Page 26 of The Seeker

The words were odd, and my head snapped to Ena as I processed what she was saying.

“Adis’s father removed Salheim from the equation, leaving Malheim and Ralheim to battle it out, but they will destroy each other before it even comes close to that point.” Ena observed me then, her frown matching mine.

My mind was still climbing the problem-solving ladder university had installed in its depths. Ghostly whispers of something Collum said long ago rose from the soup of my memory. “Do you think a higher power influenced Adis and his father?”

“I think it’s possible,” she replied.

“The king,” I whispered, remembering the day I’d seen him in Ralheim, the sun glinting off of all the metal he wore as he’d paraded down the street. My mind flashed to the Seid history book. “Maybe he regrets his forefathers handing control of these lands to the viscounts,” I mused.

“My thoughts were the same as yours, but if he wants something left to rule, he better step in soon.” She rose from the grass then, brushing the dirt from her dress. “No matter what happens, Runa, you saved me once, and I will always be on your side. Even if it isn’t the side I appear to be on now. I trust you over them.”

My eyes searched her face, wanting to tell her the rescue was a gift, and that she had actually saved me from drowning—something any respectable person would have done—but I liked the idea of someone being on my side for once.

I liked not feeling alone.

“I fear when this war ends, it will only start another.”

Something in her tone dredged up a hidden memory in my mind, but it flitted away before I could grasp it. “What are you talking about?”

She bit her lip. “I don’t know if your parents took you to coven meetings as a child, before most were discontinued due to the Purge, but the Seid have long been divided. And then the Purge happened and the war over land . . .”

My mind flashed to when Collum and Leif had immediately hated each other merely based on coven association. “. . . it will immediately start another between the covens.”

She nodded. “I think we need to prepare for the worst.” She sighed, turning back toward the keep. “I’ll check in with Friar and find you later.” With that, she headed for the door that opened into the interior courtyard.

I returned my attention to the lake, watching the ripples as the occasional fish came up for a breath. There was one thing that was certain now.

I was ready to read the book of whispers.

CHAPTER 10

My head hurt.

At least this time I’d been prepared for the pain.

The potion I’d developed helped some, and when the voices were still too many and too loud to discern, I’d meditated, imagining a wall around the thread—similar to when I’d severed it before. But this time, I allowed the thread to exist there, still glowing behind my mental bricks, hopeful I could one day dig it out from behind the wall.

But that day wasn’t today.

Reading the whisper book had taken longer than expected, and I’d pushed myself to the limit to finish it in a single day. Granted, it was a slimmer book, but it was a struggle to walk to Friar’s to retrieve the next dose of the love potion for Leif. Though I swore I was going to stop giving it to him, especially after finding out the book I’d read to myself contained trust, I knew I needed to keep it up a little while longer.

Just until I could confess that I wasn’t pregnant.

Which, judging by the cramping in my gut as I reclined on our bed, would be today. I poured a chalice of wine for Leif, adding in the potion before placing it on his bedside table.

Another cramp hit me.

The world blurred, my head feeling like someone was pounding on the inside as I placed the menses cloths in my undergarments and returned to bed, a cool cloth gripped in my hand.

That was how Leif found me. He rushed to my bedside, gripping my hand in his. “Runa, my heart, what’s wrong?”

I took a deep breath, my gaze flickering to the full glass of wine.

I was about to find out how far the trust magic would go.

“Leif,” I breathed, allowing the emotion to build in my voice. “I . . . I got my menses.”

His blue eyes widened, and I swore I saw a tear bunch in the corner. I felt sadness for a moment, for the loss of his dream, but it faded as I remembered the day he’d forced me to bond to him. To the brand he’d seared into my wrist, and the tattoo he’d asked me to rid my ribs of. “But . . . but . . . Friar said⁠—”