Chaos erupted.
Lythandra actually screeched, Malek laughed out loud, Caelan clapped, and Lydia tried to hide her shock behind her raised hands.
Theo just beamed with joy and started leading me down the stairs.
“How is this possible?” Lydia exclaimed, and Lythandra simply came running into my arms, sobbing.
One by one my friends came over to hug me as if they couldn’t believe it was real.
“What happened to you?” Caelan asked and we all went to sit down in the living room.
On the table there was the strategy game Theo and I hadbeen playing the night before the battle.
“Well, do you remember how Theo is unbeatable at this strategy game?” I pointed to the table and everybody nodded. “Well, it turns out, he isn’t as good as he thinks he is…”
And so I started at the beginning.
“It was clear to me from very early on that I wouldn’t be ready to face an army and to use my powers the way the Fates intended me to. I am so grateful to you, Lydia, for training me the way you did, but my abilities with the sword and the heka but if we are both being honest, my abilities with the sword and the heka did not improve as quickly as they should have done. When the Lodge got attacked and I healed all those injured people, I could feel the tiredness in my bones for days. I knew I was going to be a burden on the battlefield and I had to find another way to help you all fulfill the prophecy. I started sneaking into the library to read up on the harnessing, but I couldn’t do it myself. It was also clear that it would be my last resort, because it would most likely kill me. The Abbot told me that it was pretty much the only chance to protect everyone.”
I turned to Theo and saw the emotions swirl behind his eyes.
“Theo would have never allowed me to go through with the harnessing. So it wasn’t an option to just give over my heka while we were still here, but I had to find a way to force Theo’s hand, in case it became clear that we couldn’t win. When we went to the Celestium, I met Veridus and he instantly realized that I had feelings for Theo.”
“Well, to be fair, that wasn’t very hard to tell” Caelan murmured into his drink and Lythandra threw a pillow at him.
“Veridus came to my room on the first day and wanted to speak with me about the prophecy. As God of the Stories and Lies, he had his very own opinion about the accuracy of the prophecy and how it should be interpreted.”
Theo’s brows furrowed and even Malek, who had a rather passive look on his face until now, seemed surprised.
“Veridus believed that the whole ‘God born of purity’ was a misinterpretation and a tool to keep Theo on a leash. The sentinels meant no harm, but they knew Theo was the key to fulfilling the prophecy and so they wanted to protect him at all costs. I asked him about the harnessing. He confirmed what I knew, that it was an ancient ritual that he wouldn’t advise me to perform. Later on, I told him about my plan to surrender to the enemy and make them believe that together we could harness Theo’s power to overthrow you guys.”
Lydia inhaled sharply, and Lythandra actually looked hurt.
“Why didn’t you come to us with this plan? We could have helped you?” she said quite defensively.
“Would you have allowed me to travel to Malakar, join forces with our enemies and capture Theo to ultimately harness my power and die?” I asked back, without any hint of harshness to my tone.
Lythandra did not respond, but her shoulders slacked and she looked down at her hands. Their silence was answer enough.
“I am sorry for lying to you all. I truly am, it was the hardest thing to do. But I knew you cared too much about me to just let me go through with my plan. I had already contacted Ignara and told her about my mother being sick. That all I cared about was making sure she was well and healthy. I offered her my assistance for her protection after the warand for her to make sure my mother was healthy. At first, she wasn’t convinced, but I remained consistent with my story and kept exchanging letters with her, giving her small pieces of information about what was going on at the Lodge. Ultimately, Veridus had the idea to spread rumors about my co-conspiring with her and the Heralds, to make her put her faith in me and to sow doubts with you guys. We needed you to actually believe that I was a traitor and hate me so I could make sure you didn’t intervene with the harnessing.”
Theo blew out a breath and got up, raking his hands through his hair.
“The last part of the puzzle was to get the Abbot to tell me how exactly to harness my power. I told him I wanted him to perform the ritual if it became clear that we couldn’t win and we spent hours preparing the ritual at the temple.”
Lydia looked rather impressed with my resilience and nodded her head approvingly. “How did you get to the battlefield so quickly when they attacked Theo?” Caelan asked. “Veridus snuck me out of the Citadel after you guys started marching towards the shore. We hid in the forest, and I watched the entire time. When the Fraction cut Theo off from the rest of the army, I had to act. And so I took the Pathways with the key Theo had given me and… well you saw the rest.”
Embarrassment at how I had behaved on the battlefield colored my cheeks red.
“I am sorry if I hurt any of you. I had to at least appear to try and attack or stop your approach, otherwise Ignara would have never let me come back to Malakar with the group.” Lydia nodded.
“It was a good plan, Maelis. I don’t like that you had to doit, but you had us all convinced that we had misjudged you. We spent hours trying to understand how we could have been so wrong about you, because we could all see from a mile away that you cared for Theo, and for us. But we have all lived long lives and we have seen this kind of deception before, so…”
I leaned over to Lydia and put my hand on hers.
“No need to explain. I am not offended that you actually believed the lies I fed you. I knew that there were certain reservations about us, the wordsmiths, and I used that to my advantage.”
Caelan smiled. “The Abbot didn’t believe you.”
