He walked away without another word.
The scene dissolved into a grey fog. I gave my head a little shake, clearing it, and just like that, I was back in the present.
I wasn’t alone, though; Orin stood a few feet away, watching me curiously.
“See anything interesting?” he asked, nodding at the shard, which was still wrapped in my fist—and my shadows.
I told him about the vision. How Lorien had looked so…human. Calista, too. Human and vulnerable. And he’d protected her.
Orin considered things for a long time, mumbling to himself, drawing his finger through the air as if making notes. I finally gave him a little poke in the side, reminding him that I was there.
He regarded me with a small, tired smile. “Your abilities really have stabilized. And improved. I’m not surprised—but still immensely proud.”
I frowned; that wasn’t the interpretation of the vision that I’d been hoping for.
“What does it matter if I was able to divine the past?” I asked. “I still don’t know what to think about any of it.”
He scratched his chin, eyes clouding over in thought for a moment. “I’m afraid we’re still missing a lot of pieces to this puzzle. I will say, though, that your vision supports some theories I’ve been working on these past months…” He trailed off, looking reluctant to admit to whatever he was about to say.
“Theories?” I pressed.
“That Lorien isn’t the enemy we thought he was, for example.”
“He’s a monster,” I insisted.
“He’s done monstrous things, certainly. But it isn’t only monsters who are capable of monstrous things. And there may be greater enemies to contend with soon, anyway.”
“Greater enemies…are we talking about the Order again?”
He nodded. “I fear they may have created something far more dangerous to you than Lorien.”
My stomach twisted. I had theories too, of course. I just wasn’t ready to talk about any of them.
“Have you had a chance to talk to Thalia?” I asked instead.
He arched a bushy brow. “Changing the subject remains one of your most reliable tactics, I see.”
“Thalia is an important subject, too,” I insisted.
He didn’t argue, but he also didn’t move.
“Go on,” I said, nodding back toward the house, where I knew Thalia was resting. It was a strange role reversal, the way I was now the one pushing him to confront difficult truths.
He chuckled softly. “You really have gotten much stronger.”
I shrugged, but I also mumbled a quickthank you. He left me, and as I watched him walk away, my mind was immediately overrun with thoughts of our latest battles, and eventually all the ones that had come before. All the things that had torn me down and built me back up, forging me into something harder than what I’d once been.
“Stronger…” I muttered, summoning a small tendril of shadow and watching it coil around my fingers.
I was not the same person who’d left this realm behind months ago, that was true.
I only hoped I could be strong enough to face whatever came next.
NINETEEN
Nova
Aday passed. I was eager to get back to my kingdom—back to a realm where my magic was much easier to wield—but there were reports from Orin’s other allies that the route we’d taken from the Nocturnus Road was being watched. We needed to be cautious, prepared for the worst, and the ordeal at the Hollow Grove had stretched us thin enough that we decided it was safer to wait.
