“I’m not the one rummaging through her brain.” I meet her startled gaze and shove her out of my mind.
Sariana’s lips tremble as she attempts a smile. It falters completely and falls away. “Impressive. No one has ever felt my touch before, not even Aloysius. Apparently you are more powerful that I first thought.” She pauses to appraise me. “I wonder…”
“Wonder what?” Bastien snaps, his frustration showing through at the woman’s silence.
“Perhaps she will be able to feel Aloysius’s mental control. If that is the case, she might be able to fight back.”
I surge forward, grasping the woman’s hand, a thin layer of skin stretched over bony knuckles and twisted joints. “Is that even possible?”
She shrugs. “It has never been done before, but then there has never been anyone quite like you either, my dear.” Her fingers curl in my hand and I suppress a shudder as her nails dig into my palm. It isn’t painful, but it feels as if she is anchoring down as she draws me near. “If you cannot, all will be lost.”
Her grip releases as she sinks back into her chair. She looks weary. Her head leans back against the chair, as if too tired to hold it upright any longer. She closes her eyes for a moment. Bastien looks to me, no doubt wondering if she has fallen asleep before us. She startles me as she sits upright. Her finger glides over the pages, searching for something.
I look beyond her and see small trinkets scattered about the room, items I assume hold great importance from her life on Calisted. There are no pictures on the walls, no albums on shelves, or family heirlooms proudly displayed.
This room is filled with knowledge. What a lonely life she must lead here. I find myself feeling sorry for the old woman.
“Here it is.” Sariana pokes a finger at a page near to the back of the book. The binding creaks as she lifts it closer to her face. She squints against the dim light. “Kyan has told you that a destiny binds you, Illyria, but even he does not know all of its details. Very few people know more than what is shared as bedtime stories, but I know what is missing.”
“How?” Bastien asks.
“I was the one who received the vision,” she says in a hushed tone. The winds howl outside, making it difficult to make out the words. “My brother shared the same vision and afterward wrote it down in this very book.”
“Your brother?” I frown. “You never spoke of him before.”
“That is because he is the lesser of us, a mutation if you will. On Calisted, only women are born into the lineage of seers. He received the gift. When my parents discovered his abilities, they sent him away for fear that he would be killed. No man is supposed to possess the sight.”
“Eamon does.” I protest.
“No, he can see the future. That is different. We see all. Past, present, and the things to come. Kaladan is in seclusion on Murilian, one of the moons orbiting Calisted. It is an inhospitable place, one that Aloysius isn’t about to search.” She pauses to look at me. “Someday you will go to him. He will help you if you tell him that I sent you.”
“And what about you? Were you exiled here?” Bastien asks.
“In a sense. I chose this fate once we realized Illyria had been sent here. We knew that someday she would seek answers, and I had to be here for this time.”
I tuck my lower lip between my teeth as my stomach clenches. In her hands lie the answers to why Bastien and Eamon are tied to me. As desperately as I want to know, I am terrified at the same time.
As if sensing my turmoil, Bastien takes my hand in his, twining his fingers through mine. It is the first time we have really touched in a year, but the strength of his hands is exactly as I remembered. “You don’t have to do this, you know? It doesn’t matter what that prophecy says.”
“On the contrary.” Sariana breaks in before I can speak. “You of all people should want to know.”
“Me?” Bastien’s gaze hardens.
I squeeze his hand and take a deep breath. “I’m ready.”
“So be it.” The prophetess raises the book so high I can only see the ridgeline of her brow as she begins to read. “During our darkest hour, six teenagers will rise to lead us out of tribulation. Born of our time but returned to the past, they will suffer the fate of all humanity until the day comes for their birthright. The great tyrant will lash out against them. Some will falter, but only one will save our people. A girl will rise among them. She alone has the strength to harness the Ether.” She hesitates before continuing. “You have heard this before?”
“Yes, apart from that Ether bit. What is that?” Bastien asks. His grip on my hand tightens.