Page 5 of The Coveted
Taryn grabbed my wrist, pulling me forward before I could react. She stared Nathaniel down as we passed. We quickly rounded a corner into a darker, simpler hallway. The walls were plain stone, lined with many small, flickering candles. They leapt higher as we passed.
My stomach lurched and sank, and I struggled against the pull to lose control. I knew it was what Nathaniel wanted, so that Lucius would have the opportunity to retaliate against me. Nathaniel wanted me dead. Now I understood that Daelon and Nathaniel’s feud was really about which one could crawl further up Lucius’s ass.
“Áine. Finally,” a familiar voice echoed from behind a tall door, delighted and genuine. It sounded like Amos, the old man I saw while astral projecting. The door swung open, and light spilled out.
“I’m not big into this stuff, especially not when Nathaniel is breathing down my neck and all, but uh, you-know-who thought it would help,” Taryn stuttered, visibly uncomfortable.
I didn’t understand what Nathaniel’s accusation meant—about being a heretic—or what it had to do with Amos, but I could tell her energy was crawling back into itself. It reminded me of the walls I sensed around Daelon’s aura.
Amos appeared in the doorway, his eyes crinkled with laughter lines. His white beard was tied with jewelry that looked familiar, but I wasn’t sure why. The first time I saw him in the astrals, he was here in this room, and he seemed to be tapping into that same pool of energy I had at my fingertips. He knew who I was without being able to see my astral form with his eyes. The second time I had been pulled from my body by the whispers of who I thought were my mothers and my people. They led me to a barren forest, where a dark altar lay in a clearing, its energy revealing tragedy and destruction. Amos told me I couldn’t be there, but I knew that whatever that place was, it was key to unlocking my purpose.
“Áine? Will you be alright if I leave you here for a while and come back?”
I met Taryn’s eyes and nodded, forcing the slightest smile. I hated to admit it, but Daelon was right. Amos was the only person I wanted to talk to right now. His aura was the purest I had ever encountered, and it reminded me of the home I’d never seen.
“Come in, come in,” he said, like this was the happiest moment of his existence. I had a feeling that his every moment was treated with the same excitement and reverence. “I’ve been waiting for you for so long.”
Taryn gave us a skeptical look and then retreated back down the corridor, her purple dress rippling out behind her striking form.
I followed Amos’s beckoning and took a seat with him on plush, purple floor cushions. It reminded me of my training sessions with Daelon. Was this where he learned all of those meditative tools? Was Amos the mystical friend he wanted me to meet, the only person from his past he seemed to regard positively?
He smoothed out his magenta robes, his features still bright and warm. It was rare that someone’s aura ever matched their outward appearance. Most people spent a lot of time pretending and covering up what they actually felt inside.
“Do you think anyone’s listening?” I had so much to ask, and I knew most of it would be dangerous for us both.
He let out a full-bodied laugh, like I’d told a joke. If things were different, I might’ve given in to his infectious humor and laughed with him.
“I’m not someone often listened to, my dear. Not anymore. Not here.”
“I—I don’t understand whathereis. I don’t understand anything really,” I said, my voice cracking slightly. I looked away at the tall, overflowing bookshelves that lined the right wall. “Sorry,” I muttered. “I’m still a bit shaken up by it all.” That was an understatement.
I was shocked at immediately opening up to someone who was supposed to feel like a stranger. He just didn’t. He felt like someone I’d known for a very long time. Even still, my ability to trust my magickal inclinations was in question.
“You’ll get it back.”
I jerked my head back to meet his eyes. “Get what back?”
“Your trust. In yourself, and in others.” He was staring at me, but also staring through me. “Don’t worry. I can’t read your every thought. It was more of an intuition, you see.”
I nodded, feeling relieved, but still suspicious. I wasn’t used to having the tables turned back around on me.
“You’re on the outskirts of the King’s City, the Kingdom of Aradia’s capital. It’s loosely located on top of North America, in Earth terms, but it’s not an exact science as I’m sure you’ve gathered. Time and space do not function the same way in the higher dimensions. They simply don’t have to.”
I frowned.Not really what I asked, mysterious guru.
“What do you need to know, specifically? I will be as helpful as I can, but some things can’t be said aloud under this regime. I hope you understand.”
“I don’t know where to begin,” I started, my voice soft and unsure. “Where does all this power come from? Why did it tell me so many lies and lead me astray? Everyone has told me I’m supposed to bring hope, salvation, balance, or whatever else. Deliverance from this castle, fromhim. But how? What if it was all just wishful thinking?”
Amos closed his eyes, a faint smile still etched into his features. He reminded me of those gurus in India that Steph, my friend from the human realm, was so obsessed with. They were always so inexplicably happy, even when surrounded by poverty and suffering.
“What if the path you imagined was just different from the path laid out for you?”
I tried not to grow frustrated as my heart rate picked up. I couldn’t even put into words the disappointment and shame of feeling the entire universe at my fingertips and still being betrayed, defeated, and humiliated. When I found a way to show Daelon what my power felt like, he said its magick felt divine. He couldn’t look at me the same way after. When it overtook me in battle or in my meditations it felt like I became Magick itself—something universal and sacred, intertwined with all the natural forces in the world. So how then, did I end up here?
I shook my head indignantly. “I asked if I could trust Daelon—in my ocean of magick—and I saw him as a child, running through burning streets. I know in my gut the people who killed his parents are the same who killed mine, and those witches are connected to Lucius. He said we had common enemies. But he lied to me over and over again, and I believed him because my power led me to. We had the same past, and he still betrayed me. He was betraying me all along, every step of the way.”
Amos was quiet for too long, so I continued. The floodgates burst forth, and the candles around the room grew and waved wildly.
