Shouts and calls of indignation from the crowd had him startling and taking an unsteady step back. Zayn almost bolted off the chair until he registered the shaking of my head.
“Enough,” Norla admonished Syde.
Indeed. They couldn’t seem to see it for what it was yet, but their every action today was compromising their authority, their own people’s respect for them as rulers.
Norla settled onto her throne, then snapped her hand up and commanded our people, “Begin.”
I swallowed thickly and forced myself not to tense too much. That really wouldn’t help matters. I needed to accept the offering, the more my body resisted, the harder it would make the entire process.
I watched ripples begin weaving through the air toward me, translucent disruptions to the atmosphere, what the vibrational resonance ability looked like when employed above ground.
Only a handful of ripples came my way, and as they sank into me, there was only a slight pins and needles sensation.
They were trying not to hurt me, wishing to deliver it to me bit by bit, instead of through overwhelm.
“It must be a collective force,” Norla spoke. “Otherwise the resonance threads will not cure as one properly within the vessel.”
Vessel.Of course that was what I was in this instance to her.
When they hesitated—well, resisted—she called out in that all too familiar fiercely uncompromising tone, “Either see to it as I’ve instructed, or rescind your votes, and take your leave.”
Nothing happened. No further resonance was sent my way.
“Now. See to it!” Norla yelled, actually yelled, her usual stoicism and collectedness failing her.
No response.
No movement.
“It’s not the only way,” somebody spoke up, startling me, her, Syde, and Zayn.
“Nor is this public spectacle a necessary component,” another called.
Murmurs and a cacophony of talk and hisses followed.
I caught Zayn’s eye and he was smirking like a beautiful little devil.
Norla stepped forward. “The only other method involves me curing a gradual, sporadic influx of resonance myself, where I will need to draw on my full power to see to it, something that will compromise me significantly. Do you really want your sovereign, your guardian against the unforgiving outside world incapacitated, while we stand on the verge of war?”
Yes. I’d known she could do that, could spare me this version of the process.
And I’d also known that she wouldn’t offer it as an option.
What I hadn’t foreseen, however, was her admitting to that and even now trying to justify herself.
She was afraid.
Her control was slipping.
More notably when it came to Basilisk nature, she was losing their respect.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t allow her to be pushed and challenged further currently, or she would escalate, clamp down, and our people would be punished.
“It’s all right,” I spoke to the crowd.
The room quietened.
I lifted my chin at them. “This needs to be done. I’m willing to accept this method. And I thank you so very dearly for offering me your trust with this. I will hold it well.”
