“And I am of the first! I will keep from you what I deem.”
“You will keep nothing from me!” Ilyan roared, the defiant glare that Sain had born into him melting away.
“The sights of my people are infallible; it is the choices of others that burn them away.”
“Are you meaning to say that we could fail? That the fight, that all of this… is for nothing?” Ilyan’s voice roared through the room, his anger so volatile that I flinched.
“Anything is possible now, My Lord,” Sain said, the glare of his eyes darting toward me again. “If this is to be one of the Zlomeny, there will be a sign that it has broken, but for now all is still in place.”
“That really doesn’t comfort me, Sain,” Ilyan growled as he moved closer to me, his hand pressing against mine for the briefest of moments before it was gone.
Ilyan’s rancid anger remained heavy in me as he moved away. I fought the urge to reach out and hold him, to push my magic into him and calm him, but Ryland’s head had jerked up at Ilyan’s close proximity to me, his supposed ownership flashing in his eyes. It was better not to try his patience right now—the emotions in the room were high enough as it was.
“I am sorry, My Lord, but I cannot control the foolish changes others would make.” The timber in Sain’s voice changed as he spoke, his eyes burning right back toward me. “Their magic should have told them as much.”
“My magic told me to heal him!”
“No Drak magic would do such a thing.”
“What do you want from me?” I screamed as I rushed toward him.
I didn’t know what he expected of me. I wasn’t even sure what I expected of him, but it wasn’t this. It wasn’t this man, who looked so much like my father and spoke in that calm determination that cut through me. It wasn’t this Drak who expected impossible things from me.
“I expect you to do as my bloodline demands of you!” Sain yelled, his voice darkening as his eyes did, the green fading to the black of sight. I cringed against it, not wanting to hear what was coming. “In the end, when the sky rains fire, a new life will rise as another falls, and in your hands is our salvation.”
My breath caught in my chest as his eyes lightened. I could feel my magic grasp at the sight he had just given, desperate to understand it. I held it back though, I didn’t care. Not right then. I don’t think I would have cared if the sight had told me exactly how to kill Edmund. I didn’t want to hear it. Not from him.
“It is your destiny.”
“I will decide my own destiny,” I growled through gritted teeth, my eyes digging dangerously into his before I turned away, unwilling to see any more.
“Is that why you are treating her like a pariah, Tatínek? Because it is her destiny?” Dramin’s voice was soft from behind me.
“She should know of our ways, accept them, and become better than us. If she is to become all that I have seen, then it is the only way,” Sain growled. I could tell just by listening to the tone in his voice that he believed that. That he doubted nothing.
I couldn’t.
In the sights, I had seen the amazing things that were expected of me, but it wasn’t until Ilyan held me—until Ilyan supported me—that I had felt even a sliver of possibility of being the girl I had seen. If Ilyan had taught me anything, it was to do what was right.
I couldn’t deny that.
“You must let her become who she is, not who you saw, Tatínek. The rest will come,” Dramin said with the deep parental wisdom I had expected from him.
“I have never believed in such trifles, my son. I expect more of those who hold my blood.”
“I know this, Tati, but she does not. Perhaps it is time that you think of what needs she has of you,” Dramin said softly as his hand reached toward mine, pulling me to him. “I have seen her overcome amazing trials, accept herself for who she is, and accept her title…”
“But it is not enough,” Sain interrupted him with a growl. His words made everything feel like such an oppressive weight against my heart that I could barely breathe.
I looked toward Ilyan, his eyes soft as he looked into me, the pride I had sought for during the past few minutes so strong within him that it caught in my chest, my heart swelling comfortably as Ilyan gave me what I had so desperately been looking for.
A family.
My body seemed to swell in a white light at the realization, the fight that raged around me meaning nothing now.
“Stop, Tatínek,” Dramin rumbled, his harsh words making his own father stop in his tracks. “You are speaking like an old man kept too long in the dark. Do not let Edmund’s poison infiltrate your soul. Even you know that your sight told us—that only her Protector can make her strong enough. It is only Ilyan who can make her who she needs to be.”