Soul of Flame (Imdalind Series #4)(16)

Jeffery Despain was my father. And this man was not Jeffery Despain.

I stared at the stranger in front of me as ice ran through my veins, unable to find the right words to say. I only felt numb. Broken.

“Is that why you won’t teach me? Because I am not your daughter?”

Thom’s eyes widened as the words burst out of me, his jaw clenching in anger and pain that I didn’t understand. I pushed away from Ilyan’s hold as I spoke, taking the few steps to face my father from over Dramin’s body.

“I shouldn’t have to teach you; you are a Drak, Siln?. It is in your blood. You should know to follow sights, to respect the visions your magic gives you. But to question them? That is not what a Drak, what my daughter, should do.” His voice was calm even though his magic seemed to be on fire.

“You are not my father,” I hissed, my anger settling into a low rumble as I faced him, my fists balled at my side. “You left that when you left me.”

“Step away from my son, Siln?. If he is meant to die, then I will see it happen, and anything you do to hinder that is heresy to my kind.”

“Enough!” Ilyan roared as he pulled me away from Sain and back into the comforting rock of his chest.

I tried to fight the anger that still pressed against my heart, the pain that filled me as the hope I had clung to for so many years evaporated into the stifling air that surrounded us.

“She hasn’t been taught, Sain,” Thom said from across the room, his rough voice loud as he pleaded with his friend. “How can she know something that has not been fully explained to her?”

“That is not my fault.” Sain stood next to Dramin as he spoke, the already broken fragments of my heart lodging themselves painfully through my chest at the sight of Sain’s hand wrapped around his son’s.

“I know you are in pain; I know you are mourning. But Dramin is not your only child,” Ilyan said, his speech elevated to the level of a command. His magic sparked as his agitation rose and I cringed against it, pressing myself into his chest to listen to the rumble of his voice.

“I do not know—”

“You are better than this, Sain.” Ilyan interrupted him, his words echoing through me as they vibrated his chest.

“As is she, Ilyan.” Sain’s statement faded into the air, the harsh words taking the air out of my lungs.

The muscles in Ilyan’s back stiffened under my touch, his anger at words I was sure I didn’t fully understand a drowning pool in my heart. I looked up to him in expectation, yet his eyes didn’t move from the hard stare he had trained on Sain.

“If you will excuse us,” Ilyan began, his voice a deep boom in the tense silence around us.

He didn’t wait for a response before sweeping us out of the room, his pace quick as he practically carried me down the dimly lit hall. The bracketed torches that were set in the grey wall looked more like blurs as we moved, the light leaving as he closeted us in a small alcove that was hidden amongst the smooth stone.

My pulse quickened at the dark enclosed space. The tightness of the walls made it feel as though they were going to close around me. It was as though I was trapped, like I was cornered in the pit of Cail’s mind, just waiting for Ryland to find me.

“I am here, mi lasko,” Ilyan soothed. His arms came around me, his lips soft as he spoke against my forehead.

Ilyan’s magic ran through me until I felt it inside every inch of my body. I moved my head, careful not to let too much of myself become exposed. Even though I knew this wasn’t a trap, I couldn’t ignore the learned responses that were still ingrained in my mind.

“Are you all right?”

“I don’t understand, Ilyan. I can heal him. I need to save him,” I whispered into the dark.

“You know why you cannot, Joclyn,” he said, his fingers running down my face as he pressed his lips into a tight line. “The Drak believe their sight to be infallible. I know Dramin has told you this, my love. You cannot change a sight.” Ilyan soothed me, his voice low as my heartbeat slowed to match his.

“I know, but I can’t just let him die, Ilyan.”

“You have to. We cannot let it become one of the zlomeny,” he whispered, his lips pressing into a tight line.

Yes. But, Ilyan, the zlomeny are sights which have never come… This has come.

I knew I was pleading, but I didn’t care. A man was dying only feet from me, and no one would let me save him. I didn’t care about the sight, about my magic showing me what was to come. Right then, I only cared about saving Dramin.

“Not in its whole, and by healing him, you would be changing the future of a sight thus creating a zlomeny.”

I cringed at his words as well as the truth behind them. He was right; there had been no burial, so the sight was not completed. But I couldn’t imagine him dead like the rest of the Drak; all of his children, his grandchildren, and his mate. My chest seized at the thought of Dramin being placed in the cold ground, only to be covered by dirt and snow.

“That doesn’t make any sense. If I can change it, why wouldn’t I? Change it, create a better future,” I said aloud, pleading with him to understand me.

“It is the way of the Drak. Dramin would want it this way as well.”

I gasped at the words I didn’t want to hear, their utterance sharp and poisonous.