“Can I escort you to the healer today?”
My teeth worried my bottom lip.“Yes.”
It was a dangerous, dangerous acceptance. But after his actions…I couldn’t stay away.
“I will see you soon, Sylaira.”
And then he was gone.
Ten minutes passed, or perhaps it was two. The beating of my heart was a terrible timekeep. The race made it easier to increase the pace of my breath. To let my lashes flutter against my cheeks. My head tilted back, chest opening, spine locking. A mimicry of what it truly looked like for me to See.
I dragged in a lungful of air.
And delivered a false vision.
“Soldiers. Marching,” I gasped out. “So so many.” I even whimpered for good measure. “But not…us. Red. A flood of it. A sea of blood. No…”
Charcoal flew across parchment, audible in the otherwise quiet around me. My keeper shifted closer to catch every word that slipped past my lips.
“Sand. So much sand. So many boots too. I can’t see the end…”
I sucked in a sharp breath, head snapping forward. My palm pressed to my temples, and I heaved in air. The female rounded in front of me in an instant, meeting my gaze. “Breathe, Sylaira, tell me everything you Saw.”
I dashed my cheeks like I’d been crying. It wasn’t hard to bring tears to the surface anyway when pain was a constant current beneath my skin. “Demon warriors marching through the desert. I was floating above them, but I couldn’t fathom their numbers. It was…endless.”
“Was there anything else you noticed? What did you hear? Smell?” she pressed, making further notes.
I shook my head, releasing my hands to my sides. “I was overwhelmed by the size of their forces. It was a brief vision, but it was strong. Clear. Not fuzzy around the edges.”
“Rate the clarity, please,” she said. While Seers weren’t as common as Sensors or Illusionists, the differentiator in our power rested in the strength of our glimpses into the future. With my ice-blue eye color, mine should always be the most vivid, most detailed, and lengthiest. Others, like the female with cerulean eyes a few chairs down from me, would only receive incomplete snippets through her connection to the Goddess.
“Nine.” That score, coupled with the rest of the information I’d provided, was enough to tell her that what I spoke was likely to come to pass—and made it plausible that I’d actually Seen it too.
She smiled and squeezed my thigh. “Great work, Sylaira. Your contribution will save lives.”
I fought a grimace. That was what she believed, but I knew the truth.
Sight only led to death.
“I’m feeling weak. May I go?” I asked. Glancing around, I noted that most of the Divine Atrium had emptied out.
“Of course. Rest. We’ll do this again tomorrow so you need your strength.” My scribe folded up her parchment and tucked it away.
Heraphia too was stretching out her stiff limbs, clearly waiting on me. I thanked the female and slid from my chair. My knee protested as I put weight on it, but it held as we returned to our rooms.
“Sylaira,” my best friend called out to me through our shared bathing chamber.
“Yes?” I said, popping my head into the doorway.
She jerked her chin, motioning for me to enter her room. I did, and then joined her on a settee. “You didn’t actually See, did you?”
“No,” I whispered back. “The Issaraeth offered me some information to pretend.”
“So the size of the army…” she trailed off, her voice thick with emotion.
I sighed. “Is unfortunately true.”
Her head dropped to her chest, a quiet cry escaping her. I wrapped her in my embrace and rocked her. “Zuriel will be okay.”
