Page 102 of Tides of Shadows

“Remarkable. You are your mother’s image.”

“You knew my mother?” Surprise loosened my tongue.

“Oh yes.” A faint smile. “She was beautiful, but too fragile for this world. And I remember your father: tall as an oak and a born troublemaker. The White City watch had enough work with him. I remember when four guards had to carry him out of a tavern once.” She gave a soft laugh. “But he was a good man. How are they?”

“From what you say, little has changed,” I answered, a small smile rising despite myself.

Her eyes stopped suddenly upon my throat. Upon the glimmering diamond necklace Aidenar had given me.

“Is that my grandson’s Elementar?” she asked bluntly.

“Yes.” I met her gaze, braced for cutting words and cold judgment, as I had grown used to from Cassandra.

None came.

“Well, well.” Minerva sighed. “The apple falls not far from the tree.” She shook her head. “This world will never cease to astonish me.”

I had no idea what she meant.

She rose from her chair and came closer. Her eyes turned grave.

“Enough delay. I must arm you. Here in Durminas you are safer. Ancient magic lives in these stones, stronger than any I have ever known. This is no mere fortress of rock and palladium. Durminas lives.”

Before I could ask more, she seized my face in both hands.

Power lanced through me like lightning. Pain exploded. Sharp, paralyzing, a thousand needles driven into every vein. I screamed and dropped to my knees.

“Stop!” I cried, but she did not relent. I could not move. Something inside me tore open, memories were ripped away like flesh from bone.

At last she released me. I collapsed, gasping, palms pressed to the cold stone.

“Not good,” she said calmly. “Someone planted a shard of darkness inside you, and it clings tight. You must endure, child. If need be I will give you a wooden spoon to bite on. But I will need something stronger.”

She crossed to a desk, slipped on rings heavy with diamonds, and took my head again. Another scream tore from my throat.

The door burst open, Aidenar stormed in.

“Mina! What are you doing?” he roared.

“Out!” she snarled. “If she is to live, you must trust me!”

Minerva looked suddenly terrifying, her hair lifting as though stirred by unseen wind, eyes blazing with raw power, the same dreadful majesty I had seen in Cassandra when she wielded the Elementars.

“Mina, you will kill her!” Aidenar shouted.

He tried to speak again, but she flung him backward with a surge of diamond force and slammed the door. Then she returned to me.

Pain ceased to be mere pain. It became everything. I saw his face, heard his voice, his laughter, felt his touch, a thousand times sharper than memory. And then… nothing.

Minerva let go. I fell. My breath came shallow, as though I had only just learned how lungs work.

“Those dreams are a sickness,” she said quietly. “They infect you. The longer you dreamed, the stronger they grew. I have taken some memories, not all. I weakened their hold. You will find it easier now. That is the most I can do. The rest you must finish yourself.”

I could not answer.

Minerva drew a long breath and opened the door. “Enough for today. There is nothing more I can pull from you now.”

Aidenar rushed in, dropped to his knees beside me.