When she said nothing, he turned to look at her. Her tone softened, as did the look in her eye. “I amIllänia. The Martyr.”
They call it a blood debt.
My destiny is you.
“And what do they call David?” he asked.
“He isDjiante.”
The Lux term slipped from her mouth, and Lhynion’s memories roughly translated it toShadow. The opposite ofAshanta’s divine light.
Sean pressed his palms to his face, rubbing away the headache that pounded in his eyebrows. He’d had no razor this morning, so whiskers scraped at his skin when he dragged his hands down his face. “If they want to worship me, then why did my mother think this place was unsafe?”
Leaves rustled as she stepped closer and set a hand on his shoulder. “Lhynion’s life ended with great violence at the hand of his brother. We believe you’ll face similar brutality, and it’s not known whether you’ll survive it.”
His blood turned to ice, breaking goosebumps across his skin. They thought David might kill him? “I thought your magic ensures I will.”
“Nothing is guaranteed, Sean. If you had a son, would you want this for him?”
No.
He wouldn’t.
He didn’t want it himself.
“I need some time,” he said, suddenly desperate to be free of her. “Alone.”
Troubled lines appeared beside her mouth, but she nodded and let him leave.
His feet carried him through the forest, away from Isobel and her harsh truths. He walked blindly, but he didn’t seek isolation. Instead, he made it back to the Tree and asked around until someone spilled the location he needed.
Aunt Blaire opened the door to her quarters in a wide arc.
“They say I’m a messiah,” Sean said, voice cracking. “Is it true?”
Her face crumpled, and she opened her arms. Sean stepped into them without hesitation.
“It’s going to be fine, Sean,” she murmured. “You’ll see.”
“I don’t belong here. Mom tried to save me from this.”
“She was a foolish woman. She never would have thwarted your destiny in the end.”
A moment passed, and he let slip a truth he wouldn’t admit to anyone but her: “I wish she was here.”
“I do, too.”
After she released him several moments later, they made their way into her modest quarters.
Cole stepped out of one room—a bedroom—a smile lighting his face. “Hey, stranger.”
Better than Savior, Sean thought. “You’ll never believe what they’re saying about me.”
The three of them settled on plush sofas in their sitting room.
“Oh, I heard,” Cole said. “Doesn’t take much probing before they’re praising your name and praying for deliverance.”
Sean rested his elbows on his knees and studied his clasped hands. “What if I can’t be the person they think I am?”
