I snapped awake, my jaws gnashing at the air! I would kill them all, kill all of the–
I was alone in the temple. Feyra was still tied to the stake, but her eyes were rolling in the back of her head. Her whites were showing. She was convulsing.
Feyra!
She blinked, awakening and stepping forward. The ropes were gone! The bounds and sores. The searing burns of the flame…there was no sign that we’d been burned alive at all!
But the dream…Melania… we still wore her clothes.
“Melania,” Feyra began.
“You dreamed it too?” I asked.
“We didn’t dream it,” she replied, nodding with her head.
I turned; hovering in front of us was the ghostly form of Melania. She looked exactly the same, and looking through her ghost, the temple was as beautiful as it had been.
“The end of my time has come,” she said. “I have fulfilled my redemption for the prophecies I cast. For dabbling in the magic women are forbidden to touch.”
“But what do you–” My mouth snapped shut.
“I have recorrected the course.” She paused, looking at us both. “How wise you were, Diora. If only I’d listened to you quicker.”
“I’m not ready to leave you,” Feyra said.
“Dreams are always a gateway.”
“But how is your seeing different to Roman’s—my, my father’s?” I yelled.
Melania began to fade away. The temple through her began to dull. She smiled one last time as her body disappeared. “One only sees truthfully when one doesn’t see at all! What is there, is there!”
A heartbeat later we were alone in the temple. There was no Melania, no Ghost of Jebra, just us. Feyra and myself. She reached out and took my hand.
And our wolves howled inside.
Chapter 23
FEYRA
We found our horses on the edge of the city in an abandoned building. They were skittish and stressed, but calmed when we found them. They still had some supplies and camping equipment, but we were grateful just to find them. We’d not spoken since leaving the temple, I could sense unease in Dion too. Worry. His whole world had just been turned upside down, and all he needed was silence.
We rode out of the city as the sun rose. As we passed through the two lone guarding pillars and the sun hit their old facades, they crumbled. Falling into the dust of the wastelands. Joining the rest of the rubble that had been there since its destruction.
Dion was the first to turn away, and we continued towards where we’d stayed only nights earlier. We made camp at the Eagle’s Wingtip.
“I need time,” Dion said, as we dismounted. He was holding his pocket tightly.
“Of course,” I said, squeezing his shoulder. He walked away, striding for the pool I’d been beside earlier.
I could barely understand what had happened these last few days. Everything in my life had been a lie. Everything had been covered up and changed. Every single person had been a stranger in the end. But in that, Aunt Teetee had only done it to protect me. I wished that I’d had the chance to really know her.
I went about setting up our meager site. I started a fire and fed the horses. I gave them water and secured them near the overhang. There wasn’t much in the way of food for us, and I didn’t know what we were going to do. But I figured we’d findsomething somewhere. What else could I do?
After an hour or so, I heard calling. I headed for the pool and heard splashing.
“Fey!”
“Dion? Are you okay?” I asked, coming down to the oasis.
