Page 28

CHAPTER 28

Sage

“I’d say you don’t have to be wary of anyone,” Zinnia said, “but after the audience with Her Brilliance, I have to say you should be wary of everyone .”

Swell. That was my original assumption. I’d just hoped I’d been wrong.

“And that includes Sir West?” I asked, lowering my voice even more. I really didn’t want him to overhear our conversation. “How serious is the soul link?”

“It’s something only the High Priestess can create and is usually reserved for Her Brilliance’s protection and those who are precious to her.”

Or someone who made an interesting toy. If I hadn’t caught her attention — or if she didn’t have some other, deeper plot — Sir West and I wouldn’t have been stuck together. I doubted it had anything to do with my magic like she’d suggested.

Sure, seeing into the future was powerful. But I couldn’t control it, and up until a few days ago, all I’d gotten were feelings that something bad was going to happen. I hadn’t actually seen anything until Sawyer had been summoned to the Gray, and all I’d seen or sensed were deaths. Ones I could only pray I could prevent.

My thoughts whirled and my chest tightened. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe the High Priestess did know I could see the future, knew my abilities were growing, and wanted to use me.

Hell, I was betting my life on the fact that I could change what I’d seen, something I hadn’t been able to do before I’d started having visions.

It was foolish to think I couldn’t learn to control my ability or that I wouldn’t be able to see other things, things that didn’t involve people dying.

Which maybe made me an extremely valuable resource.

Shit. Nothing was guaranteed, and if anyone knew more about my ability it would be the High Priestess. And just because the High Priestess said Sir West and I would only be linked until I bonded all my mates didn’t mean she wouldn’t change her mind and keep me linked to him as a way to control me.

Father! I’d already fallen into her trap and there wasn’t any way to escape.

“Sage.” Zinnia leaned closer, concern etching her face. “It’ll be all right.”

“Can Her Brilliance tell what a person’s magic is?” I whispered.

“No. She can only tell how powerful it might become.”

So she didn’t know the truth. I could still escape if I convinced her I had a powerful but useless— maybe useless wasn’t the word. Boring. I needed to convince her I had a powerful but boring magic.

Jeez, what magic could even be considered boring? All magic was incredible.

“Is your magic dangerous?”

If I could control what I saw and I could foresee things other than death… then yeah, in the wrong hands it could be very dangerous.

“Have you told anyone?” Zinnia asked without waiting for me to confirm if my magic was dangerous or not.

“No.”

“Don’t. And don’t tell me. A secret is safest if only one person knows.”

I couldn’t disagree with her, but if I couldn’t control my visions, there was a chance I could have one in the Garden and the monster to whom I was soul linked would notice.

My pulse lurched as a new horrible thought struck me. “Can Sir West feel what I’m feeling? Can he see through my eyes? How linked are our souls?”

“He can only feel if you’re in extreme distress and he can’t see through your eyes. The strong emotions aside, all it does is make you hyperaware of where the other person is,” Zinnia said. “Can you sense West in the sitting room?”

I close my eyes to concentrate on Sir West. I hadn’t noticed him before, but I’d been distracted, first by my overwhelming desire and then by the comforting numbness.

“You shouldn’t have to concentrate,” Zinnia interrupted before I could get started. “If Her Brilliance had set up the link for you to be aware of Sir West, you’d know it. He’d be a buzzing presence in your mind that you wouldn’t be able to fully ignore.”

No wonder Sir West had looked grim when he’d climbed the stairs to the High Priestess’s throne. He had to have known what Her Brilliance was going to do.

Which meant maybe he was just as much of a victim in the High Priestess’s game as I was.

Maybe being stuck with him wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe I could trust him.

The memory of his grim expression and the fact that he had every intention of watching me while I went to the bathroom flashed through my mind’s eye.

And maybe I was just grasping at desperate hope and had to accept the truth that Sir West wasn’t an ally.

“Tell me about Sir West.” Knowledge was power and the slightest detail could protect me.

“I can’t tell you much,” she said. “I don’t know much. He’s a formidable knight but keeps to himself, even among the other knights.”

“What about family? Friends?” There had to be something.

“His mother and all but one of his fathers were killed during a magical experiment.” Zinnia’s gaze drifted out the window as if she couldn’t look me in the eyes for her next words. “His remaining father is in a special house for men who’ve lost bonded mates. Most recover from a broken bond, but not all.”

“What does that mean?”

Zinnia’s attention jumped to me, her expression startled before shifting to realization.

“Right. You don’t know anything about your birth realm,” she said. “It’s traumatic losing a bonded mate and it can affect someone’s mind. I’m not familiar with West’s father. I can heal spirit and body but not soul. But I know of the residence where he’s being cared for, and they only take the most serious cases.”

Which meant Sir West was alone. Like I was.

“You also need to know what it means for the High Priestess to have invited you to her court,” Zinnia added. “You should expect all of Her Brilliance’s courtiers, including those who weren’t in the throne room during your audience, to want to court you.”

Of course they would, I thought glumly.

“But, unlike in the human realm, you can tell a fae man what you want, what you think, and for him to leave you alone.”

Except I was sure I had to at least give him a chance before I told him to go away.

The thought twisted my stomach. I’d already told Wells and Crane to leave me alone and that had ended in disaster.

“I know it’s going to be difficult. I’ve heard how women in the human realm are expected to behave, and I know the men are stricter with slaves.” Zinnia grabbed my hands in hers. “But I’ve seen your strength. I know you can handle this and I’ll teach you what I can.”

As we continued to talk, the sky outside the window grew lighter and lighter with hues of pink and gold spilling across the horizon. Zinnia’s voice was soothing, her information helpful, but with each passing moment the knot of anxiety twisted tighter in my stomach.

Dawn in the Garden meant dawn in the Gray, and with every flicker of golden light through the softly swaying leaves and branches, the urgent reality of my situation loomed larger.

My room in the Black Tower didn’t have a lock, and anyone could walk in on me and discover my secret.

A sharp knock yanked me from my spiraling thoughts, and the bedroom door cracked open.

“Magister Aster has arrived to remove the bracelet,” Lord Quill said.

My churning unease grew. The magister could save me, but without a doubt, he’d need to get close to me and use his magic to remove the bracelet. Zinnia hadn’t realized I was human — or she hadn’t said anything — when she’d used her magic to heal me, but there was no guarantee Magister Aster wouldn’t learn the truth.

“He’s the best in the White Tower with unusual magics,” Zinnia said as she stood. “We’ll return your spirit to your body before your human master knows you’ve been gone.”

I glanced back out the window at the rising sun.

“I’m sure of it,” Zinnia assured me.

I could only pray that was true.