Page 37

That house had been my dream, and now I had it. I even had the Gods damned dog, but this wasn’t how I wanted to get it. It all felt like a punishment now—a prison.

“I need to tell you something,” I whispered, pulling my eyes away from the key and looking up at Andrues.

“While we were in Ammord, Dukovich tried to help me figure out the dreams that I’ve been having, to see if there was any magic left in my mind.

But when he put his hands on my head, when he touched me .

. . I-I had a vision.” Andrues’s spine straightened at my words, leaning toward me as I took in a deep breath and continued.

“He was actually able to see it when he touched me—see what I saw. He called me a seer.”

“What exactly did you see?” Andrues asked slowly, his voice low.

“The war—men dying and a dragon falling from the sky. There was a woman on the ground over a body, but I could not see whose,” I answered, leaning back into the chair and lifting my head to the ceiling. “The whole thing was blurred, and I couldn’t see any faces, couldn’t tell who anyone was.”

“Do you have any knowledge of who your mother is? In your paperwork showing blood purity, was there any mention of her?” Andrues asked and I pulled my eyes from the ceiling to look at him.

“No, why?”

“The last seer that was known to the realms died almost two thousand years ago. It was that very same seer that prophesied Hyacinth’s birth and they were murdered for it.” His sapphire eyes pinned me to my chair as I swallowed the lump beginning to form in my throat.

“Well.” I pushed to my feet, trying to shake the unease that had settled into the air. “That’s reason enough for me to keep my mouth shut.”

“If only you had such a skill,” he said, watching me with amused curiosity as I rolled my eyes and snatched the key off the table between us.

My fingers wrapped around the cold metal as I strode to the doors of my rooms and snatched a coat from the ground.

“I’m going into town, are you coming with me?” I asked, pushing my arms through the holes and buttoning it up.

“Where are we headed?” He stood from the chair, stretching his arms over his head as the question rolled from his lips.

His tunic inched up his abdomen with the movement and my eyes fell to the sculpted muscle it put on display. My skin flushed at the sight and I pulled my eyes away before he could notice, turning toward the door as Cyloe padded over to me.

“I need to go see Yenne. I think she may already know I’m a seer.”

Cyloe ran in front of us, her giant paws matting down the freshly fallen snow as we made our way down the hill to Nethkar.

The cold nipped at my nose but I didn’t mind it.

The sensation was oddly comforting, as if I hadn’t been able to feel anything at full capacity for months, and suddenly my senses were coming back to me.

My skin slowly shifted as we neared the outskirts of the city and I could feel Andrues’s eyes watching as sandy brown curls replaced my raven locks.

“Why do you do it? Why only wear your skin inside the castle?” I tugged on my hood, pulling it over my face as Andrues asked the question and hesitated.

There were a million answers.

Because I couldn’t stand to look at my own face.

Because I couldn’t breathe inside it.

Because I had lost everything I had ever loved in that body.

Because I had killed too many men in Nethkar to risk them knowing who I truly was.

“It’s just easier to be left alone if no one knows my face.” It wasn’t a lie, it was easier. Everything was easier outside of my own body.

Andrues’s gaze lingered on me as I wound through the shops and taverns and I forced myself not to look back at him. He had never made me nervous before, but today, there was an anxious current between us that I couldn’t place. Something that felt . . . delicate .

The bell chimed over Madam Shath’s Apothecary as Andrues opened the door and a wave of heat crashed over my skin as we stepped inside.

Cyloe scurried between my feet in a cat’s skin just as the door closed at my back.

Something sweet saturated the air as the hum of boiling water filled the shop.

I sucked in a deep breath, taking in the smell as Yenne stepped through the hallway leading to the back rooms of her shop.

“Miss Ataliia,” Yenne greeted as she stepped toward her cauldron. “I was jus takin’ ze bat dung off ze coals. ‘Ow can I ‘elp ye?”

I gagged, choking on the air I had just dragged into my lungs. Andrues chuckled as he stepped toward the counter, his eyes wandering around the space.

“I’m a seer,” I blurted before I could talk myself out of it.

She grinned, her milky eyes locking onto mine. “I was wonderin’ when ye’d finally understand.”

“How long have you known?” I snapped as I took a step toward her.

“D’na take zat tone wit’ me, girl,” she hissed, pushing her hair over her shoulder as Andrues smirked in my direction. I sucked my teeth before blowing out a sharp huff of air.

“I’m sorry.” I sighed. Yenne gave an approving nod before turning back to her cauldron and stirring.

“I ‘ave been knowin’ since ze first time ye come inta me shop. Ye reek of magic,” she said, pulling dried herbs from her apron pocket and crumbling them into the mixture. The boiling settled as she stirred it in.

“Zere is much ‘bout our magic ye ‘ave yet ta learn.” She tapped the wooden spoon on the lip of the cauldron, then set it on the edge of the table where it sat. “Witchcraft issa art; it comes in many forms.”

“Can you teach me? Can you show me how to control whatever this magic is?” I asked, my voice sounding a tad too frantic for my liking. I cleared my throat, clasping my hands behind my back as her eyes seemed to study me.

“No,” she said simply.

“No?” I hissed, annoyance starting to reemerge.

She turned away from us, pulling items out of crates lining the floor. “Ye are’na ‘umble enough ta learn. Issa gift ta wield ze power we ‘ave. Until ye can push ye ego ta ze side, I will be wastin’ me time.”

I stood frozen in place, clenching my teeth and inhaling a deep breath through my nose as Andrues glanced in my direction. He lifted a brow, shaking his head. Inhaling yet another deep breath, I closed my eyes and waited for the anger to clear my system.

“Thank you, Yenne,” Andrues said, and I forced myself not to scowl at the politeness it dripped with.

Andrues’s fingers wrapped around my arm and I slowly opened my eyes to see him gesturing his head toward the door. I bit down on my tongue, swallowing back the vitriol that was always so prepared to be spewed.

It wasn’t her that I was angry at, it was her words and the truth that they held.