Page 9 of The Prince's Captive

But Hypatia hadn’t said she’d seen herself.

“Of course, upon seeing that, I needed to see more.”

Marcella’s gaze snapped over to Hypatia. Hypatia was usually laid up in bed for at least two days after a clear vision like the one she was describing.

Marcella had once been forced by Hypatia to pretend to be her for two days after Hypatia had a vision when her father had ordered her not to.

But to attempt another vision, especially while searching for something so specific? Marcella couldn’t believe Hypatia was even standing. Although upon closer inspection, her hands were trembling slightly.

Clan Stellae’s last seer had died doing it thirteen years ago. That had left Hypatia as the only known seer amongst the clans.

“Asentai blessed me with another vision. I needed to know if the girl under the veil was actually me. I saw—” Hypatia grabbed Marcella’s shoulder, and when the weight shifted against her, Marcella realized Hypatia was about to topple over. She grabbed her arm and held her upright as she continued despite the tremor starting to enter Marcella’s legs at what she knew was coming next. “I saw flashes of what looked like me in the Inimicus camp, in a tent. One of them was coming at me. My peplos was torn and he exposed my scar.”

Wait… itwasHypatia in the vision?

One of the other ways to tell them apart in recent years was less obvious, mostly because it was always covered. On the first mission Hypatia had led against the Inimicus, she’d returned with a nasty scar that curved from her side to her back.

“But I couldn’t see my face clearly. It was so fast, but there were only two people it could be. Me or you.” Hypatia’s grip tightened on Marcella.

Marcella couldn’t stumble back even though she wanted to. She turned back to Chief Eustathios and stammered, “I don’t have a scar like that. No matter what, it’s clear they’re going to capture Hypatia. Chief, I will serve however I can, but has the future not been set? You can’t change what Hypatia has seen.”

“Of course we can’t. But all Hypatia saw was a girl who looked like her in bridal clothes being captured and an Inimicus exposing a scar of a girl who looked like her.” Chief Eustathios leaned forward in his seat, narrowing his eyes. “We cannot lose the alliance with Montis, and I will sooner sacrifice this whole clan before I let the Inimicus get their hands on my daughter. She’s a seer. They will have her on one of their cursed tables before you can even blink. These are your orders, Marcella of Desero: You will be Hypatia’s decoy, and when the ambush occurs, you will be captured to fulfill her vision.”

That wasn’t possible. Despite how much Marcella almost wished it was. Because despite her lack of skill and strength, there was at least one thing she did well as a soldier. She always followed orders. It was the only worth she could claim.

“I will do as I am bid, but Icannot.” Marcella shook her head. “I don’t have the scar that marks Hypatia that the Inimicus are going to look for!”

Hypatia’s grip tightened and she straightened back up to stare down at Marcella. “Yet.”

What?

Chief Eustathios rose from his seat and said, “You will. By the time you leave the estate, no one will be able to find a single speck of difference between you and Hypatia. And that is the only thing that might keep you alive. Hypatia’s vision does not foretell your death, only capture. After they see that scar, there might be a chance yet that you live to return to us. Do you accept your orders, soldier?”

They were going to…

Oh.

Hypatia’s claw-like grip on her shoulder was the only thing that kept the bile rising in her throat from breaking loose. All her protests died on her tongue. Because it was truthfully a simple matter.

She was being given orders. And it was foretold.

Either her or Hypatia.

Now Hypatia’s words made sense. Why she looked so much like her. It was always for this moment.

Better the soldier from a Solitus mother, with a pitiful amount of vitae, than the seer and heir to Desero.

Especially a soldier like her who had no one really to leave behind. It was better this way. Better her than anyone who had friends and family to particularly mourn them. Yes, her clan would mourn, but in the way they all mourned the loss of any Desero. No one who would miss her. Other than maybe Hypatia, who would mostly just miss having someone who could pretend to be her at her beck and call.

So she did the one thing she could claim she excelled at. She obeyed.

Marcella dropped to her knee again, clasping her hand over her heart as Hypatia stepped back. She said, “I accept my orders. It will be an honor to serve my people this way.”

“Your service and sacrifice will be honored by Asentai and all of Clan Desero. Now, rise; there are only two months left for you to recover.”

Hypatia was hauling Marcella to her feet and pulling her behind her before she could respond to Chief Eustathios. Marcella stumbled after her. “My lady? What—”

Hypatia looked over her shoulder, and the dark bags under her eyes were more obvious than before. “It’s my scar; who knows it better than me? My little lookalike, did you think I would let anyone else mark you up but me?”

---