Page 37 of The Storm of the Empire (Flyers Of The First Kingdom #3)

THIRTY-SIX

LUKA

H azel flew us to the landing near the healer’s wing as fast as she could. Had I not gotten over my dizzy spell before I got on her back, I might have been sick. Thankfully, all my time at sea gave me a strong stomach. But she slammed us down on the landing and urged me off her back with haste.

She shifted and ran straight for the bell on the wall, ringing it with everything she had.

“Goddess. You’re going to break it off.” I said, stopping her hand in mid ring and handing her back her clothes. She’d surely alerted everyone in a mile radius by now anyway, which was the last thing I wanted.

She pulled her leathers on quickly and waved me into the wing. “Can someone fetch Kiera?” she asked the healer at the desk.

“She’s off for the night. Is everything okay?” The healers played defense for each other, and I understood why, but I didn’t want to see anyone but Kiera. Any other healer would blow this way out of proportion, and I didn’t want to stress Nyx out.

“My ryder had an accident. She knows his case, so we need to see her,” Hazel insisted.

The healer glanced between us, and she must have realized who we were. “I’ll go fetch her.”

“Thank you.”

Kiera came in a hurry and took us to a room. “What happened?” She was out of breath and must have run all the way from her rooms. I felt terrible for having dragged her out of bed when she had probably only just climbed in.

Hazel hesitated.

“Just say it,” I told her. We were already here. No reason to conceal it.

Kiera looked between us.

“I don’t remember any of it, so she’s going to have to tell you.” I waved for Hazel to have the floor.

Alarm flickered in Kiera’s eyes. “What in Her name happened?”

“Luka lost his balance and fell, but then he got really weird.” Hazel’s voice trembled like she didn’t want to say it.

“Weird how?” Kiera asked.

Hazel walked us through what she’d seen and heard, and we were both left speechless.

No one said anything for a long time.

“Did I hit my head?” I asked again.

Hazel shook her head. “No.”

“I need to go get Jaxus and Nyx,” Kiera finally said.

“Why?” I demanded, knowing she wasn’t saying something.

“Do you know what this is?” Hazel asked with just as much accusation as I felt.

“I don’t know for sure. I think we need them.”

Hazel grabbed her arm. “Just say it.”

“I’m worried he might have the gift of foresight.”

“What does that mean?” I stared at both of them, not at all liking how they were looking at me now. “Is that bad?”

“Foresight hasn’t been seen in the modern age. It’s considered a power of legends. There is no way…” Hazel wrung her hands, but she didn’t have to say anything else. Her mind told me all I needed to know. She thought Kiera was right and was only doubting it for my benefit.

“So it’s bad then?”

“Not necessarily,” Kiera offered, but I could tell it was just to make me feel better.

“Don’t lie to me please.” I needed the truth.

“In the past, those with the gift of foresight usually weren’t that powerful, so it’s probably fine.” Kiera side-eyed Hazel.

“Usually? What about those who were?” I asked, wanting to know all of it.

Kiera and Hazel exchanged a look.

“Don’t sugar coat it.” I had to know.

“They went mad under the weight of it,” Kiera all but whispered. “It’s too much to bear. We are not meant to know our own fate.”

I shook my head like I could reject it and sunk to a seat. “Go get them then.”

Hazel was by my side as soon as we were alone. “It could be something else. I don’t think it’s?—”

“We both know it’s not something else. All my feelings? Every time I’ve spoken what would come? How else did I know those things?”

“Your gut. You have a good sense of judgment.”

“That often? No one is right that often in that many situations.” The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. How often was I sure of myself to the point of being cocky? How many gut feelings were luckier than any fae should have been?

“But you had your pendant on. It couldn’t have been happening then.”

“Do you know that for sure? It blocked you and me, but what if the foresight was too powerful to be fully blocked and now it’s unleashed.” I wanted to sink into a hole. I knew in my soul it was true. The terrible dreams, the things I felt… It made sense, but now how bad would it get? If it worked that well while I wore the pendant, the potential extent terrified me.

“Let’s see what they say.”

I took her hands. "What else is there? This has been getting worse since I took off the pendant, and maybe that’s why my gut told me to not take it off before. I knew I couldn’t handle it.”

Her face fell. “Do you regret it?”

I looked right into her eyes, cupping her face. “Not for a single minute. Not even if this drags me into madness.”

“I can’t lose you. I just found you.” She put her hands over mine, fighting tears.

“We’ll find a way to prolong it. I promise.”

We didn’t get any more time to process it because Jaxus, Nyx, and Kiera burst back in the room. They made us go over the whole thing again in more detail with both of them asking questions.

“Can we just stop trying to make it something else?” I demanded after an hour. “We know what it is. I know it’s why I didn’t want the pendant to come off, why I was so reluctant. It was my own foresight warning me about myself.”

Kiera gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth.

“Goddess,” Nyx muttered.

“That’s heavy.” Jaxus paced the room. “Can we put it back on?”

“And make Hazel crazy like Nyx was after losing Kol? Never. I’d rather suffer madness myself than subject her to it.” I hugged Hazel tighter to me.

“Hey!” Nyx snapped.

“He’s not wrong,” Kiera said, clearly done with his shit.

“There has got to be a way to train it,” Jaxus said, exhaling a heavy breath. “Every other type of magic can be trained, why not foresight?”

“There’s no way of knowing how, though,” Kiera replied.

“Why not? Surely someone with the power tried. Why would there not be a record of that somewhere?” Jaxus argued.

“Because fae with the power strong enough to cause the madness never lasted long enough to be trained,” Kiera murmured. “And no one alive has even seen a fae with it. How would we even know where to begin?”

“We’ve got to come up with a way. If we can heal Nyx, we can help Luka, too,” Jaxus said like he could force his way to a fix. “We can do something similar. Work with mind healers, use Gran while she’s here. We won’t give up.”

“No, we won’t, Luka,” Kiera said, joining her mate. “He’s right; we figured things out for Nyx. I will start researching right away.”

I nodded, but something told me it was futile, and I believed it.

Why wouldn’t I believe it? My gut was always right, and now I knew why.

I pushed it all out of my mind while Hazel was distracted. I couldn’t let her know I was okay with my fate. I had to learn to insulate my thoughts to spare her from this. I’d fight as long as possible for her, but I wouldn’t ruin her happiness with the weight of the inevitable future.