Page 56 of Light Locked
“I’m not proposing that you seek me out,” he said, “but should opportunities arise, should we be pitted against each other in some contest or game, if you need a chance to prove your power, anything to your advantage, you mustn’t let the opportunity pass.”
Contest? Game? Opportunity?
The words echoed through her and she was exhausted again.
She turned away from him, feeling wounded.
“The gift you’re trying to give,” she whispered, overwhelmed as tears stung her eyes, “injures me tremendously. You’ve shown yourself to be a true friend only as you remove yourself entirely.”
“I can’t apologize,” he said.
“I know,” she replied.
“If you want to get the medallion to Loda, these could be choices you have to make.”
“I know,” she replied, settling into the silence before closing her eyes and muttering with surprising confidence, “It’s all going to be okay.”
Ryson’s silence seemed to request an explanation, and sleepily, she began, “My parents once had an esteemed miracle worker come to diagnose our disease.”
He exhaled and she could feel his reluctance to move onto a different topic, but consented regardless. “Seems unusual for Lodain royalty to consult with outsiders.”
“They were desperate,” Clea said tiredly. “This woman claimed that the illness would take the rest of my siblings. She pointed to each one and shouted their fates. They were still dragging her out when she pointed at me and said that my death would wait behind a golden door.”
“Hmph,” he said.
“So you see?” she mumbled. “Until I see a golden door, I have no cause to take your words seriously.”
There was a long pause.
“You think about that golden door thing a lot?” he asked.
“Lately, I think about it all the time. It’s comforting.”
His chest bumped up once beneath her, and she thought for a moment it was a chuckle. She looked up to see him looking off, smiling for a moment before he bit it down.
“What?” she said, pushing against him.
“It’s nothing,” he replied.
She shoved him with her wrists. “You just promised not to lie to me.”
He looked mildly embarrassed as he avoided her gaze. “This woman was a miracle worker, so an outsider from the forest?”
Clea nodded. “Yes. What?”
“No one can harness either cien or ansra to truly see the future, so she was likely speaking these things over you, not telling the future. I want to clarify that before I add what I’m going to say next.”
She straightened in his arms, staring intently.
“I’m sure she meant a literal golden door,” he said, “it’s just that a golden door in Kaletik lore is usually symbolic for knowledge.”
She stared blankly at him. “You’re joking.”
“You’ve walked through plenty of golden doors lately,” Ryson said, “I’m sure you’re immune at this point.”
Clea sunk into his chest, staring blankly forward as she exhaled in numb exasperation, “By ansra, my entire life is a lie.”
She felt him chuckle again beneath her.
