My brain fights so hard to find reality again, to sort through the panic and the pain and fear to figure out what’s real. Is she talking about Astella? If she is in the dungeon…
“She stole something from our people. She will pay for it now. Would you like to join her in her punishment?”
My lips part but I cannot find the strength to respond.
“She is going to die,” the seer continues calmly. She has no compassion at all. It’s as if she were explaining the patterns of the moon, or the seasons of weather. “Her soul will strengthenthe Drak. It is a fair death. She has a wonderful purpose. And she will still have the chance to be reborn.”
I’m very confused, but I don’t want to give her any more information. She can’t know the lengths I would go…
She must read something in my eyes because she raises her hands, as if in surrender, as she steps closer. Her manicured fingers press the underside of my jaw and lifts to force my eyes up to hers.
“You have a gentle spirit. It is a good match for our Drak. You would make a lovely mother. But there is danger in too much compassion. You must learn to find the edges of your softness because if you do not, you will lose yourself to it. This is a cruel world. Sometimes, cruelty is a necessary tactic to survive. I’m sure you’ve done things you would never have dreamed of in the name of survival in your time struggling in the outworld. This is like that. Trust the Ancient One to do what is right. That is his job.”
“How do I trust someone I have never met?”
Her smile is soft. “That is faith.”
I don’t think I’m capable of faith in someone else’s god just because the only other choice is death.
“Faith will come in time.”
When she removes her fingers from my chin, I keep my head high.
“Blythe has abandoned her concern. But I will still warn you that if you interfere, you will simply link your fate with hers. Do you wish to die, Drahkita Lina?”
I swallow and shake my head. To my surprise, tears well in my eyes. The feeling that clings to my chest is not what I intended when I entered this room.
Defeat.
“Good girl,” she purrs. “You may reunite with your Drak. Continue to please him, and you will have a place here for a very long time to come.”
She doesn’t mean it as a threat, but it lands as one all the same.
49
Lina
As I exit the sanctum, I’m numb. My feet slide against stone, my limbs tingling.
I stare absently at the wall. To my right is an open tunnel, dark and quiet.
To my left are a hundred Drak warriors. I wouldn’t dare move toward them alone. I need my Drak to protect me.
Why does he protect me?
My place here doesn’t make sense. My Drak doesn’t make sense. The girl in the dungeon doesn’t make sense. The priestesses and their foretellings don’t make any sense.
Astella. She would know.
There is purpose here,a voice whispers to me.Find it. Find me.
Like a hot coal, rage and determination drops into my stomach. There is only one choice.
Deep in my soul, I know how it ends. I will run down the only path I have, desperate and reckless. And I’ll be caught.
I’ll be caught and beaten and violated and killed.
But I can’t not go. My body cannot remain still while Astella is in that terrible place.
