It was more impressive than the outside view, and I let myself be taken in by the sight. We were lead into a large hall with a ceiling that would’ve given us a gorgeous view of the night sky, if we could ever get rid of the darkness.
I missed seeing stars and the moon. They’d been my closest friends for so many years while I was stuck in a room, thinking I’d never be sane, never leave that building until I died from old age.
We were seated near the head of the table. Drake took the chair to the right, the left already occupied by a beautiful, dark-skinned woman, her ebony hair falling over her shoulders and her smile friendly and graceful. Her pointed ears, studded with diamonds and emeralds, poked out of her hair,
“May I introduce to you Queen Ashan of the elves, my cherished wife for more than what, three hundred years now?”
She pouted. “Four hundred, but you knew that.”
He kissed her warmly, taking his seat.
Her pout vanished, replaced by a smile. “Please, sit down and join us. I sense from the looks on your faces we have not been as kept up to date on the happenings in Torolf as I expected.”
Kate and I exchanged a worried glance as we sat.
“There have been some new developments,” Kate said lightly.
“And also, from the sudden guilt on Sabella’s face, Tristan and Craig do not know you are here.”
I gulped, reaching for the glass before me and drinking down the wine to avoid answering.
“I thought as much. Well then, first we eat, and then you will tell us why you both ran away from your kings.”
“Not my king,” I whispered sadly. Tristan wouldn’t forgive me, not this time. And I couldn’t blame him either. I glanced up to catch Ashan studying me with an intrigued look and realized she’d heard every word I said. “Sorry, I forgot, elven hearing and all that.”
“No need to apologize. Eat, and we will discuss what troubles you after.”
A plate was set before me, fresh greens and fish. I picked at it, trying to find my appetite. I wasn’t going to eat, but then I heard Tristan’s worried growling in my ear and turned, certain he was right behind me.
But there was just an elf with a curious expression, asking if I needed something.
“No, sorry,” I mumbled and turned back around.
I ate the food, though I couldn’t explain how I’d heard him so clearly. Like it was in the dream I had. I would’ve sworn that moment was real and he had not just been another figment of my imagination. Leaving him was going to be more difficult than I assumed, but what choice did I have? I knew what I saw in that vision, and I would not be the reason he succumbed to the curse of his race. If I wound up dying at the end of this, well then, that was on me. He deserved a chance to be happy with another shifter, someone who understood him and what he needed.
That was clearly not me.
When we finished eating, the plates were cleared away, and Ashan requested we join her and Drake out in the gardens. I wanted a minute alone to talk to Kate about what we would say, but then we were outside sitting around a warm fire, surrounded by padded benches.
“Now, we’ve heard of several skirmishes with these nightmarish creatures,” Drake said. “We wiped out a nest of malicious vampire bats only four days ago and then yesterday struck down several trolls that had tried to tunnel under the wall.”
“Spiders,” I said with a cringe. “That’s what we had last.”
I briefly told them about the fight on the hillside, against those monsters that would have killed me if Tristan hadn’t been there to save my ass.
“Don’t forget the basilisks,” Kate reminded me. “They were surrounded by those on their way back to investigate the seam into that pocket dimension.”
“Where you were found with Craig?” Ashan asked.
Kate nodded.
“And, did they find anything of use? Baladon ready and waiting to give up perhaps?”
She waited for me and Kate to answer, but we hadn’t stuck around long enough to know what they found.
We remained silent after looking at each other quickly.
So Ashan continued with her questions. “Right then, what else has happened? Sabella, does this have anything to do with your visions?”
I nervously leaned back and avoided their stares. “I might be having some issues with those of late… as in I’m not exactly myself when I come out of them.”
“What do you mean?” Drake asked.
“I forget who I am, who everyone is,” I explained. “Sometimes it’s just for a few minutes but this last time…” I sucked in a breath to get up the nerve to keep going. “The last time, I attacked Tristan, hurt him.”
Ashan’s and Drake’s brows furrowed at the same time. “You poor thing.”
“It’s fine, really I just—uh, I wasn’t going to risk hurting him or anyone else, which is why we need to talk to Hansi as soon as possible.”
Ashan stared at me long and hard before she stood and walked around the fire. She held out her hand. “Come with me, my dear.” I glanced around, searching for someone to tell me what was going on, but she merely smiled happily down at me. “Don’t worry, I don’t bite.”
I took her hand, and she pulled me to my feet. “Where are we going?” I asked as she led me away from the fire and deeper into the gardens.
“I have been around for a very long time,” she said softly, “and I know when someone is in pain. You, my dear, are hurting so much it breaks my own heart. You have found your soul mate, so why are you not happy, hmm?”
“I was. When he found me in the woods, for the first time in my life, I was sane,” I told her. “I could think clearly, figure out who I am.”
“And now?”
“Now… now it’s complicated.”
“Love is often so, trust me,” she said with a quiet laugh.
“But with us, I feel like we’re missing something. And everything’s happened so fast. We’ve been on the move ever since I came here, fighting against Baladon and these monsters, trying to figure out how to win this war,” I rambled. “There hasn’t been a chance for us to talk about us and what we’re doing. But then neither one of us makes time for it. That’s not right, is it? And when we do have time, all he does is lecture me on how I need to listen to him and become part of the pack. What is that even supposed to mean? I’m half god and a seer. And I feel that insanity creeping back the longer this darkness stays… and I’m sorry,” I said quickly when I glanced over and saw Ashan’s wide-eyed look. “I haven’t exactly had a chance to vent to anyone.”
She squeezed my hand as we kept walking. “You are under a lot of stress, you both are,” she said as if that explained everything. “There is a war going on, and this darkness can make the best of us lose ourselves.”
“But I am actually losing myself,” I insisted. “Every time I get a vision and come back, it takes longer for everything to click.”
“You said Tristan helped you with this.”
“He does, or did… but lately, I don’t know. Maybe we were both wrong, and we’re not meant for each other.” I needed that to be the truth, so if this went bad, if I ended up dying, he would be spared a terrible fate.
“Or maybe you are scared.”
“It’s a war, isn’t everyone scared?”
“Not of Baladon and his monsters,” she argued. “You don’t fear them, not after how you went after those spiders without a second thought for your own safety.”
“I wasn’t going to let Tristan and those villagers be killed. I had to do something.”
“You are a true born warrior, Sabella, gifted with both the light and the sight.” She smiled at her tiny rhyme. “You are more than capable of facing the dangers of this world.”
“But you said I was scared.”
“Scared of what you and Tristan can be together.”
“But we’re not together,” I argued, annoyed, not at her, just at how the past few months had gone. “I wanted us to be, but he’s too stubbo
rn to listen to me and understand.”
“And you are very good at explaining exactly how you feel, yes?”
I grimaced. “Well, not exactly.”
“That’s what I thought.”
We came to a bench beneath a weeping willow, and I sat down, hanging my head. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Talk to him, no matter how hard it is. And, tell him about what you saw.”
I shot upright, noticing how she tilted her head as if she was listening to someone talking. “Are you… are you like me?”
“A seer? Sadly, no, but I have my own gift thanks to a long line of witches and the like.” She sat beside me with a cringe of her own. “I may have heard a few of your thoughts during dinner. Hard not to when you’re practically yelling inside your own mind.”
“You’re a telepath?”
“Yes, though I do my best not to pry into people’s heads. You, however, make it rather difficult.”
“Sorry, I think?”
She smiled. “I know you are worried about a vision you had, which is the true reason why you have come is it not?”
There was no point in lying to her. “I had a vision, and I saw… I saw myself dead, as well as Kate and a faceless person. Tristan though, he gave into the curse seeing me like that and if it’s really going to happen, if I’m going to end up dead…”
“Then you’re hoping to save him from the pain of losing you by what, losing you sooner?”
“I’m trying to protect him.”
“Or you’re protecting yourself from guilt,” she corrected. “Sabella, you two are stronger together. You yourself have said so. You can’t lose faith in that bond, not now. Now when you’re going to need him the most.”
“But we have no answers yet. We have no idea how to get to Baladon, or how many gods he has trapped and now he’s speaking through me. He’s using me, messing with my head.”
“He’s speaking through you?” she asked alarmed.
“It’s only happened once, but I saw him in that last vision, too, and he was the reason I came out of it not remembering anything.” I fought back the angry tears and planted my hands on my thighs. “I have to do this alone, without him.”
Her friendly smile was gone replaced by extreme worry. “First thing in the morning, you will meet with Hansi. There is a chance he can help you with your visions, find a way to keep Baladon from getting inside your head again.”
“And if not? If he’s listening to this right now through me?”
“Do you feel like he is?”
“Not now.”
She stood, nodding her head firmly. “You will get some sleep tonight and, in the morning, I will help you in any way I can, but Sabella, you must tell Tristan the truth of why you left. The real truth, not what you think to be the truth.”
I groaned in annoyance but got up. “And what makes you think he still wants to talk to me?”
“You are young and so is he. Trust me, he wants to see you.”
Her talk did nothing to make me feel better. As soon as Tristan realized I was gone and found that note, he would lose it.
We were almost back to the fire with everyone when I turned, hearing a growl again, his growl.
Slowly I spun all the way around, but only the wind was blowing through the garden, rustling the leaves. I longed to see Tristan stalking through those trees, his yellow eyes staring into mine as they’d done so often, telling me what his words never did.
But he wasn’t here, and I had more important issues to deal with.
Like making sure I didn’t go completely insane before we had a chance to stop Baladon.
All throughout the night, I sensed Tristan, heard his growl, or felt his arms around me. After a while I gave up on sleep and lay there, staring at the glass ceiling, imagining how amazing the night sky would look like from here.
The list of growing concerns continued to grow with each deep breath I took. Baladon had Farrah, and who knew how many other gods in his grasp. His monsters were running rampant through the realms, and though we’d killed what felt like hundreds of them so far, we had no way of knowing how many more were left, or still coming for us. My visions were leaving me confused and lost, and of course, there was the newly-added concern of Baladon entering my head.
And the riddle.
That damned riddle I still couldn’t figure out. I’d memorized it by now and wondered if Hansi might have some magical insight on that, too.
Oh, and how could I forget the vision of seeing myself dead. Yeah, there was that, too because my days weren’t complicated enough, or dark enough. Because I already wasn’t freaking out half the time of finding the last shreds of my sanity gone. Now I had to worry about winding up dead. And Tristan—Ashan was right—about him being hurt no matter how much distance I put between us.
“Sabella, you awake?” Kate called through the door.
“Yeah, not like I slept anyway,” I added the last quietly.
“Greyson said to get dressed and then we’re going to meet with Hansi. See you downstairs.”
I dragged my butt out of bed and splashed cold from the basin water on my face. I ran my fingers through my hair then braided it. The bags under my eyes told a story of someone who hadn’t gotten any sleep in weeks. The only time I managed to relax long enough to sleep had been with Tristan. And now I didn’t have him.
I’d just started for the door when a rush of voices assaulted my head, and I fell to my knees.
They muttered and screamed, talking too fast for me to understand them. I wanted to cry out, yell at them to stop, but if Kate saw me like this, or anyone else, they’d send for Tristan. I was not ready to see him. Not until I knew I was safe.
I heard a door crash open, and then two hands were placed at my temples.
Immediately, the voices stopped, and I fell backward in relief.
Ashan.
“What… what did you do?”
She shook her head as she released mine. “I silenced them, but it won’t last forever.” She winced and held her head for a moment. “You cannot stay away from Tristan forever, Sabella. How do you plan on attacking Baladon if you can’t think straight enough to stand?”
I rested my head back against the wall, feeling the tears I’d managed to hold back yesterday fall down my cheeks now. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything.”
“Come with me. You are seeing Hansi, right now.”
She took my hand firmly in hers and pulled me out into the hall. Kate and Greyson were there, as well as Hank who was speaking with an elf guard.
One look at my face and the way Ashan pulled me along seemed to kick everyone else into high gear, following us. There wasn’t going to be a tour of the palace today. Ashan had an almost crazed, determined look on her face as she rushed through the halls and down a set of stairs, across a walkway that spanned from one end of the palace to the other, with the gardens beneath.
Then we were back inside and climbing stairs that wound around and around. When the end finally came into sight, I was panting, and my legs were screaming in protest.
“We’re here,” she said simply and pushed open the door. “Hansi, you have guests.”
“Good morning, my queen,” a voice fluttered down from somewhere far above us.
I walked in and leaned back and then back further. “How tall is this tower?”
“It’s an illusion,” Ashan said. “The tower itself is only three stories high. The enchantment on it, however, gives Hansi the room he needs to work.”
“And it is still not enough room.”
I craned my neck, searching for a face to put with the voice when there was a loud pop, and a man appeared before me making me jump.
His eyes were violet and vibrant, his smile kind and he reminded me of the grandfather in the family that’s exceptionally old and always trying to pass on his wisdom to grandkids who never listened.
Ashan smiled, making me wonder if she was still listening in on my thoughts.
&n
bsp; “Sabella,” the old elf said and held out his hand for mine. “I am Hansi. It is a pleasure to meet you. A seer. After all these years.”
“Thanks.” I took his hand.
He held mine firmly and turned it over, so he could stare at my palm. “And part god. Fascinating, truly. You, my dear, are very gifted and yet I sense you are troubled. Is it these troubles that have brought you to me this day?”
“I think so,” I said slowly, not sure how I was supposed to respond.
“How about a cup of tea, hmm?”
“Tea?” I glanced at Ashan.
She rolled her eyes, the first time I’d seen the elegant elf queen show a more down to earth side of her. “I don’t think we really have time for tea, Hansi. We’re in the middle of war which I’m sure you’ve noticed, and there’s the god of monsters about to run loose and do who knows what else in the realms.”
“There is always time for tea. Please, have a seat, make yourselves comfortable.”
“Hansi, you better be going somewhere with this,” Ashan said, refusing to take a seat in the cluttered and mismatched sitting area. “Hansi.”
“Yes, I heard you, my impatient queen,” he said with a smile.
Kate at least looked as confused as I felt about who this elf was. I expected him to be like Greyson, or even Lucy, but I wasn’t sure what to think of this old man puttering around, humming as he set out cups. He removed a teapot from a table close by and poured a dark liquid into my cup and Kate’s.
“Drink up, drink up,” he urged. “Only after, will we talk, hmm?”
I picked up my cup, blew once over it, and then drank it down. The liquid was far from smooth, leaving gritty bits in my teeth. I choked on it, coughing a few times until I could breathe again. “What is this?”
He picked up my cup and spun it around, bobbing his head and mumbling under his breath, completely ignoring me.
Kate hadn’t drunk hers yet and seemed to be debating if she should or not.
“You too, my dear,” Hansi said.
Kate frowned, but chugged the gritty tea. She coughed a few times, too and set her cup down for him to examine.
Visions (Dragon Reign Book 7) Page 8
