“I know well enough thatdon’t worry about memeans you didn’t,” I say.
“Empress, I swore an oath to the Emperor and the Empire. I will ensure your safety. That’s my job.”
“Of course.” I understand the tone in his voice well enough. I’m getting too personal. “Please ensure that my men get proper rest.”
It’s already dark when we arrive, but the advance guard had made sure there were already tents waiting for us. Caiden isn’t outside my tent, neither is Brevan. It’s probably for the best. With any luck, Caiden will busy himself with someone else again tonight.
I slip inside and don’t even bother checking my surroundings before crawling under the blankets. If someone is so desperate to kill me, they’ll eventually succeed, I suppose.
I’m not sure how long I’m asleep when my eyes snap open. Someone is calling my name. It’s a lilting, haunting kind of sound. Unfamiliar but oddly soothing.
I pull on my useless slippers and wrap a blanket over my shoulders before peering out the tent flap.
Fog rolls in, like a thin cloud billowing across the snow-covered ground. I watch it, then stick my foot into it, dragging it through the mist. It breaks, only to reform quickly. It’s unusually thick, but maybe that’s how fog behaves in these woods?
I look over to ask Nate if he’s seen anything like this before, then tense. He’s not there. I take a step out into the camp. There’s no guards around my tent.
There’s nobody around at all.
An eerie quiet blankets the camp. My pulse races, then I realize this has to be a dream. It can’t be real. There’s no way there’d be no legionnaires or guards.
The voice calls my name again.
“Hello?” I take a few more steps, leaving the shelter of the tent behind. “Who’s there?”
My slippers sink into the fresh snow and my feet are quickly freezing. It’s so real for a dream, but it’s not the first time I’ve had a dream that felt this way. Only those ones involve someone else.
I look around, half expecting to see Brevan arrive to sweep me off my feet, but he’s not here.
“Taylan…”
A glowing purple light appears in the same area the voice seems to be coming from. It floats between the tall pine trees, summoning me.
It’s like the light is pulling me in, urging me forward. If this isn’t a dream, it’s a terrible idea, but I also don’t feel like I have a choice. My feet seem to move on their own, oblivious to what I desire.
The light floats ahead of me, weaving between the trees. My feet sink into the fresh snow and I continue forward, pushing branches out of my way as I walk.
My breath comes out in clouds, but I stop feeling cold and drop the blanket. The trees are closer together, the canopy blotting the sky so I can’t see the stars. The light gives off a warm purple glow, guiding me through the darkness.
There’s a structure ahead, something that looks old and crumbling. It takes a few more steps for me to realize that it looks like a smaller version of the temple I entered near the castle.
The pillars are crumbling, only one of them remaining upright. Large stone bricks are scattered around and snow covers the interior. A few plants peek up, bright green even in the strange purple light.
There shouldn’t be anything growing. At least I know I’m really in a dream.
The light stops at the center of the ancient building, pulsing softly, as if beckoning me. I approach slowly, uncertain about what’s under the snowfall.
Once I’m inside, I reach for the light. When my fingers brush over the warm glow, it explodes in blinding violet. I shield my eyes with my arm as the air heats around me.
When the light dissipates, I lower my arm, then look around. My lips part and I turn in a slow circle, marveling at the transformed space.
I’m no longer standing in a ruined temple. It’s as if it were brand new. Tall white pillars support a sturdy roof, a shiny marble floor is under my feet, no sign of the snow that was here seconds before. At the center of the temple is a vat of oil, glowing with a purple flame.
“I was wondering when I’d get you alone so we could talk,” a sharp feminine voice calls.
It’s not the same as the one that lured me here, but it’s familiar. “Who are you?”
“It’s strange how humans can never recall what happens in that temple. Something was tampered with there. Someone didn’t want any of the gifts to be at their full potential. But this is my temple. And nobody has altered it.”
