I heard my father cover a laugh with a cough at the last part of my rant, and I stifled a smile of my own. Pipstillcouldn’t look at me while I was naked, and I ended up having to help myself into my gown again. It was borderline adorable how she refused to look at my body. Annoying and inconvenient, but adorable.
My mother scoffed, clearly not finding the same amusement. “Are you quite finished?”
I went to open my mouth to say some other caustic remark that would inevitably land me in more trouble, but the door to the study swung open, saving me from my own tongue.
“Is this a bad time?” a soft, melodic yet undoubtedly male voice interrupted any further argument with Mother. I spun on my heel, my skirts swishing about my calves and hair whipping my face before settling on my back, to see a man close to my parents’ age standing in the doorway. He was tall with pale skin and even paler hair—a color so light it was almost white, though it glinted a soft gold in the sun that spilled through the windows of my father’s study. His eyes were just as pale, though they closely resembled ice, and were full of keen observation and knowledge. They darted from person to person before unnervingly settling on me. The stranger cocked hishead slightly, his eyes narrowing in concentration before he relaxed and offered the room a slight smile.
“No, Jarius, you’re not interrupting at all,” my father spoke as he moved to usher the man into his study, closing and locking the door before speaking again. “You’ve met my wife, Acantha.” My mother curtsied shallowly before resuming her straight-backed position near the far wall. Jarius paid my mother little mind, only briefly canting his gaze over her, before refocusing entirely on me. The attention made my palms sweat and I absentmindedly smoothed the skirt of my dress.
“And this”—my father turned to me with a raised palm gesturing at my figure—“this is my daughter, Ellowyn.” Jarius approached on his own accord, his movements fluid and graceful, before bowing slightly over a hand I hadn’t even realized I outstretched.
“Ellowyn,” his voice was a caress and a reverent prayer that had the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. “It is a pleasure to meet you.” His dry lips lightly grazed my knuckles before he pulled back.
I offered him a tight-lipped smile before gently extracting my hand from his grip and sinking into a curtsy.
“Sir.”
“Jarius is the Keeper we . . . rescued from the Borderlands,” my father supplied in a hushed tone. My eyebrows hit my hairline at his admission and my mother hissed her disapproval at his admittance. Father simply rolled his eyes at her. “Acantha, we just created Air Wards along the perimeter of the room. I’m allowed to speak freely in my own home.”
Mother huffed a sound of displeasure from her corner before walking on light feet to a chair near my father’s desk and sinking gracefully into its confines. Jarius’ gaze never left my own, though the corners of his mouth did kick up briefly as if he was amused by the whole exchange.
The silence in the room extended for a few moments before my father blessedly broke it and, with it, Jarius’ gaze. Once I was no longer scrutinized by his probing stare, I felt like I could breathe again.
“With all due respect, I would like to have this conversation quickly so we can all proceed with our days,” my father commanded, “we have much to do this week, as was discussed last night.”
My father, the Keeper, and I relaxed into the three remaining chairs—my father sat behind his desk—and I settled in for a long and painful conversation.
“I’ll get right to it. Ellowyn”—my father looked at me—“we expect something extraordinary to happen with your magic at your Awakening Ceremony. The presence of Lord d’Refan all but indicates that he knows something we don’t. We are going to have Jarius look into your future, or the possibilities of your future, to try and determine what will happen. I want to be prepared so we are not blindsided later this week.”
I sat and thought for a moment.
“But I thought Lord d’Refan was our ally? Doesn’t Hestin serve and support him?” My mother scoffed as if my question was idiotic, but my father put up a hand to her, gesturing for her silence. She cut off the noise immediately and sat rigidly in her chair.
“It’s a legitimate question with merit, Ell. The short answer is, yes, we are. The long answer, we don’t have time to discuss this morning. However, I will say that there are some other...forces at play here. Chess pieces moving, if you will, and I like to have all the information before making a move.”
I nodded my head. That made sense. Knowledge was power and all of that.
“So!” My father slapped his hands against his legs and rubbed them in anticipation. “Jarius? Shall we?”
Jarius agreed and gestured for me to sit on the floor in front of him.
“This won’t hurt, but you might feel a bit lightheaded, dear. It shouldn’t take more than a moment.”
With that, he placed his long-fingered hands on either side of my forehead, thumbs touching just above my eyes, and the heels of his palms resting against my cheekbones. His hands were warm but dry and they scraped a bit against my skin.
“Close your eyes.”
I obliged. At first, I felt nothing, and I peeked an eye open in curiosity. Jarius’ eyes were closed, and he had an incredibly peaceful expression on his face. One of complete content. It made him look younger, less imposing, even with his extremely pale skin and hair.
Suddenly, I felt a jolt. Like my body was electrocuted.
I gasped and punched my eyes closed again. When I did, images startedto rush across my eyelids, too fast for me to catch or make any sense of. I saw myself a few times, just snippets and bits. Me much older, me the same age I am now, me with a man I have never seen before, me with a baby. Me with a different man and a different baby.
A baby? Is this my future I’m seeing?
It was all so confusing.
Suddenly, the visions stopped. But I wasn’t looking at the back of my eyelids. Instead, I was standing in the cracked and dry place again, the sky dark and stormy.
