As soon as they were back into Cyrene’s tent, she did just that.
She was donning her Hohl armor the next morning, bright and early, a satisfied smirk on her face.
Dean reached for her. “Do we have to get out of bed so early?”
“It’s been days since the army saw me. I need to be out there.”
“Cyrene!” a shout went up.
She finished buckling her breast plate and dashed out of the tent. Quidera was running toward her. Vera was right behind her.
“What’s happened?” she asked, immediately getting down to business.
“There have been reports from scouts,” Quidera began. “Gwynora wasn’t sure what to make of them.”
“What reports?”
“It looks like there are water seekers coming in from the Tygh,” Quidera said as a matter of fact.
Cyrene released the tension in her shoulders. “Water seekers from the desert?”
Quidera nodded. “But…I know Dalwin would not permit it. I don’t know if they are working for her.”
Cyrene put her hand on Quidera’s shoulder. “They do not. Are they nearby?”
“Yes, nearly to the river.”
“Let’s greet them before I have to go into battle,” Cyrene said.
“I…I don’t know how they will react to the river. They have never even seen that much water before.”
“We will help them.” Cyrene turned to Vera before she could follow Quidera. “Do you need me as well?”
Vera nodded grimly. “Byern has called for a cease-fire. For the next two days. No fighting. We are all permitted to bury our dead and rest.”
“Why would they do that?” Quidera gasped.
Cyrene closed her eyes in frustration. “Because they don’t think it matters.”
Vera nodded. “I think we should use our time wisely. Don’t you?”
“Yes,” Cyrene agreed. “I trust you.”
Vera took Cyrene’s hand and squeezed. “It warms me to hear you say it.”
Cyrene watched Vera step away, off to let the rest of the army know that they had two days more to train. Then she turned and followed Quidera toward the desert. She could see nothing when she peered out toward it. Just the sun beginning to heat the sand and rocks. But, if she stretched her magic, she could sense what her eyes could not tell her.
Magic.
Hundreds of people with magic.
And, as they waited, Hulen appeared. Then, Jenstad, Alchia, Cambria, and his friends. Then, the entire Tygh contingent of her army. The ones who remained after all the fighting.
They all watched with Cyrene as a group of people walked out of the desert for the first time. And at the head was not Jenstad’s father, Councilman Dalwin, as she had predicted. But a water seeker in his own right.
Kirby strode forward as if he were guiding his flock to the promised land.
And, between them, being dragged behind them, carted there by camels and trolleys…was the entire expanse of the Hohl arsenal.
“But…I thought they wouldn’t bring it, except for the god,” Cyrene whispered.
Quidera looked at her, but it was Jenstad who spoke, “You are the god, Domina.”
Cyrene shook her head. She was no god. Yet she had wielded power like a god. And, in doing so, she had fulfilled their prophecy to come out of the desert once more. Now, they were here with enough weapons to outfit her entire army. Blades that were as strong as steel, light as a feather, and immune to magic.
Kirby stepped up to her. In his palm was a pool of water.
Then he dropped to one knee. And like a ripple, the rest of the Tyghan people all fell to their knees before her.
“I present this water as a sacrifice to you, great Domina. May you forgive our transgressions to not follow you out of Tygh when first you spoke your gospel. Allow us to right that wrong with the gift of our arsenal that we have made all these years in your honor,” Kirby said.
Cyrene swallowed and looked to Quidera. But it was up to her to decide how to respond.
What made Malysa a god? Or Benetta? Or any of the people in Domara?
It was just that they had infinite power and believed it to be so. Cyrene knew who and what she was. But these people needed her to be what they believed. And she could give them that.
“I accept your offering and sacrifice,” Cyrene said. “Please, join the Doma. Find water in my home.”
Quidera nodded approvingly. Even Jenstad looked relieved.
Kirby handed her the gift of water. She dipped her head to it and took a drink.
The Tygh returned to their feet and cheered at her acceptance.
“I will guide them from here,” Quidera said. “Thank you.”
Cyrene nodded, knowing full well in that moment how Malysa had succumbed to this need for power. Because staring it in the face like that was equal parts disconcerting and addicting. If she had never been humbled by her magic the last two years, she didn’t know where she would have been after that interaction.
The Hohl armory was distributed throughout the armies, and still, there was more to go around. More than enough. Their prophecy had clearly expected her to have more soldiers.
Even though people had started pouring in through the portal from all over Emporia, it still wasn’t as much as in the arsenal. Each person was outfitted as best they could. Moved into other positions if they weren’t fighters.
And Cyrene oversaw as much as possible. Wanted to welcome every single Doma who had stepped foot into her army. Who was risking themself.
Manasa from the bar in Tiek. And Nandina and her fiancé, Roby, from Byern. Even though he had no magic, he was willing to defect for Cyrene and for Nandina. Freya, who was an old seamstress from Carhara. Rita had immediately put her to work in the infirmary.
There only seemed to be one person who was hiding their magic. A person who sat through the war council as if Cyrene hadn’t watched her heal Darmian’s leg. Cyrene waited until everything was settled for the next day, missions were distributed, and plans were made before she stepped up to Brigette.
“Can I speak with you in private?”
Brigette frowned. “Right now?”
“Yes.”
Dean stepped up to them. “Is everything all right?”
Cyrene nodded. “Just wanted to talk to your sister a minute, alone. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Dean scanned her face before tipping his head at his sister and walking out.
“My tent?”
Brigette sighed. “Fine. But we should make this quick.”
Brigette followed Cyrene to her tent nearby. She looked around at Cyrene’s sparse accommodations with surprise before letting the emotion disappear off of her face.
“If this is about you killing my parents, I really just want to move on,” Brigette blurted out. “I’m tired of hating you about it.”
Cyrene shook her head. “I appreciate that. Since I didn’t do it. But no, that’s not why I asked to speak with you.”
“Oh.”
“I know that you have magic now, Brigette.”
Brigette frowned. “I do not.”
Cyrene raised an eyebrow. “You think that I didn’t touch every person whose magic I awakened?” She stepped forward. “You think I didn’t know their names and faces and feel their hearts before I brought it forth from their blood? You think that there is a Doma alive now who isn’t mine? Doma are my responsibility. They are my people. Past, present, and future. You are Doma, Brigette.”