Eyes wide as I fumed, I attempted to control my anger, but I already knew it was a lost cause.
“Then I will die,” I fumed, staring at the little girl with more anger than a child her age should ever see. “But I will not accept that I was born for something other than to protect the one I love.”
“Is that all?” the girl said with a smile, her curls bobbing as she took a step closer to me. “You will protect her, Ilyan Krul—of that, the sight is clear. But you will fail, and nothing can be done to change that. It is your choice if you continue to stand by her, if you continue on the path of what is true, or if you choose to find your own.”
“Find my own path?” I gasped, not understanding what she meant. I had seen my death. There was no other option.
“There is always another choice in this life. There is always a chance to fix what was broken,” she said with a smile, her nose wrinkling familiarly. “Will you choose to protect her?”
“I will.” The words came without hesitation, the strong presence of her magic within me seeming to warm at the simple declaration, my heart beating right alongside. “I love her. I love her more than I have any other, and that love … I will fight for her no matter what comes our way. I will stand by her, no matter what demons she faces, for she is of my heart, and I am of hers. I will protect her until my blood spills over those rocks as I take my last breath, and I will treasure every moment I have with her. No matter what comes.” I spoke to the child as I would to an enemy, my voice heavy and deep as my heart opened up, as I spilled out every emotion and desire and fear. As I let this tiny child see me.
“That is what I was hoping you would say.” She smiled as the love and magic continued to swell inside of me. Her grin was wide as if I had said something more than what was in my heart.
“Does Joclyn know of this change?” I asked with trepidation, my heart thundering inside my chest with the truth of what this revelation could mean and what I did not want Joclyn to worry over. I would always be by her side. I didn’t want to give her any reason to doubt it would ever change.
“You are true, Ilyan Krul.”
My question lingered between us as the void faded back to the black, back to the flashes of sight which moved so fast I could barely see them. One vision blended into the next as my head throbbed, my body aching as if someone was pulling me into a stutter without warning.
Gasping at what I was seeing, my mouth opened in the same wide scream of before. A deep, hollow voice echoed in my mind against the agony my scream held, against the fear that had debilitated me.
“The magic was spread too wide but has been returned,” the voice began, the scream fading to nothing as my own voice joined it, the dead, hollow tones foreign and frightening. “The son will rise, the son will fall, and all the blood will cease to flow. The time is now. It grows too late. Kill the fool before the slate. Love no longer seeks revenge. You will seek the end to end.”
I gasped as the words finished, as the black of the world and the depth of the sight faded into the room I called home where everything erupted in noise and panic.
Dramin lay on the floor, mumbling about sight and white rooms. A panicked Ryland hovered over him. Jaromir sat, crying in the corner, looking around at each of us as though we were possessed, something I was confident was very possible given what had happened.
The weight I had been missing dropped into my arms as Joclyn’s magic ebbed away, the flow of it lessening as I returned to reality, returned to her sleeping body that still lay against me.
“Joclyn?” I asked, my fears moving a million miles an hour in an attempt to understand what was going on. Everything felt like a distorted dream on this side.
She lay there, unmoving, as Dramin’s mumbling increased, the frantic shout from Ryland growing louder and louder.
“Ilyan!” he practically shouted, pulling my focus from Joclyn. Fear was etched so deeply on his face I was certain the lines would never fade. “What happened? Are you okay?”
“I don’t know,” I said in a panic, hating the lack of control I had, hating that I couldn’t give him more of an answer. The truth of what I had seen and what I was now facing was a confusing mess within me.
“We need to go.” Joclyn’s voice erupted before me, the tone as deep as what I had heard in the sight moments before.
Heart racing, I looked down, part of me expecting everything to be normal, but her eyes were still as black as they had been before, her face as blank.
“We cannot wait.” she said as she sat up in my lap, her hand soft against my bare chest, her black eyes staring into me with a terror I never thought I would experience while looking at the woman I loved.
Ryland froze where he knelt on the floor.
An equally as shocked Dramin looked from me to Joclyn in terrifying wonder.