Page 32 of A Reign of Chromes & Shadows

“Don’t you have a choice? You’re the most powerful Royal we know. How can anyone make you do anything? Isn’t the strongest supposed to rule?”

“It’s complicated,” Rain sighed. “I’ve never had a choice. Until now, I didn’t think I was capable of choice. But maybe things are changing. The most powerful aren’t ruling anymore. I question when that stopped being the standard. The strongest, most determined people I’ve met… they’re often in the most unexpected places.”

“Deep,” Thomas said around a mouthful of food.

Rain snorted. “Okay, let’s get that vodka. It’s five p.m. somewhere.”

Thomas’s eyes lit up.

Rain reached out with his power, brushing Neel’s energy signature with a brief pulse of need; their agreed-upon signal.

“Let’s leave the worries for another day,” Rain said, leaning back. “And drink to living in the moment and to competing at weeks end.”

Chapter 12

“Iam overjoyed to sense your gift has returned.”

Isarion’s voice drifted out from behind the mountain of paperwork spread across his desk. “The gods smile upon you, Rain. All the whispers from the other side speak your name.” He paused, fingers stilling mid-search as his attention shifted fully to the prince. “I fear I must caution you.”

He hesitated, just long enough to make Rain’s skin prickle.

“You must choose your steps wisely… particularly where it concerns Az—” he corrected himself, “your father.”

“What makes you say that Isarion? It’s unlike you to speak so plainly.” Rain leaned forward, elbows on his knees, studying the Elder. He sent out his energy feelers for what felt like the hundredth time, only to slam into a solid wall. The impact throbbed through his already pounding head. Isarion shielding himself was strange; he could do it, of course, any master of the Order of the Aurora could but he rarely did so around Rain. Which meant he was hiding something. And not subtly.

“I dare not say too much to you, Your Majesty.”

“Dare you say anything at all?” Rain snapped, he wasn’t in the mood for deciphering. “You’re more cryptic than usual and it’s unnerving. And why are you calling me ‘Your Majesty’? You’re being very odd today and the fact you’ve got your walls up isn’t helping.”

The Elder smiled, which only irritated Rain further.

“As a bridge to the other side, I must be wise with what I share with the living,” Isarion said gently. “This is a crucial time for you, Your Majesty.” He emphasised the title, holding Rain’s gaze. “I am here to guide you spiritually; to nurture your gifts so you may rise to your full potential. But I must not influence your path. That is not my place.”

He folded his hands, serene as ever.

“My walls must remain up for the foreseeable future. You and I both know how skilled you are at reading beyond mere emotion. And I know too much. I have seen too many potential outcomes.” His voice softened. “Which, I must caution you, is not something you should speak of to anyone. Unless you wish for me to be tortured for my insight.”

He smiled again,; far too calmly for Rain’s liking and returned to rifling through his papers.

“Ah. There it is.”

He held out a parchment.

Rain took it slowly, still processing everything the Elder had implied; loyalty sworn without explanation, warnings without answers, and now this.

He stared at the parchment. The markings, if they were words, were in no language he recognised.

“What you are holding is a printed copy of an insert said to have belonged to the long-lost Prism Codex,” Isarion explained. “You know of it from my teachings, of course. Many have tried to decipher it. None alive today have succeeded. What little we do know is printed on the back, which you may read at your leisure.”

He gave Rain a knowing look, one that blossomed into a spark of excitement.

“And now you are going to ask why I am giving it to you, and what its relevance is.”

Rain opened his mouth, but Isarion clapped his hands before he could speak.

“You are going to meditate with it, Your Majesty!”

“You want me to meditate with a piece of paper?”