“None of our people or those I have seen have Water and Earth. But I have seen former Danes become filled with unexpected Wieldings lately. And now they need to be trained.”
“That’s why we’re here,” Lyric said. Not only for your help but also to see who else we can help. Who we can train.”
“They’re not all going to want to join an army,” Slavik said. Then he looked into my eyes.
“There’s a reason they didn’t fight for the queen and then you later. They don’t want to be conscripted.”
“We have never conscripted anyone.”
“No, that was my father and uncle,” Rhodes said. “The Lumière did that. They forced their people to fight and die for them. And they did it under the guise of training. And though I fought for them to stop, no one listened to their Seer, my sister, or to me. But it was never the Obscurité.”
“Sure could’ve fooled me,” Slavik said, looking directly at me.
“Well, maybe you should’ve spoken to us instead of hiding.”
“Is this helping anyone?” Lyric asked, and I looked down at her and shrugged. “No, maybe not. But there are a lot of old battles without closure and connections between all of us. We’re hundreds of years old, Priestess.”
“Maybe, but it’s time to look towards the future. I know the past is paved with darkness and pain, but we can’t defeat The Gray if we’re constantly fighting amongst ourselves.” She let out a breath, and I nodded. “Slavik, we’re not going to force you to fight with or for us. We’re not going to force any of the Danes either. But they do need to be trained. You know that as well as I do. If people hadn’t helped me with my Wielding, I’d be dead. And we all know that. They need help. And we can send them places so they can get it. If they don’t want to fight in the battle, we have other places for them. Places where they can be safe—or as safe as possible with The Gray out there. But if they want to help, if they want to defeat The Gray alongside us, then we will welcome them.”
“I understand,” Slavik said after a moment. I held back a breath of relief. I might not like the guy, but I knew if I had been born in another world, I would’ve ended up just like him. On the outside looking in but fighting for something I thought was important. I didn’t like that I could see myself in him—both who I used to be and the man I wanted to be.
“Well, killing the gorgon probably alerted everybody to where we are. In case you wanted to hide,” Slavik said.
“I guess we’d better get back to the Fire Estate.”
“Not your court?” Slavik asked.
“The court is gone. Burned to ash.”
Slavik’s brows rose. “I’ve been out of the loop for far too long, it seems. Tell me more.”
“On the way,” Lyric said, pushing through. “We need you to find any others who will fight with us. But we’ve been gone from the Fire Estate for too long. I think we need to head back.”
I looked at Lyric and nodded. “Yes, we need to go back. Our people need us. And I think The Gray has been quiet for far too long.”
“You’re right, and that scares me.”
I nodded and met Slavik’s gaze, then looked at the others.
The Gray had been silent for far too long. And when The Gray got quiet, that meant he was planning.
And whatever he had planned for us might mean the end of us all.
While we had defeated a gorgon and had taken down countless others who had come for us, we had lost people along the way. And though we also gained new members for our army, I had a feeling it wouldn’t be enough.
I knew what would be enough, though. Who would be enough? And that was the woman standing beside me, the one who had claimed my heart.
Because the prophecy surrounded us, smothered us with its deceptions and secrets.
In the end, it would be army against army, Wielder against Wielder.
But The Gray would only have one person to fight.
And it wouldn’t be me. It wouldn’t be the other princes or kings or those with titles.
No, it would be the Spirit Priestess, the woman I loved.
Even though I had all the confidence in the world that she could defeat him, I didn’t have faith in the prophecy.
For in order to defeat The Gray, I wasn’t sure she would survive.
She would likely sacrifice everything to protect the people she loved.
Even herself. And her soul.
I didn’t think I was strong enough to hold her back, or perhaps I was terrified that I was so weak that I wouldn’t try.
Chapter Seventeen
Lyric
“Not like that,” Justise snapped before going over to one of the newly made Wielders and showing him how to use his Fire Wielding.
I gave Easton a look, and he gave me a firm shake of his head.
Justise’s temper was far shorter than it used to be. He used to growl more than anyone else I knew, including Easton and Luken, so that was saying something. It made me sad that I couldn’t find a way to reach him—that nobody could. He had to learn to Wield with one arm, something he could do but it hadn’t come easily. After all, he had lived for centuries, Wielding and battle planning with both arms, moving his body with a kind of grace that not many warriors possessed.
Now I knew he felt off-kilter, and there was nothing I could do about it but support him and not get in his way.
However, he was scaring the young Wielders, the former Danes, and even the Maisons who hadn’t been born with Wielding.
Now, they were using all four types of Wielding, trying to figure out how to fight in this war we all felt as if we were two steps behind in.
It wasn’t lost on me that there wasn’t another Spirit Wielder yet.
At least not one out in the open. Maybe they didn’t know they had Wielding, or perhaps didn’t know how to use the power.
Perhaps there weren’t any left.
As a thought far more sinister than I wanted to think filtered through my mind, I wondered if maybe they were on the side of The Gray now.
After all, The Gray was a Spirit Wielder, as well. One who used shadow and death rather than using his Wielding to protect souls.
Not that I was any good at using my Spirit Wielding. But it buffered the others within me so I could fight. And that was fine with me for now. My people needed my help, and I would fight alongside them and figure out how to use the rest of my Wielding as I did. I had once been like the people Justise and Slavik were training in front of me. I had been lost, unable to use my Wielding, feeling as if I were breaking.
My body had almost shattered, my soul along with it as the power became too much. I didn’t want to see that for the others.
Thankfully, it seemed as if everybody was okay.
Either I was far weaker than they were, or my power had just been too much. Wielding more than one element at a time wasn’t easy, and most had been born with at least their original magic, able to grow into their powers as they grew into themselves.
But Wyn and I were a little different.
I looked over at my friend as she stood next to Rhodes, her arms outstretched. She had a sphere of Water in her hands, and she spun it as if playing with a ball, even though she wasn’t technically touching the liquid. Rhodes had his arms folded over his chest, a scowl on his face as he watched her work.