Yet.
No, panic would come later when everyone connected Torin’s apocalyptic vision with the news I’d received an hour ago and realized we had a real problem on our hands.
News I was still processing.
“Seriously? Torin’s first vision in a hundred years andthisis what she sees?” I muttered to no one in particular, notthat any of the seven people packed in the room were paying me any attention.
Raziel, Tristan and Zorander—three of the queen’s mates—had their heads together, deep in conversation, while Anaria sat by the fire, holding Torin’s hand while Zephryn glowered at the cloud-filled sky like he could stop the coming storm.
Out of us all, the High Seer was the most composed, speaking quietly to the queen, reassuring her, no doubt, that often her visions did not come to fruition, or whatever story Torin was currently spinning to keep a lid on this fucked up situation.
But I remembered when one of Torin’s visions would change the course of the entire war, or cause one of the Shadow King’s enemies to lose their head on the executioner’s block.
Usually because I was the executioner.
There was good reason for Torin being the High Seer, the chosen diviner of the Fae King. Her visions influenced every major event of the past three hundred years, and no matter how much I told myself this vision could turn out to be nothing…
That hard kernel of fear in my stomach kept growing bigger.
The door slammed open, Tavion and Cosimo rushing in after keeping us waiting for hours. “It’s about fucking time.” Raziel snapped impatiently. “Tell them everything, Torin. And you’d best start at the very beginning.”
“I’ve had a vision. My first in over a hundred years.”
This time though, Torin couldn’t quite keep her voice from shaking. “The images came out of nowhere, and I have no idea why now, but…” she touched two fingers to her forehead, almost like an act of prayer, “at first, all I saw was blood, so much blood, then the number three, over and over again before the vision cleared.”
Cosimo knelt beside her, and Torin’s pale, white eyes focused on him like she could actually see, like her uncanny gift of divination hadn’t cost her the sight of the world around her.
“A wave of darkness swept over the realm, and behind it, the remnants of the forests became nothing but endless swathes of gnarled trees, dried up rivers, and…” She swallowed. “Everyone was dead, or dying, or…”
“What?”
“Bleeding.” Torin’s opaque gaze caught on mine. “There wasso much blood. And the more the people bled, the darker that wave became, the faster it moved, until nothing could stop it.”
“I’ve never heard of magic being tied to blood.” Anaria glanced between us. “Fae magic isn’t usually linked to blood; that sounds more like some kind of witch magic.” Her gaze slid to Raziel, a furrow between her brows. “Revenants and Soul Reapers and giant disgusting centipedes I’ve seen, but a dark wave of power that swallows everything up?” She shook her head. “That’s nothing I know about.”
“Your magic was like that,” Raz reminded her softly. “But your magic didn’t devour, it created.”
“But this isn’t Fae magic.” I muttered bitterly. “We’re talking about Shadowlands magic.”
“Lyrae’s right.” Torin dipped her head. “According to my vision, this threat issued out of the Shadowlands, and there is no telling what sort of magic has been festering down there all these years. We know nothing about that part of our world.”
“Back in my day,” Zephryn murmured, “there were rumors of an ancient Shadowlands family, aristocrats,whose magic was linked to blood, but I don’t remember more than that.”
I’d heard the same sort of rumors, but I’d kept them to myself, in the hopes they amounted to nothing.How wrong I’d been.
“I have something to add to Torin’s vision. Something of a more…concrete proof there is a viable threat.”
“Lyrae,” Torin hissed, shaking her head.
But the time for keeping secrets was over. Even though Anaria was the most powerful Fae queen in existence, even though she’d defeated armies of Soul Reapers and Old Gods and two corrupt, powerful kings, we’d all been hiding something from her.
“She deserves to know.” I argued quietly. “And after your vision, after this morning’s…developments, we can’t ignore the truth.”
“And what truth is that?” Anaria sounded like she was grinding glass between her teeth, but I held her narrowed stare. “Spit it out, Lyra. Don’t keep me in suspense.”
“It seems the Shadowlands are more than a desiccated wasteland, my queen.”
“That’s becoming abundantly clear,” Anaria waved her hand in the air. “And it’s just us, so please dispense with the queen bullshit. You, of all people, know I don’t appreciate secrets, commander. Tell me what you know.” She lifted her head, reminding me of the steel hiding beneath that delicate exterior. “Everything you know.”
