Page 10 of Slaying the Vampire Conqueror

“They don’t make such information well known, of course,” she went on. “But all major military operations from the House of Blood are almost always accompanied by one seer, who typically remains very close to the leading general. Their king, apparently, has one who never leaves his side.”

Strange, that a kingdom of Nyaxia would be so reliant upon seers. Nyaxia did not offer her followers any magic that could be used for peering into the future—which meant that seers would need to be human, worshipping other gods who offered magic that could be used for such things. Like Acaeja.

“Our conqueror is no exception,” she went on. “He has a seer as well. Join him, infiltrate his army, and watch his movements. Should you earn his trust, your position as his seer will give you unmatched insight into his movements and intentions.”

“You say he already has a seer?” I asked, and the Sightmother nodded.

“He does. For now.”

She did not need to say more. I understood right away what she was telling me to do—create my own opening.

“His forces move north,” she said. “I do not know what his ultimate intentions are with our country, but I know that now he moves for the Pythora King. We need to know why, and what else he intends. Accompany him. And then, when the time is right, you will kill him.”

Years ago, I might have wanted to kill him immediately. But I knew now what it was to cut off the head of a snake and have two more grow in its place. It would take more than a single dagger to his heart to end this.

Perhaps it could’ve been that simple when he first landed. Not now, after he’dstarted laying roots.

“I won’t lie to you, Sylina,” the Sightmother said quietly. “This will be a dangerous and unpleasant task.”

“All tasks are dangerous and unpleasant.”

At least this one meant something.

She nodded, understanding me exactly.

“Go now,” she said. “Travel through the pools. He moves to the southwest tonight.”

I didn’t argue. I didn’t ask if I could say goodbye. The threads connected us all, anyway.

I bowed my head. “Thank you, Sightmother.”

I started back to the Keep. I’d gather my things and go within an hour.

The Sightmother did not follow me.

“May she weave in your favor,” she called after me, her voice lost in the ocean wind.

CHAPTER FOUR

Iused to paint, sometimes.

When I came to the Salt Keep, I’d had a few of my paintings with me—little doodles I’d done in my notebook to pass the time. I did one that night, of the sea and the cliffs, the sight so beautiful I couldn’t resist capturing it however my little hands could.

The Sightmother had found it the next day, as the Sisters went through my belongings before I began my tests. She had held that notebook for a long time, staring down at the paper with her blindfolded gaze.

“What is this?” she asked me.

“It’s the ocean,” I said.

“No,” she said. “It is paper.”

Her magic shredded the parchment in seconds. I hadn’t known then that the sight of those shards of paper swept away into the ocean was one of the last things I would see with my eyes alone. Maybe that was why I still dreamed of it, sometimes—those painted scraps of color, fluttering away like butterfly wings, so easily consumed by the world.

Nothing but paper, just like the Sightmother had said.

I cameout of the water gasping. The rush of cold air was a slap across the face, making what was already disorienting a shock to all senses at once.

Some Sisters claimed that they didn’t mind the sensation, but I was sure they had to be lying. After fifteen years of traveling through the pools, it still never got any less nauseating. Or maybe I just hated the way that it yanked me into my past in the moments between threads.

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