And then the image vanished as Hypatia let out a dark, choking gasp. She hit the ground, and all Nikias could do was watch as she collapsed, pale and shaking. Her vitae flooding the air faded and the smoke began to dissipate.
Hypatia kept convulsing, and Nikias could only dimly stare. Would the vision still come true if Hypatia died this very moment?
But she didn’t. Eventually she managed to roll onto her front and begin crawling across the ground.
Her choking breaths transformed into a hideous, hysterical laugh she didn’t seem to have any control over. She reached the counter, grabbing hold of it and with shaking arms she managed to sit up against it, the last of her laughs coming out.
The glazed, distant look in Hypatia’s eyes was worse than the cold, focused one from before.
He preferred that demon to this one.
That one had been in control.
His head was pounding from the incense. Every inch of his body had been brutalized. His heart was in so many pieces, not even the greatest seamstress could stitch it back together.
Hypatia dug her hands into the curls at her temples as she said, “Your love was so obvious I practically smelled it on you the second you arrived, but not even that I could have predicted.”
“Demon—”
Hypatia laughed, and there was a tearing sound. Strands of curls fell from her grip. “She doesn’t love you either. She neverwill. After the things you’ve done, how could she? No one ever could.”
A few tears slipped from Nikias’ eyes. His throat was already raw from his screaming; he did not have anything left in him to cry for what he’d seen.
Because wasn’t Aimilia right?
That’s why he was on his knees in front of the woman who’d killed his first wife. Because after everything he’d done, he deserved this.
How could someone like Aimilia ever love someone like him?
“I…” Hypatia said something in her language, before blinking several times and switching back to Nikias’. “What… What has been Seen cannot be unseen.”
Nikias shook his head. “No. You cannot—Icannot—You got one day and one night! This night, demon. You do not get to sink your claws into the rest of my life. Our agreement was I would suffer for this night and this night only!”
Hypatia reached up to the counter and fumbled with a dagger above. She dropped it, cutting her palm with a hiss as it fell to her lap. The wild, delirious look began to fade as she stared at the shallow cut on her hand. “Actually, no. You think a measly twenty-four hours is enough to satisfy your people’s blood debt to mine? I could line up everyone in this camp and every single one of them could speak of a relative, a friend, a lover they lost to your people’s so-called cleansing of our corruption, to your heretics and their cursed tables, and still we would not be halfway done by the time we were all a year older. I’m not… I’m not the one who has decreed this, Asentai herself has determined this one day of suffering is not enough. She will have you suffer the rest of your life, a mark on your chest to forever remind you just how unloved you are and will always be.”
What was the demon rambling on about? Was she going to pretend this was her goddess’ doing and not hers? Was she trying to cling to some illusion of innocence?
She wiped her bloody palm with a rag, clutching the dagger to her chest. “That’s the thing about those of us with Sight. I don’t make the future, Asentai does. I just see it. But when I do, it is a gift and it is a curse. So it shall be for both of us now. Our agreement was you would pay for peace with your blood. I haven’t actually made you bleed yet.”
Chapter 29
NIKIAS
Nikias woke up drenched in sweat, clutching his scar like it was burning as badly as the night Hypatia had given it to him.
Even though it was pitch black midnight with only a sliver of the moon in the sky bringing any light to the grounds, he could not stay in his room a moment longer and be haunted by the future.
Nikias still hadn’t had an official tour of the estate. He probably wasn’t going to get one, but was just going to have to figure it out. Intentional on Hypatia’s part, most likely. Maybe if the woman wasn’t constantly worried about getting one over on Nikias, they would have already handled the Stonai for themselves.
Nikias hoped walking around the large courtyard on the northern end of the estate would wear him out enough to fall back into a dreamless sleep. He could only hope it was dreamless. His dreams were worse than his nightmares.
Nikias was halfway through his fifth lap when the sound of footsteps had his heart ricocheting off his ribs even faster. If it was the demon again, Nikias could not be trusted not to reactworse than before, but when he spun on his heel, across the courtyard in the faint moonlight, it certainly wasn’t a clan mage with wild black curls.
Instead, it was Aimilia, slightly out of breath, standing there. Her hair was in a loose braid compared to her normal, more structured styles. Now Nikias wasn’t even sure he’d left his room at all, or if this was another dream or nightmare.
When he came to a stop, she did as well. “Nikias?”
He took a few steps toward her.
