Page 27 of The Illuminated
Alone with Amaya and Santana now, I crumpled to the dark tile floor, and they joined me. Santana pulled me into her chest, and Amaya ran her hands through my long strands of hair. I thought of my mothers. I’d never wanted them more.
“I want my mothers,” I said, unable to keep the thought to myself.
Santana carved a sigil into the air, and I recognized it as the spell Taryn used to shield the space from prying ears.
“We want ours too, baby,” Amaya whispered, and she kissed the top of my head. “Want to tell us why you’re covered in blood? And why the King’s brother was begging Taryn to lead him to us?”
“He wanted to help,” I said, quietly now. “He’s one of us.”
Santana and Amaya exchanged a glance.
“And the blood? Did you, um, cut yourself?” Amaya inspected my arms, caked in blood with white scar lines on my skin.
“He took me to the dungeons.”
“Amaya,” Santana said. “She’s a clairsentient—like Willow.”
Amaya shook her head. “Shit.”
Who was Willow? I opened my mouth to ask, but Amaya spoke again before I could.
“Come on, let’s get you in the bath, and we can talk more, okay?”
They pulled me to my feet, and I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror. My wounds had been healed, but blood still stained my arms. I looked like I was wearing a demented beauty queen costume for Halloween. My twist had come undone at some point, leaving my copper hair in a mess as loose strands stuck out in every direction. Santana undid the clasps at the back of my dress, letting it fall to the floor in a heap of black and shimmering gold fabric crusted with blood.
The bathroom was as big as a bedroom in New York City. There was a massive, elegant shower with two golden shower heads on the left. There was a bathtub big enough to accommodate half a dozen people sunken into the center of the floor, complete with jets and seating. Two sinks set in a long, white marble countertop and a dark wood vanity stretched along one wall. Gold, ornate mirrors reached all the way to the ceiling above each sink. Forgoing the larger tub, I headed toward a smaller, free-standing tub that Amaya had prepared off in the right corner. Surely it was safe from whatever bath time orgies Lucius orchestrated here.
I was just delighted that something had finally cut through my suffocating apathy, even if it was my disgust for Lucius’s sexual escapades. The strangeness of his power still lingered like a stain burned into my skin, and I could still hear his energy’s whispers from beyond the closed double doors, reaching for me in a coaxing tongue.
I shuddered, sinking into the warm water as Santana brought me soap and a washcloth.
They sat close by, turned away from me as I washed the blood from my skin and left the bathwater bright pink.
“Our friend Willow was an energy reader, or clairsentient, same as you,” Santana said softly. “She was the one who delivered you a message before the King struck her dead.”
I let out a sob, the image of their friend writhing on the floor as clear in my mind as the day it happened. “I’m sorry,” I choked. She was the one who gave me the first Akashic key.
“Oh, no, Áine. It’s okay. Can I come to you?” Santana asked.
I nodded before realizing she couldn’t see me. “Yes.” I didn’t mind if either of them saw me naked at this point. “I don’t care.”
Santana grasped my hand as Amaya hovered behind her, both kneeling. “She suffered terribly here in the castle, feeling Lucius’s cruelty day in and day out. She was never really good at grounding herself and setting up boundaries. The pain of others was too much for her, but she called itwitnessing.She said she had to witness everyone’s pain so it wouldn’t be forgotten. But it took its toll. We aren’t meant to feel all of this darkness.
“Clairsentience used to be a beautiful gift. It was the gift of emotional and spiritual healers, as Willow always reminded us. Every coven had at least one. They could understand the energy of each and every person and make sure that no one got left behind or isolated. They made sure everyone was heard and understood at the deepest core of their souls. But the gift wasn’t meant to live in the realm as it is now, when nearly everyone is suffering greatly. You can get lost in that pain. Willow could’ve given you that message in private, Áine. Shechoseto give it to you in full view of the King. She did her part to end the suffering she’d witnessed but she could witness no longer.”
“Oh,” I said, understanding now very deeply that I was not responsible for the woman’s death. The truth of it lifted off my body like an unburdened weight.
“Willow,” Santana said, shaking her head and letting out a little bit of laughter. She glanced at Amaya, who held a hand to her mouth as her chin trembled slightly. “She believed that you would be an energy reader. All we knew was that the witches of the old ways had pooled their hope into this one special witch, who would one day restore the realm. We didn’t know the exact nature of your power or anything about you, really. It was all just myth and legend until you arrived in the flesh. But she was so damn sure! She said you had to be a clairsentient just like her, because only someone who was forced to feel the suffering of every other being would be deserving of such immense power and duty.”
“She was so damn sure!” Amaya echoed, wiping her dewy eyes. “Wouldn’t shut up about it.She’ll be a wounded healer, just like me, she told us.To heal a wound completely, you have to feel it in your own skin first.She said that the whole world was this big, gaping wound that you were sent to heal.”
I choked out a final, heaving sob, and the crack in my depression grew wider, just wide enough to crawl through. But it was going to be cramped. I reached my tired limbs toward the light.
“Thank you. Thank you both. For continuing to save me.”
Santana clucked her tongue as she looked down into the blood-tinged water. “Yeah… you’re going to need a second bath.”
“What the hell is this?” I muttered, earning looks of sympathy from the women as I inspected the tiny black slip with lace trim. The fabric was a thin satin, and it was all that was left for me to wear after two complete baths to wash away all the blood.
