Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

“A memory of fear and destruction, a piece of you lost to corruption.”

The words twisted through me in the darkness of my mind before tumbling away into nothing once more, lost on a tide of laughter which was powered by a creature far beyond my ability to understand.

I groaned as I woke, my eyes reluctant to peel apart as I kicked the sheets from my bare legs and tried to get my bearings.

I was in my bed, sleep clinging to my limbs as I rolled over and looked towards the curtains which billowed by the open balcony doors in a breeze warm enough to let me know that it was rolling in from the desert.

Sweat clung to my skin and I felt uneasy, like something was wrong, but I couldn’t tell what.

I pushed myself upright, sweeping the length of my tangled black hair away from my face as I tried to figure out what was disturbing me. It was like a memory I couldn’t quite grasp, or a thought I had forgotten in light of another pushing its way into my head.

I got to my feet, moving towards the balcony and pulling the long curtain aside as I looked out into the gardens, listening to the familiar burble of the stream and letting the calmness of this place wash over me. The feeling of dread faded, and I exhaled a long breath to expel the last of my anxiety.

No doubt I’d had another nightmare, one of the temples falling and the gods cursing us.

I wasn’t even certain when the dreams had begun, only that the taste of prophecy lingered on my tongue when I woke, along with that metallic essence which reminded me of the weakness plaguing all of our kind. Iron. The metal the gods wielded so easily and which held such power over each of the Fae. A simple touch from it could render us nauseous, manacles restraining our power and bringing our bodies to the point of utter weakness. I’d heard once that a coffin built of it could put a Fae to sleep for a thousand years, immortality clinging to their limbs and leaving them in suffering the entire time. Suffice to say, it wasn’t something I thought of fondly.

I shook my head as I dropped the curtain, moving to the bathing chamber and finding a steaming bath already drawn for me, flowers floating on the surface and making me fall still abruptly.

I blinked at the flowers, my heart racing as I fought the urge to recoil, like I was half expecting something to burst from the water and attack me, though I couldn’t place the reason for my fear.

Faint laughter pricked at my ears, and I spun, muscles tensing as I searched for the owner of that voice, even as the note of mirth faded away.

“Hello?” I called, wondering if the children were close by, playing tricks on me as they often liked to do. But no reply came, no guilty giggling or pattering of little feet to identify the culprits, and a chill ran down my spine.

I wetted my lips, glancing around like I might see something out of place, but the birds were singing outside, the heat of the day rising steadily and nothing at all suggesting that anything might be wrong.

I tried to shake off the sensation, shedding my nightgown and sinking into the heated bath.

Water sloshed over my head as I submerged myself fully, holding my breath as I remained under for a count of fifty. It was something I’d done since I was a child, hiding beneath the water and pretending the entire world had disappeared beyond me, that everything I knew was gone, lost forever, and when I emerged it would be into a new world. One that was terrifying and utterly different to all I had ever known, full of strange wonders and terrifying beasts, temptations and miracles, terror, and adventure deep within the eyes of a stranger whose face I couldn’t see and whose name I couldn’t summon. But I felt like he was waiting for me, just out of reach somewhere in a future I had no idea how to find.

A pretty daydream for a girl who had never quite fit where she’d been born.

I stayed beneath the water after the count of fifty, my lungs straining, clarity beckoning to me through the shafts of light which punctured my watery refuge, an answer to a question which I hadn’t even asked yet floating down there with me.

Eyes watched me from within that light. Dark eyes drenched in sin, hungry for all the world had to offer and looking to take full ownership of my destiny.

“Who are you?” I asked, the last of my oxygen escaping my lips in a stream of bubbles.

My answer was a smirk which made my heart flip over itself and words which I wasn’t even certain I had heard at all. “Not yet, little goddess.”

I lurched for the surface, gasping loudly as I sucked down air, my fingers biting into the edges of the tub while my heart thundered in my chest and a crackling energy coursed through the entire room. That metallic taste coated my tongue, the tell-tale sign of prophecy making me wonder at the stranger who might be waiting for me in the time to come.

“Whoa, Kyra, why are you flooding the bathing chamber?” Aalia laughed as she stepped into the room, and relief consumed me as I found her there, like I’d been expecting something bad to happen to her, only to find her safe after all.

“Are you alright?” I asked, reaching for her hand, and she gave me a frown as she let me take it, squeezing my fingers in hers.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked.

Her words made my brows pinch with confusion before I shook my head to disperse it, relaxing back against the tub and forcing myself to release my hold on her.

“I don’t know…perhaps the gods are playing with me this morning,” I muttered, swiping a hand over my face. “I feel like I’m forgetting something important. Or like I have somewhere to be.”

“Well, I need to run into town later to buy some new shoes for the twins, they’re growing out of the ones they have already. Maybe you’re thinking you should come with me and keep me company? But it’s Thursday so…” Aalia teased, and I groaned, knowing I couldn’t do that.

“I have clinic today,” I realised with a sigh. “And after that sandstorm cut last week’s short, I’m bound to be run off my feet.”

I didn’t really begrudge the work I did, offering up my healing skills to anyone who needed my assistance. As one of the most powerful Fae in the city with my healing Affinity, it was both an honour and a duty to do so – though most in my position required coin for the work they did. I preferred to offer my gifts out charitably to those who couldn’t afford the steep prices the other healers charged. More than a few of my peers sneered at me for the lost fortune, but my family was wealthy beyond any needs I would ever have, and I wouldn’t see the poorest of our kind suffering through ill health and injury out of a desire for wealth I didn’t need. I loved my work, but it also drained me to the point of exhaustion, especially on a busy day like this one would no doubt be.

“They’ve already begun to queue in the outer courtyard,” Aalia admitted. “The servants were putting the awnings out and fetching pitchers of water.”

“Okay.” I reached for the tonic to wash my hair, but Aalia took it before I could, moving around the tub and massaging it into my scalp for me.

I lay there among the scented water and flowers, my eyes closed as she washed my hair for me, and I stole a few moments of calm before the chaos of my day could begin in earnest.

“All done,” Aalia announced far too soon.

I forced myself to rise, drying off and dressing in a loose-fitting pair of harem pants with a thin top to match, my midriff bare and the navy material light enough to help combat the heat. Though I could already tell it would be relentless today.

“Eat,” Aalia said firmly, passing me a sweet bun which Aren had no doubt made, as I emerged from the bathing chamber, and I bit into it with a grin.

“Has Aren taken the twins to visit his parents?” I asked through a mouthful as we both began to head downstairs, the comfortable companionship I only ever fully felt with her a welcome reprieve from the unease I’d woken to.

“Yes. They left first thing, and I’ll join them for dinner when I’m done at the market. Unless you need me here?” she offered, but I was already shaking my head.

“Imra and the others will be here soon, if they’re not already,” I said. “You go and enjoy your day. No doubt Aren has left plenty of snacks to get us through the chaos.”

Aalia nodded in confirmation, this routine familiar to us after years of practicing it. Aren always prepared several kinds of delicious baked goods and left them close to the various work stations in the dining hall where I held my clinics. Imra and six other Fae with lesser healing Affinities came to help me run them, learning from me and taking over with the simpler cases. None of them had the power I did, but they were all sharp-witted and quick on their feet, the group of us forming a well-oiled unit. But it was hard to take time out for proper meals while we worked, so the bite-sized treats Aren prepared for us got us through the day.

Aren and Aalia took the twins to visit with his parents on clinic days to save them from getting underfoot and keep them from seeing some of the grizzlier maladies. My doors were always open in an emergency, but many Fae waited if they weren’t desperate for a remedy and turned up to clinic with festering wounds or abbesses, burns or boils; and the unfiltered questions of young children weren’t ideal in those situations.

We made it to the foot of the stairs and Aalia drew me into her arms, squeezing me briefly before making a move to pull away, but a flash of terror ripped through me and I lurched for her, gripping her hard and drawing her back into my arms.

“Wait…” I gasped, trailing off when the thought which had almost formed on my tongue slipped from me, and I was left frowning at her as she looked back at me with equal confusion.

“What is it?” Aalia asked, but I just shook my head, certain there had been something even as I failed to figure out what it was.

“I just…need you to be safe,” I said slowly, a distant note of laughter making me turn my head and look back up the stairs.

I sucked in a sharp breath as I spotted a figure there, but as I released Aalia and whirled towards it, I found nothing but dust motes swirling in a beam of sunlight.

“Kyra?” Aalia questioned, but my frown deepened as I failed to understand what I’d seen…or hadn’t seen.

“I thought…”

I looked back to her, blinking firmly to clear my mind, and she reached out to cup my face in her hand.

“Did you sleep poorly?” she asked, and I shrugged.

“Maybe. Something just feels off today. Doesn’t it?”

Aalia began to disagree but then she frowned down at her hands, holding them out between us for a moment before dropping them again.

“I had the strangest feeling of weakness when I woke,” she said slowly. “Like I’d been fighting to push something away from me, but I couldn’t. I felt like I couldn’t breathe-”

“And?” I asked, a hush falling around us even though I knew I’d been able to hear Imra and the others setting up in the dining hall just a moment ago.

“I woke to a child leaping on me.” She laughed, the moment of tension falling away as she shrugged. “Perhaps the gods are toying with us today, like you said.”

I nodded vacantly, glancing back at the top of the stairs as that feeling of dread tried to resurface again, but Aalia simply pressed a kiss to my cheek and turned away.

“There are two cliffs, Kyra,” she called cheerfully, and though a part of me churned with the desire to race after her and stop her from leaving, I couldn’t think of a single reason to do so.

“I’ll jump blindly,” I replied automatically, and her laugh was cut off as the door closed behind her.

My last vision of her was with the sunlight gilding her hair and a bright smile on her face as she lifted her chin to the sky before walking away.

I took a step towards the door, the urge to call her back to me rising once more, but the sound of my name drew my attention towards the dining hall as Imra came rushing out of it.

“We have a boy who was hit by a carriage,” she said, the look in her eyes telling me it was bad even as she maintained that calm composure we all knew was so important to our work.

“Okay,” I said, hurrying to follow her.

But even as my gaze fell on the boy and I hurried into action to try and save his life, a little voice in the back of my head was screaming at me to chase after my sister and call her back inside.