But considering Aimilia had no idea what her future held, she couldn’t resist the allure of answers. What was her future? Was it to be off to the side, just a secondary thought in Gavril and Marcella’s lives? Was it to take over House Mitis, now that her grandfather was gone?
Or… Was it something she was beginning to finally consider that she never had before?
Was Nikias her fate?
She said, “If you can show me the future, I would like to see it.”
Hypatia’s grin spread even wider. “Good. It’s harder with an audience, but I much prefer one.”
In a flurry of movement, Hypatia pulled out a bowl and a water skin from her bag. She gestured Aimilia closer, and Aimilia did so despite the feeling of shadows clawing at her skin.
Hypatia poured water into the bowl as the room began to be overtaken with the haze of the smoke. She knelt on the ground as Aimilia knelt across from her at the bowl. Hypatia pulled the water skin back once the bowl was full. She said, “You didn’t see it while you were there—I don’t let many people do so—but I have a whole room designed specifically for Seeing. However, I always keep what I need on hand so I can set up in a pinch like this. It’s been helpful, considering how much traveling I’ve been doing the last few years.”
Aimilia said, “How often do you do this?”
Hypatia said, “I’ve been given a rare gift few mages will ever possess. How often do you think I’m doing this?”
Aimilia was beginning to suspect Hypatia would never answer a question straightforwardly. “I don’t really understand how this works.”
Hypatia said, “Of course, you don’t. You’re an Inimicus. You can’t. What I can tell you is I cast a series of runes. We don’t know why they don’t work for everyone, but they work for me. That’s what it means to be favored by Asentai. But they don’t work for me every single time. You also have to have enough magic as well as the right kind of magic. There’s only so much of it I can control. I can point my Sight in a certain direction, but I don’t control how far it goes or what exactly I See. My Sight isn’t limited to the future either. It’s much easier for me to see the past or present, but far less enticing, in my opinion. And when I say See, I don’t always mean vision. I always have water in case it is a vision. But visions are the one of the rarer forms of Sight. Sometimes it’s more a premonition, a feeling. Prophecies are also rare, and then sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference between a premonition and a prophecy. It takes a skilled seer to know the difference. We have very few skilled seers. I would go so far as to say I’m the only one.”
“Have you ever had a prophecy?”
“No. I’ve had plenty of premonitions, though. Premonition is more like a feeling. It’s just a sense. It’s the hardest to convey to you, frankly, because it is entirely a feeling. A vision, at least, I can see reflected, and if I have a witness, they see it as well. That doesn’t make it easy to show you a vision, but I can’t make you feel a premonition the way I feel one.”
Aimilia was frankly surprised Hypatia was sharing all of this with her. “How do you point your Sight in a direction, as you put it?”
As long as Hypatia was going to keep answering her question straightforwardly, Aimilia would take advantage of it. Who knew when that information might be useful?
“It’s easiest when I have an object or a person, if I’m looking for something related to a specific person. For example, if I wanted to know about the future of Desero, I might hold onto a map of Desero with one hand, or a rock from my lands. That in alignment with my runes usually does the trick. If I want to know the future about a specific person, the best thing to do is to have them in front of me, putting my hands on them. The second best thing would be an object they own, a piece of clothing or jewelry. A lock of hair, that also works too.”
“Is that why you brought me here? Why would you be interested in my future?”
“I’m not only here about your future. I’m simply offering. I have plenty of other things I would like to see. Shall we start?”
Aimilia stretched her hand out, the one with Nikias’ ring on it. “Let’s see what the future has in store for me.”
Hypatia grinned. She took Aimilia’s arm and gripped it firmly, but not painfully. With the other, she began casting and murmuring in her native language. It was familiar to Aimilia even though she couldn’t get the exact words.
She’d heard Marcella saying something that sounded similar to this that she called praying.
It sounded like Hypatia was praying. She didn’t know if that was part of the magic or not. While the Elemens were required to use speech in order to activate their magic the Runai didn’t.
But this was Sight, and maybe it was something else entirely.
Chapter 41
AIMILIA
The water rippled, but nothing appeared in it. Hypatia frowned when she saw it, and then she closed her eyes. The pace of her chanting increased. She took a deep breath and kept casting with her other hand.
The vitae was blinding, and the incense was starting to get to Aimilia’s head. Hypatia couldn’t quite seem to smell enough of it. Holding a rune in the air, she glared at the still water. Hypatia broke her chanting, spitting out a swear word Aimilia had heard Marcella use once. Hypatia’s grip tightened painfully on Aimilia’s arm, as she cast again and again and again. Hypatia let go of Aimilia’s arm with a sharp gasp. Aimilia’s hand hit the water, sending a few droplets splashing on the water, rippling, but no image appeared.
Hypatia’s hand clutched her chest as she struggled to breathe. Her eyes were opened wide, but Aimilia could tell she wasn’t seeing anything in front of her. She was seeing something else. Or maybe she was feeling something else.
Aimilia stayed perfectly still, only moving to pull her hand out of the water as Hypatia caught her breath. When the glazedlook in Hypatia’s eyes began to fade Aimilia sat up straighter, heart thundering in her chest.
What had she Seen? Was it a prophecy? A premonition?
