My specialty.
Their fight grew to a breaking point. They did not want a stranger to see the ruins of their family. They needed me to leave, and they would turn over their own daughter in order to make that happen.
Pathetic.
I cleared my throat softly, releasing my hold on their emotions. Neither of them turned, but Anna’s head dropped, chin dipping in quiet defeat. “Seren can be found in Ordelés Proper. She is a Guardian at the King’s Palace.”
“And do you believe the claims? Do you believe Seren could be a Rázuri sympathizer?” I moved closer to Anna, wary of the way Stephanus’s eyes tracked me.
“She—” Anna broke off with a start and shook her head in a silent denial. “I don’t know. I can’t help you.”
I inclined my head, though she did not meet my eyes. “Thank you, Mrs. Corso. Apologies for my intrusion this evening. I wish you well.”
The door closed with a bang as I let myself out of their home, the wind sucking at its heavy slats. A steady trickle of mágik fell from my hands as I pushed the cold sea breeze away from myself.
I mounted Equinox and set off once again, this time riding for the heart of the human stronghold, and though it was, withoutquestion, the most dangerous place for any Rázuri to find oneself, I could not prevent a smile from curling my lips.
Chapter six
Seren
Silken spiderwebs stretched from corner to corner of the crumbling cathedral, sunlight catching on the fine strands and turning them to silver. A rainbow of light passed through the remnants of stained glass from many years passed, turning the dusty floor pearlescent. The chamber was so quiet one might hear the click of insects' legs as they scurried across the forlorn path.
I walked forward on silent feet, the broken beauty unmarked by my phantom steps.
A man knelt in the rubble, arms loose at his sides. His fingertips brushed the ground, coated in dirt and soot. Shards of broken stone pressed into his knees painfully. Silent tears tracked down his face as he gazed upon the altar before him—snow white hair falling across his temples—and his breath fogged as the cool autumn air pressed upon him.
“Please, hear me. Goddesses, grant me guidance.”
His voice brought me back to another day—another dream—so similar to the scene before me. We had been here before. He had prayed here before.
How many times?I wondered.How many prayers have gone unanswered?
The weight of his despair was tangible, thick in the stagnant air.
He ran his fingers along the cracked altar. They came away coated in dust. He rose and drew his pristine white cloak from around his shoulders.
With careful, deliberate movements, he cleaned the stains from the Goddesses faces. He brushed debris from their stone-carved hair. He cared for them as one would a small child—as my parents had once cared for me.
“My parents should have stayed in Daikés…” He whispered. To the Goddesses? To himself? “I should have… It shouldn’t have been likethis.”
He closed his pale eyes, stark blue veins visible on his lids. He squeezed them tight, and I was drawn in with him—sucked into the whirlpool of his memory.
Théo had never set foot in Daikés, he had been born in Szrestia, but he felt their memories in his bones. He tasted the stories on his tongue.
A glittering blue sea stretched endlessly to the horizon, star sand crunching beneath his toes. Lush vegetation and pink blossoming trees lined each path. Their petals floated on the breeze, falling to the ground like sweets spun by mágik.
But the image of Daikés shattered.
Graveled words reverberated through his mind.My mind.
We will claim Ordelés soon enough, Théo, and when you have helped me snuff out every paltry human soul… We will celebrate upon their ashes.
When he opened his eyes, he was alone in the forgotten church, and I was beside him once more.
“Goddesses…” I cursed, blinking hard against the dizzying feeling of sharing one mind, of seeing another’s memory—even if it was only a dream.
Théo hauled broken stone from the sanctuary, swept dust from the pulpit, and plucked broken glass from the floor, not caring that it sliced his palms. He murmured to the Goddesses all the while, but there was only silence behind his stilted breaths. “Why am I here?Why did you bring me here?”
