It was a rhetorical question, and not one I would have the answers to even if he was probing me.
“It was always meant to be this way,” is what I said instead.
“Perhaps. Or maybe we deviated somewhere and created the mess we have before us now.”
The two of us sat in silence, lost to our own thoughts and speculations.
“I was wrong about her,” I admitted, and Jarius picked his head up with a frown.
“Who?”
“The godling.”
Jarius’ eyebrows hit his hairline at my admission.
“She was never mine. She is uncontrollable, untamable. And I pity the fool who tries to fit her into a box again. I tried, her parents tried, fuck, even the gods tried. But she’s something different, something unique. And trying to control her will ultimately be Elyria’s downfall,” I admitted. I’d never be able to apologize to Ellowyn now. I was just another in a long line of people she trusted who tried to tame her, mold her into whattheywanted, into a weapon.
I had no doubt she’d destroy the gods, but it would be on her terms. I had to trust, now, that I had laid the foundation and she’d carry on with the mission.
“I’m sorry that some of my visions were not always accurate,” Jarius said, his voice growing progressively weaker as the poison took hold of his body.
I shrugged. “It’s the nature of it all. You’re still confident in this course of action, yes?” I clenched and unclenched my sweaty hands, nervous for his answer, but needed the affirmation all the same.
If every vision he gave me was a lie, then my work would be for nothing. My plans and years spent plotting and maneuvering completely wasted. Relationships and happiness thrown away for a lie.
The Keeper sighed with his whole body, his muscles loosening. “To the best of my knowledge, yes. Fate doesn’t want you to fail, Truthsayer.” He whispered the last part so quietly I almost didn’t hear him.
“I stopped believing in Fate a long time ago, Keeper. Your religious zeal would better serve my General.”
He huffed a tired laugh. “Though I suppose you destroyed some of that faith, too, in your quest.”
I stayed quiet, absently picking the calluses on my hands and willing the poison to work faster. I was already well aware of my flaws, I didn’t need them spread before me by a dying man.
Jarius gasped suddenly, pulling my gaze from my hands. He looked wildly around the room at something only he could see.
“They come, Truthsayer.” His voice was oddly melodic yet monotone, his irises so pale they were nearly white. “The time comes—the gods walk Elyria once more. It is time for two to rise so two others may fall”—he turned his terrifying gaze on me, and I felt the hair raise on my arms—“go, now.”
Jarius gestured to the door, and I sprang from my seat.
They were here. The gods were here. All my plans, all my preparation, for this moment.
“There is still time, Truthsayer,” Jarius said in a whisper. I paused and looked over my shoulder at the final Keeper. “Still time to change your path.”
“Is the outcome the same?” I rasped.
The Keeper paused, a small smile on his face. “Not in the way you think.”
I shook my head, dismissing the notion immediately. “Then that is not the pathway for me.”
“It is sealed, then. I will see you soon, Truthsayer,” Jarius whispered as he slowly closed his eyes, his body slumping against the back of the chair, arms resting on the top of his legs.
A forever sleep.
“See you in the ether, Keeper.”
I didn’t bother closing the door behind me as I strode from the room, my steps quickening as I traversed the hall until I was practically running for the opposite door, the one that would carry me up and out into Vespera.
My boots thumped against the stones and my breaths came in pants as I took the stairs two at a time, my heart beating wildly from the exertion and the inevitable battle to come.
