“Could you have seen Dad was going to die?” It was an awful question, but Scarlett had to ask. “I’m not accusing you of anything. I just want to understand.”
Manon’s eyes watered, and she grasped for Scarlett. “From the bottom of my heart, I wish I could’ve saved him. And your mother. I can’t see the things I don’t know to look for.”
Squeezing her grandmother’s hand, Scarlett gave her a reassuring smile. She knew deep in her heart Manon would have saved them if she could have, and she wished she’d framed the question differently so as not to upset her.
Manon continued. “Take Lachlan, for example. He’ll come to me with a decision he’s trying to make and ask me what I see. I’ll usually give him good advice. However, if someone were planning to kill him, I wouldn’t know unless he asked the right question. It’s far from a perfect power.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I couldn’t save us from Laylani either, which was irritating as hell.”
Scarlett huffed out a laugh, satisfied by the explanation. “Yes, I wish you could have seen that in advance. How do you getthatlabel—oculus? Why do different people have different valors? What was my mum’s valor?”
Manon crossed her legs and leaned back on the bed, looking around at her daughter’s old room. “She was a scientia. She was always brilliant in school, specifically in science, and her valor enhanced that, which is why she went to Soleil for university, where she met Jules.”
Soleil, where she’d died. It was a wonder Manon didn’t hate the whole country.
Manon sniffed. “As for why we get what we get, sometimes valors run in families, but it’s often a total surprise. I have no idea what you’ll be.”
“I guess I’ll find out soon enough. Is that all you wanted to tell me?” Scarlett glanced at the boxes in the closet. She wanted to sort through more of her mum’s things before it was time to go.
Manon looked at the ceiling. “I also wanted to tell you I spent yesterday evening searching for our best path. Unfortunately, Scarlett, when I see myself returning to Soleil, I die. Every time. No matter how I change the path, the outcome remains the same. Laylani gets me, and I weaken and die. But if I stay here, I live.” Her stare was empty as she let out a heavy sigh.
Scarlett’s heart grew heavy as it sank in that her grandmother wasn’t coming back with her. “Then of course you’ll stay. Will you move back here?”
“Yes, dear. As soon as I’m able.”
Scarlett ran her fingers over the worn duvet on her mother’s bed. “Can we take some of Mum’s journals back to the castle? I’m losing the will to go on, and I want to go to the Forest Temple before I’m emotionally and physically exhausted.”
“Of course. Let’s head back.”
Scarlett rushed to load a box of journals into their borrowed car before returning to help Manon. She tried not to catastrophize as she imagined what it would be like to take Beni back to Soleil alone.
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
Heading out of the castle courtyard on foot, Scarlett and Beni followed Manon to a path at the edge of the tree line that marked the beginning of the forest beyond the castle walls. As they walked, Scarlett marveled at how well Manon was getting along with her cane. She seemed to grow stronger by the hour.
“I can’t tell you how much it has weighed on me over the years that you two were unable to experience this,” said Manon. “I’m over the moon you’re meeting your lights. And I mean both of you, Beni.”
“I know.” Beni smiled at Manon. “Thank you.”
“Are there wraiths in these woods?” asked Scarlett, too distracted by nerves to respond to the heartfelt sentiment.
Manon frowned. “Wraiths? How’d you hear about those?”
“Um, Brayden mentioned them.” Scarlett avoided her grandmother’s gaze.
“Oh, don’t worry,” said Manon, missing her evasiveness. “The path is charmed. Besides, they don’t come out in the daylight, typically.”
Scarlett sighed in relief. “That’s good.”
The ever-present clouds cloaked the Clair de Lune sky, as usual. The air was crisp with the smell of fresh pine and wet dirtas they walked. The trees and bushes surrounding them grew so close together it would have been a struggle to leave the path.
After about twenty minutes of walking, the path abruptly ended in an enormous clearing, revealing a stunning building that had been hidden from view by the forest. Scarlett was in awe as she glimpsed the Forest Temple for the first time. It looked ancient—far older than anything else she’d seen so far in Clair de Lune. A worn-looking set of stone steps led to the entrance. Six columns dominated the building’s façade. Illegible words were carved into the entablature lying horizontally across the six off-white columns.
“Who built this?” she asked.
“It was here before Clair de Lune became a proper country,” said Manon. “The priestesses believe it was built by the Goddess herself or her ancient disciples.”
Scarlett stared at the temple. “This is the first building ever erected in Clair de Lune?”
