I walked into the cave late the next day feeling clean and refreshed, if not a little awkward. In four months I had been through hell and back, chased, beaten, and attacked. So, when Ilyan had taken me to a nice hotel after our unfortunate encounter with Ovailia I didn’t know what to expect. It had been amazing to have running water, and cotton sheets. But my life wasn’t normal anymore, it didn’t seem right to have normal things.
While there, I had taken a two hour shower that cleaned the obscene amount of dirt off of me, only to get out of the shower to a perfectly folded pile of clothes. I had breathed in the fresh smell and rubbed the cotton against my skin, thankful for something clean to wear. Who would have guessed that I would ever feel so much joy over a simple pair of khaki pants and a blue t-shirt?
I put them on and ran out to thank Ilyan who then convinced me to let him braid my hair. He had done it so gently, his finger rubbing over my mark frequently, each time sending a jolt up my spine.
So when I walked into the cave, my hair was pulled away from my face, my mark revealed, and Ilyan’s hand was wrapped firmly around mine. The contact, and his magic, had been taking away the overwhelming aches I was feeling from my absence from the T?uha.
We walked in to find Dramin holding two large mugs. He handed one to me and I grabbed it greedily, thankful for his preparedness.
“You wouldn’t be so needy if you would go into your T?uha when you are supposed to.” Dramin said; his scold lost amongst his chuckle.
“Don’t judge me, Uncle,” I growled between gulps.
“Next time you take her anywhere, Ilyan, remember a mug. This poor girl is ravenous.”
I moved the mug away from me to scowl at him, but Dramin only chuckled more. Ilyan smiled down at me before placing his arm around my waist and leading me right to the same squishy arm chair I had been using for the past few days.
“Ah!” Thom yelled at us as he came around his bunk’s partition. “You’re back. And alone I see.”
“Were you worried, Thom?” Ilyan asked as he covered me in several furs before turning to his brother and embracing him in a slightly awkward way.
“I was.”
“Well,” Ilyan announced as he pulled away and moved to a large table laden with fruits and leaves, “you didn’t need to be. You were right.”
Thom stopped, hovering in mid sit right before he fell onto his couch in shock.
“So she is a traitor then?” Thom said excitedly.
“I am still not convinced about that,” Ilyan said, causing Thom’s excited face to drop dramatically. Ilyan hadn’t said anything about this to me last night.
“But, you just said I was right.” The disbelief in Thom’s voice was clear, but Ilyan disregarded it.
“And you were. She can’t be trusted. I am sure she is working with our Father.” Ilyan’s voice was heavy, his heartbreak at the news still evident.
“But not a traitor?” Dramin spoke, putting words to the confusion we all felt.
I looked up at Ilyan, my eyebrows raised nervously; I had a feeling about where this was going, and I didn’t like it.
“No,” Ilyan said, his eyes meeting mine with deeper sorrow.
“Joclyn, you told me you saw my Father with Talon in your first sight.” My heart plunged to my toes, I didn’t want to accept this.
“She wasn’t telling the truth, Ilyan. She was lying to you to throw you off the trail.” I pleaded with Ilyan as he returned to the fire with a small stone plate covered with what I could only assume to be dandelion leaves.
“I’m not so sure of that.” I could hear the regal tone creep into his voice, but I disregarded it.
“You have to be. Talon had nothing to do with this.” I begged him to understand. I had already lost Wyn, and Talon couldn’t be responsible for that. He wouldn’t have done that to Wyn.
“Talon?” Dramin and Thom’s voices blended together in alarm. I ignored them, desperate to get my point across.
“There is no reason for him to side with Edmund, Ilyan.” I reached for his hand, plunging my magic into him. I wanted to believe he was blaming Talon to try and take the blame off of Ovailia, but I knew it was deeper than that.
“The Siln? is right, Ilyan. Talon has no reason to double cross you.” Dramin said, but I wasn’t sure Ilyan even heard him. His eyes never wavered a millimeter from my own.
“The sight, Joclyn. Show me the sight.”
I sighed dejectedly before closing my eyes and pushing that portion of the vision into his mind.
Edmund held Talon against the wall, his hand tight around his throat. Talon’s face was bloodied and battered.
“Give me what I need, Talon,” Edmund said, his voice the long echo that signified a sight of the past.
“You better make it look good, Edmund,” Talon laughed, his deep laugh echoing around my head.
I pulled the vision back, not wanting Ilyan to see too much. Ilyan’s face swam back into view, his jaw set hard.
“You don’t think…” I couldn’t finish, I knew what it looked like, I had known from the beginning. I had always assumed that it was just Talon egging him on because it seemed like something he would do. At least I thought it was.
“I do.” The look of ultimate betrayal on Ilyan’s face mixed with furious anger in a way that terrified me.