Dawn of Ash (Imdalind, #6)(39)

“Why don’t you pass out after your sights?” She looked away from Joclyn, her terror easing a bit as she looked at me in wonder.

The awe I had missed so much over the years flooded through me in a heavy reminder of why I was doing all this, of the rightful place due to me, and the respect I was missing.

“Because I know how to control my magic. Drak magic can be powerful, and if you are not strong enough, it can destroy you.”

“Is that what’s happening?” Risha asked, concerned. “Her magic is destroying her?”

“I believe so. Normally, I can help my people, help them restrain their magic, but she won’t let me. She knows what the vision about the end says, and she’s trying to change it. It makes all her sights unreliable when she goes against one like that. When she doesn’t listen to her magic, it destroys her ability.” Yet another little lie, yet another worried glance.

My lips trembled, though I tried to stop the grin. At least I was able to restrain it before it turned into a full smile, before the sweet taste of victory beat against my tongue.

“Did she have a sight before?” I asked as innocently as I could, my head spinning slightly at the prod of a sight I would never let come.

“Yeah”—she was hesitant—”right when she and Ilyan came back … She couldn’t really stand—”

“It was the same sight,” my voice growled as I looked at her, the hatred for her coming back even in her partially unconscious state. “I saw it as she did.”

“Did you see it then?” Her eyes narrowed at me in suspicion, a question behind the words I didn’t quite understand.

I didn’t know what I had said wrong, but my guard went up, my eyes narrowing a bit as I tried to decipher where this was going.

She stood before me, staring at me, her mind pulled from the unconscious child she still held.

“See what?” Better to feign my innocence again.

“The sight … Did you see it when you were with the kids?”

And there it was. I was sure Risha had no idea why Joclyn had been so concerned with my whereabouts; I could see that much on her face. Regardless, she knew Joclyn was, and therefore, she was going to take every chance she could to find out the information Joclyn could not.

“My sight is not hindered by her inability. I can control what sights come to me, and I was with the children. It was not the right time to see.”

Risha glowered at me, her eyes hard, all thoughts of the injured girl she held gone.

I had never liked Risha before. Through all those years, she had acted more like a spoiled brat than the powerful Sk?ítek she was. Right then, though, I was sure Ilyan had chosen wisely for his second.

She hadn’t missed anything.

At least I had been able to plant a seed of doubt within her, and considering the questioning light in her eyes, it was already starting to take hold.

“I don’t know what either of you are getting at, but I was helping the Chosen with their futures. I was here. I don’t have anywhere else to go. I don’t have anywhere else I can go.” I had tightened my jaw as I looked at her, waiting for her to say something, when a sudden pulse of powerful magic alerted me to the arrival of someone I really didn’t want to see. Luckily, I had already stepped into an easy escape.

“Now, if you will excuse me,” I growled like a lion, stepping around Risha and my invalid daughter, determined to put as much space between me and them before Ilyan’s arrival. “You should see that she makes it to someone who can help her.”

It was harsh, but right then, I didn’t care.

I needed those seeds to grow, and I would do anything to make sure it happened.





Tension had wound through the room in an anxiety so thick it was hard to breathe. In fact, I wasn’t certain if anyone was breathing. I wasn’t.

I sat still, my old body sagging against the headboard of my bed. Stagnant air pressed against my skin while the dim, red light faded to a deep black as the sun set.

Everyone stood around the tiny room Thom and I shared, refusing to make eye contact. Each of us was lost in the new development Ilyan had thrown at us. Not that it should be surprising; it was one more thing to add to the list of many.

I wished I could solve this new, more complicated problem. I wished I could see where it was leading us. Nevertheless, all of that had been gone for months. I knew as well as everyone here that it wasn’t going to come back, just like the tension and fear and war weren’t going to leave any time soon.

“So, when you say this … person … stuttered…” Ryland began as he leaned against the wall, the muscles in his arms tensing from where he had folded them over his chest.

“We saw him, Ry,” Joclyn retorted, her voice strong from where she sat at the foot of my bed. “Just as Ilyan said, I couldn’t find his magic after that, so either he moved through the wall, or he found some secret world within a stutter that neither Ilyan nor I know about.”

“That’s what you said before—”

“Then why are you asking again?” Joclyn snapped, the old metal frame of my bed groaning as she shifted her weight.

She was getting agitated, something not missed by Risha who looked between Ryland and Joclyn in obvious worry.

Ilyan took a step closer to her, his hand wrapping around hers in a deep connection that warmed the room. As if it wasn’t warm enough.