“It was unlike anything I’ve experienced in the Visions before. Always before I’ve seen the choices Skuld affords us laid out ahead of me like trails I could travel, though many were shadowed in the Myst of Choice. I’ve always known that each of those paths has many branches, each representing the choices we are free to make along the way. But in the past, I’ve traveled only one pathway to its conclusion. Always the one where the Myst has lifted.”
“And yet”—his fingers tightened ever so slightly, digging into her skin—“you’ve warned of all those choices that I should avoid.”
She nodded as best she could, her movement constrained by his grip. “I was always granted glimmersof the consequences of other trails, of other decisions. Spots along the way where the Myst had cleared. Sometimes the end of a path. But never the fullness of all those paths. Never until now.”
His fingers loosened but didn’t leave her throat. “And this time?”
“This time it was as if I was being shown every possible outcome, all at once. So many choices, so many paths, intertwining, entangled, one layered upon another until I could not tell where one ended and the next began. I felt splintered, shattered, torn in so many directions, each an endless multitude of intersecting corridors, like some intricate web woven by a crazed spider.”
So much information laid out before her, yet she’d come away with almost nothing.
“What did you see of my plans?” Again Torquil’s eyes narrowed.
“I saw at least one pathway leading to yer defeat.”
“And my victory? Did you see the pathway leading to that possibility as well?”
“I saw that possibility. It exists, but only with the correct combination of choices.”
Fear knotted her stomach again as Torquil dipped his head next to hers. His hair teased against her cheek even as his hot breath feathered over her ear when he spoke.
“I’ve decided to have mercy upon you, little sister. For now, at least. You’d no be wise to disappoint me again.”
He held her there for a moment longer, her heart beating wildly, and then, just when she was sure he could taste her fear, he dropped his hands from her and stepped away.
“May I return to my chambers now?” Her voice shook, far beyond her ability to control it.
“You may.”
Christiana had taken barely two steps before her brother spoke again.
“I send riders forth even now to recruit more men to my cause. In the spring, I will ride against Castle MacGahan. You have seen this?”
“I have. There are bits and pieces of it in my memories.” He wanted more from her, as he always did. But in this she must move slowly.
“And building my ranks, bringing in new men—is this one of the correct choices?” Irritation crept into his clipped tones even as he kept his back turned to her.
“It is an absolute necessity.” She paused, weighing the importance of what she would say next. “There will be one among them who is essential to the desired outcome.” Essential to the outcomeshedesired, that is.
He turned in her direction, surprise and interest warring in his expression. “You’ve seen a warrior who will champion my cause?”
“I’ve seen a champion, yes.” Though not of Torquil’s cause.
“You will recognize this man on sight?”
“I’ve seen him only in a haze, never clearly enough to identify his features.” And yet, she couldn’t imagine not recognizing the sound of his voice or the feel of his touch when he finally arrived. So familiar they had become to her, she often had to remind herself the man was nothing more to her than her rescuer.
“He was a part of yer Visions and yet his visage remains a mystery to you. If you’ll no recognize him, how am I to distinguish him from all the other newcomers?”
“I canna say how you will pick him from the others. I ken only that he will be different somehow. The Vision was quite clear that he alone will determine the difference between success and failure.”
Torquil nodded slowly, beginning to pace back and forth in front of the fireplace, his hands clasped behind his back. At last his footsteps halted and he turned a narrowed gaze back in her direction.
“And this man of great importance to me, this champion of mine, will he have any interaction with you, little sister?”
Her heart skipped a beat, but she answered without delay. “He will.”
“Do you think to lie with him?”
