eleven
Thenextmorning,Silaswas still sleeping when I slipped out of bed in the predawn darkness. The garden had stopped glowing, thankfully, after last night’s activities.
As much as I wanted to linger beside Silas and stroke his hair back from his forehead, tell him I loved him still, and then ask him what in the world he meant about working for the Darkest Lord, I needed to get to training. We didn’t have time for what felt like a huge discussion this morning, so we could revisit the topics of love and the underworld later.
I pilfered a piece of bread from the kitchen along with an apple, then shuffled out the front door before Millie had even arrived at the house. I figured I’d be extremely early, but when I got to the top of the hill, Seer Goddard was waiting for me.
The Seer stood outside his hut in the same, or at least a very similar, robe as yesterday. His hands were folded patiently in front of his body. He was illuminated from behind by the first bit of daylight stretching its limbs in the distance.
“Today,” he said in greeting, “we’ll focus on air.”
“Air?” I paused, but Seer Goddard didn’t seem inclined to continue. “I understand it’s the stuff we breathe, but could you be more specific about what we’re doing with it?”
“You are going to start your journey to master it.”
“Can’t we start with water? I have a natural affinity for it. It heightens my powers, and it’s the element I’m most comfortable with.”
“Exactly. We touched on earth yesterday, and you proved you have some ability there. You have no affinity for air whatsoever, which is why we start there. A tripod needs three legs.”
“Where do we begin?”
“Breathing. Sit, get comfortable. Close your eyes and breathe.”
I moved to the center of the rose garden, perching in the middle of the circular patch of dusty stones. Once I’d crossed my legs and rested my hands on my knees, I closed my eyes and breathed. And breathed, and breathed, and breathed. For what felt like forever.
After an eternity I shifted slightly. “Seer Goddard, I’ve been breathing for thirty years. Is there anything specific you want me to focus on?”
Silence was my only reply.
I cracked one eye open. Seer Goddard had vanished. Not daring to move, I squinched both eyes closed again and kept breathing until the sun scorched against my skin, my stomach threatened mutiny in hunger, and my mind emptied of all thoughts because I’d simply run through them.
When I finally opened my eyes again, the sun was sliding west. I hadn’t eaten since dawn. Hunger made me dizzy, and the early evening chill raised goosebumps on my arms. I rose, stiff as a two-by-four, groaning as I massaged cricks and cramps out of muscles I didn’t know I had.
I didn’t want to give up, but I also couldn’t sit here all night long. I needed food and water. Conversation would be nice. Maybe some rest.
I knocked on the wall of the hut, but the Seer was nowhere to be found. I understood that in some cultures, people went for days without food in fasting practices.
I was not one of those people. When Seer Goddard didn’t turn up in the next ten minutes, I forfeited. I really hadn’t wanted to give up, but I feared if I didn’t get going soon, he’d find me keeled over in a dead faint here tomorrow morning.
Stiff and sore, I shuffled down the rocky path, wondering what, if anything, I had learned from my first full day of training. I had learned that apparently I could survive a day without food, water, or movement? That I was more confused than ever before? That meditation was exceedingly boring after the first seven hours of it?
As I approached the bottom of the hill, nearing the river that cut the island in two and the castle that now bridged the two sides, the sound of voices rose. I made my way closer to the castle, noting a crowd had gathered on the west bank.
Fenlon stood at its center. If that wasn’t bad enough, he held one of Gus’s ancient Fae texts over his head like a trophy. My stomach clenched in anger.
“What is this?” I asked quietly, as the crowd silenced upon my arrival. “Fenlon, what’s happening here?”
As I spoke, eyes flicked toward me. I couldn’t help but feel like these people were all staring at me as if I’d wronged them individually. With real disapproval on their faces.
“Ah, here she is,” Fenlon announced, eyes glittering. “Thequeen.I told you she’d come.”
“How did you get my book?” I asked. “You broke into Wisteria Cottage?”
“Is it fair that you hoard the only Fae manuscripts in existence?” Fen raised the book higher. “If you hoard this knowledge like a dragon with its riches, we’re left in the dark knowing nothing. But that’s just how you want it, isn’t it?”
“I’m not trying to hide anything. I’m trying to understand the history of Fae Queens, the history of The Isle, the connection between myself and my ancestors. I’m trying tohelp.”
“Then share the texts.” Fen flipped the book open to a full-page illustration. “Unless there’s something you’d rather we didn’t find out?”
