She nodded, twisting her creamy white hair around her finger. “That is why I agreed to spy for the two of them in the palace. To watch over you. And Heraphia of course.”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” I admitted quietly.
“If I had answers for you, I’d give them. Unfortunately, I wasn’t blessed with Sight.” She gestured toward her sky-blue irises. “In fact, I am pretty plain. Though my Illusion magic is serving me well in my mission here.”
“I’d rather be able to create something beautiful in my mind than be forced to witness the destruction of our world,” I muttered, wrapping my arms around my stomach.
Her brows pinched together. “Do you not want your power?”
“I wouldn’t call it a blessing like everyone else does.” I scrunched up my nose. “I’d rather die than have a prophecy again, especially for the Korona.”
“Ah, the leaves the Issaraeth had me give you…that was to suppress your visions, wasn’t it?” she asked, gentle understanding in her tone.
“Yes,” I sighed, tucking my hair behind my ear. “They want us to See the war. Information I give them could end up with thousands dying. Do you not understand how my magic goes against what we believe?”
She lifted a shoulder and let it drop. “You could also save thousands.”
“Saving thousands means sentencing thousands to death. War is war,” I grumbled, foot jiggling against the ground. “Someone has to win and someone has to lose. I would rather not be part of it at all.”
Lyriasthe squeezed my forearm. “I’m not saying you do. Just that it might not be as bleak as you make it out to be.”
Once again, my connection to Vaeron awoke, twisting and twirling in delight. “I think I have to go,” I murmured.
The fellow peace-lover smiled. “I know.” Rising, she went to the servant’s door and unlocked it, revealing my mate on the other side.
Wrinkles creased his once-crisp dark tunic. The high collar drooped, like he’d popped the threads with one harsh jerk. He looked like male who had been at war—with others, and with himself.
Yet even in his disheveled state, he radiated the kind of power that made me want to fall into the eye of his storm. Energy crackled under the surface of my skin, an ache to close the distance between us.
He drank me in like a male dying of thirst. “Come,” he crooned, the word more request than command.
I rose, limp more pronounced after being forced to dance too soon.
He frowned, and the concern in that expression spread warmth through my insides. “Do you need me to carry you? We have a long walk.”
“Where are we going?” I asked, studying his carved features. The monster that lurked beneath was absent, replaced instead by something broken.
“My chambers,” he told me, then glanced at Lyriasthe. “You’ll ensure Heraphia is looked after?”
“Wait, wait, what’s going to happen to her?” I pressed, hysteria creeping into my tone. We’d been separated once, and I wasn’t going to let that happen again.
“Nothing, shh,” Lyriasthe soothed, giving my shoulder asqueeze. “It’s merely a precaution. The Korona knows what she means to you.”
Fuck, of course she did. Because Iaoth was a master of manipulation, as Vaeron had told me time and time again. Guilt gnawed my insides. Had I put Heraphia in danger again? Zuriel would never forgive me if something happened to her.
“You defend her with your life. She is everything to me,” I swore, holding Lyriasthe’s gaze. Watching for any sign of deception.
“I swear upon our Peaceful Mother,” she said, flipping her palm around and pressing it over her heart—the gesture all Elessarum used with one another.
“Thank you. Go in peace,” I told her, stepping toward Vaeron.
“Always in peace,” she replied with the traditional Elessarum farewell.
Then, darkness bathed us. Vaeron flicked bubble lights into the air, highlighting the passage.
“How did it go?” The question burst out of me before I could stop it.
He pressed a finger to his lips.“We’ll talk when we reach my chambers. For now, we need to move silently so we aren’t discovered.”
