“You and the others will alternate between worrying about my influence over Rian, and his influence over me. But all you need to know is that we are inevitable.”
I had surprised her again, but Ornella was much more comfortable with confrontation than with any other form of interaction. She quickly overcame the shock and sat up slowly with her eyes never leaving mine as she set the wine bottle down on the table.
“And how can youknowthat something is inevitable? What role does his free will play in your visions?”
I had tried to explain my Sight to others when I was still young, but I learned quickly just how little people enjoyed hearing about their irrelevance. The reality of just how limited our control was in the world seemed almost inconceivable to people. Theyclungto their right to make decisions and then took their frustrations out on me when my visions came to pass in spite of their efforts.
It was why I had not yet tried to get around the Sylvan blockade on my Sight to See if Sage could be saved. I did not wish to hold onto truths that no one was willing to hear from me. And I knew the reason that neither Ornella nor Rian had asked me to look was because they were too afraid I might shatter thecomfort of blind certainty.
But I could tell Ornella was defensive at the notion of inevitabilities, of truths beyond her control, and we were no longer talking about Rian. I could have simply given her the answers I knew she wanted and avoided conflict, but I was no longer a hapless child. I did not want to shy away from my truths and shape myself around the small ways in which others saw my world. I wanted to finally start owning my power.
So I met her eyes with my chin raised in determination to tell her what she did not want to hear.
“Some visions are like leaves caught in a river current. There and gone as quickly as possibilities are imagined and then dismissed. Dreams dying quick deaths,” I began. “Some events are like crossroads where decisions remain to be made, and it is in those unmade choices that all the potential of my gifts lies. I can often See consequences in both directions, and I can attempt to encourage people to go toward the more desirable outcomes. But then some of what I see is as immovable as mountains and as certain as the tides coming in,” I finished unflinchingly.
Ornella mirrored me and lifted her chin in defiance the way I knew she would.
“I do not care what your visions show you. Iwillget Sage back,” she asserted.
I wanted to hope, for her sake, that her sheer force of will would be enough. But in my extensive experience, one would burn out raging against the Fates long before they managed to alter their path.
“So is Rian like a mountain then?” she redirected me, avoiding any further discussion of Sage and whether or not she would get him back.
“Rian is mine ineveryversion of the future that I have ever glimpsed. He chooses me, again and again, in spite of every obstacle ahead. So all I can do is try to avoid the especially painful barriers ahead of us,” I admitted.
Ornella still looked a little doubtful but did not have anopportunity to reply before we heard the whirring sound of a portal opening in the antechamber.
We both turned as Ciaran strolled in wearing brown, loose-fitting pants. There were elaborate designs sewn on the left leg, which stretched from mid-thigh to just above his ankle cuff. His silk vest was the same amber-and-gold colour of his eyes and had been left unbuttoned to expose his muscled torso that was lightly dusted with auburn hair. The brown tattoos on his left pectoral and shoulder were similar to Rian, but I could tell the gold markings painted on his biceps and rippling abdominals were ornamental. He usually wore his honey-blond hair in a long plait over one shoulder, but he had loosened it. The gold and amber strands seemed to gleam in the torchlight as they fell in waves that contrasted beautifully with his tawny skin.
It was admittedly hard not to stare at him.
“Ew! Go put some clothes on,” Ornella hissed at him. Her ears pinned back and her lips curled at him as if she were disgusted by his audacity to flaunt his sex appeal.
“Of course, you found the wine, little doe. I clearly did not push you hard enough today,” he chirped back at her without missing a beat.
I had to lower my face so neither of them would see the knowing smile that crept onto my face.
They continued bickering, but I was no longer paying attention to them when my attention snagged on the man behind Ciaran. It was always difficult to keep my eyes off Rian whenever he entered a room, but the sight of him just then had me practically losing my breath.
He wore the same loose-fitting pants as Ciaran, which slung low across his hips, and his unbuttoned vest was the same colour as his emerald-and-gold irises. The charcoal he’d smudged around his eyes made their breathtaking colour even more striking. His hair was also unbraided and was even longer than Ciaran’s strands. It shone such stunning shades of red and gold thatit almost seemed to catch fire before my eyes. His exposed arms were corded in muscle, which rippled beautifully beneath his rose-gold skin. The tattoos on his arms transitioned from the pale brown of the familial aes sídhe markings on his shoulders to the aesthetic murals of black ink on his biceps and forearms. He was taller and leaner than Ciaran, and the way his waist and hips tapered accentuated the breadth of his chest and shoulders. The hair dusting his stomach just beneath his abs and navel was darker and somehow more provocative, and the way he was moving toward me like he was stalking prey…
He was somesmerizingthat the mere sight of him was enough to reignite the burn of want in me that had barely quieted in the hours since our kiss. It was all I could think about the night before after he had gone to keep Ornella company so she was not left alone long. And if Éadrom had not been in the bed with me, I might have given in to the urge to explore my newly intact body. To sample the achingwantthat I had never known before him.
While I was admiring him, Rian was looking his fill at me as well, and the sensation of his attention sliding so deliberately over me was electric.
“Stunning work, Edyna,” he said when his gaze finally met mine. “Although you must agree that your subject is already the embodiment of perfection.”
My cheeks heated with pleasure from his compliment, but I refused to lower my eyes or succumb to the urge to simper for him. He would need to earn that with more than pretty words and gentle hands this time.
“Quite right, Your Highness,” Edyna agreed with him, bowing low before she took her bag and left the tent.
Rian tilted his head with a look of playful curiosity as he stepped near enough for me to feel his body heat.
“Are you challenging me, little witch?” he asked me, perceiving my defiance. He reached up to twirl one of my loose curls around his finger, and just that faint brush of his hand made myskin erupt in shivers of anticipation.
“What makes you think that?” I asked, keeping my head tilted back to continue meeting his teasing eyes.
Rian did not answer as his eyes roved over my face again and down my throat to the tendril of hair wrapped around his finger.
