Page 53 of Queen of Shadows and Ruin

Surely, you’ve realized by now that you are responsible for all of this?

There was no denying it anymore.

The darkness was following her.

SIXTEEN

“Zarya,” came a rough voice. She spun around to find Rabin standing in the trees. “What happened?”

They both scanned the ruined clearing before their gazes met.

“What are you doing out here?” she asked.

“I saw you leave the castle, and I was worried.” He took a step towards her, holding out his hand. “Are you okay?”

“It happened again,” she said. “The visions… they’re growing stronger, and I saw something else. I think I just figured something out.”

“What?” He searched her face, his brow furrowed with worry.

“I’ve always thought it was one man I was seeing,” she said. “It was always the same face.”

She looked up at him as nervousness swelled up her throat.

“Zarya, what is it?”

“There are two men. Twins.”

She paused as those words settled around them.

“Twins?” He blinked.

She swallowed hard as she scanned the quiet forest. An owl hooted in the distance, echoing against the still night.

“I recognized the Temple of Starlight and the ancient lost city of Taaranas. There was no mistaking it.” She clutched her heart as it hammered in her chest.

“Zarya, what is it?”

“I don’t think they’re actually visions,” she said, her voice hollow.

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t explain it,” she replied as she bent over, suddenly feeling like she was having a heart attack as her ribs constricted. “It’s not something I’m witnessing. It’s something I’ve experienced. I was there. These aren’t… recollections or the echoes of past lives. These are… my memories.”

Rabin circled his arms around her waist as her knees buckled, her weight falling against him.

“What does that mean?” he asked as he slowly led her towards a rock where she collapsed. He sat beside her as she spread her knees and dropped her head between them, trying to catch her breath. The snowy ground spun, twisting the edges of her tilting vision.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Is it possible…” She looked up to find him watching her with a concerned expression. “Is it possible that I was… the Ashvins?”

Rabin frowned. “I don’t think it works like that. You can’t be two different people.”

“Maybe it’s different with twins? Maybe they share a spirit or something?”

Rabin huffed out a short breath. “I suppose it’s possible.”

She shook her head and scrubbed her cheek with the back of her hand, catching an errant tear. “When it first happened, it felt like I was bearing witness to it, but this time I was there. I felt their passion and their anger. Their desire to seize power and conquer everything in their path.”

“Wouldn’t you understand their language, then?”