“The sight has shown she will fight, so she will fight. I believe in her ability to do so,” Ilyan said as he held me against him protectively.
“Yeah, but did the sight say Ilyan was going to go off and fuse his soul to hers?” Thom asked as his hands jumped from his pockets, the movement so quick that I jerked in the expectation of being hit.
I flinched like a wounded dog, the action making Thom’s eyes glare into me more. The fear that lived in him turned into disgust that made me feel worse, made my anxiety jolt.
“No!” Thom snapped, his tirade continuing on as if he hadn’t noticed the way his action had affected me. Or maybe he had. “We have no idea how this is going to change her magic, her ability. She may be useless to us now.”
“Useless?” I spat, a strong, jagged edge of anger running through me. Right then, he only saw me as a thing, a pawn.
“It has made my magic stronger, Thom,” I said, my voice shaking even though I had tried to push the strength of the anger into it.
Thom only looked at me with the same disbelief he had held before.
“She will rise to the path the sight has chosen for her. I expect nothing less from her,” Sain said, his voice deep and mellow.
His words promised his confidence in me, but he did not look into me with the pride my mother always had. He looked at me with a reverent awe, almost as if I was untouchable.
Like I was a god to him.
The thought made me sick to my stomach.
“I would hope not, considering that now we are surrounded by hundreds of blood-thirsty Trpaslíks. You ready to face that, Siln??” Thom turned to me with the same hard look in his eyes, the plea for an answer digging through me.
I wanted to tell him yes. I wanted to say I was strong enough—that I was ready—but I knew it would be a lie, so I held still, my arms clinging to Ilyan even though I was aware it made me look weak. I needed the rock of him underneath me.
Thom’s eyes narrowed at my lack of response, the fear in my eyes giving him all he needed to know.
“Didn’t think so,” he growled before he turned away, his back crouching dejectedly.
“You must find your strength to protect her, to be near her, for it is only by your side that she can find her true purpose, that she will find the strength to kill those that would end the magic of the world.” Ilyan’s words flowed from him, the air rippling with the power that they held as my blood warmed. The second the last word left him, thunder rumbled around us, the sky opening up as if the earth felt the power as well.
“The words of the sight, Thom,” Ilyan continued. His voice lowered as the air continued to crackle with an electric charge. “You should know better than to doubt them. Joclyn has been given this path, and this power, for a reason. Without them, Wynifred would have never survived the zánik curse.”
Something that Ilyan said had hit a live wire in Thom. He spun around to face us, his dreads swinging as the fire in him turned into a torrent. “And Dramin would be standing next to us, not dying in his room.”
I cringed at the snap of Thom’s voice. My anxiety flared in warning, the unwanted fears breaking through as he glared into me.
“D-dying?” I stuttered out, unable to look away from Thom, even though I knew I should look anywhere other than at the face that was fueling my fear.
I couldn’t. Because, even though I could feel his anger, all I could see was the pain. It wasn’t the fearful looks I had been given in the T?uha. No, it was the same raw fear, the same heart-breaking anger that I had felt every time the demons of the T?uha had come after me. It made it so I could almost understand him. I heard the pain that seeing Dramin injured had caused him, the fear of losing someone so close to him.
My eyes widened as Thom came undone right before me.
“Yes, Siln?,” Thom snapped. “When you attacked him, you killed his magic. Ilyan has been able to revive it, but it never stays, his magic keeps fading to nothing. He’s an ancient. How long do you think his mortal body will last without his magic?”
“I-I didn’t… I th-thought…” I stuttered out, not knowing what to say to take away his pain. How to explain the regret I had felt after the attack had left my hands days ago, the fear that rocked through me now.
“You tried to kill him!” Thom yelled, the blue of his eyes glossing over as his face turned red.
“Thomas Krul!” Ilyan roared as he stepped toward his brother, blocking me from Thom’s rage. His magic flared while Thom cowered before him. Ilyan’s muscles rippled as he stood protectively in front of me, his arms spread wide as he shielded me.
I should have been grateful for the protection, for Ilyan’s willingness to stand up to him right then, but I couldn’t. I was too focused on Dramin’s sleeping body in his room across the abbey; on the gentle lull from all that was left of his magic, on the way he didn’t move. Thom had spoken as if Dramin was moments away from death, and now I could feel that in him.
He couldn’t die, though.
I wouldn’t let him.
Four