considered bad luck years, but she’d never taken it seriously until now.
“If you had a child, you’d understand…”
