Page 127 of Tides of Shadows

I looked at his silver eyes.

“Another moment and you will burst that jug,” he observed, pointing at the water pitcher.

I exhaled and rolled my eyes. He was right. He stood up, came to me, took my hands, and placed them upon his bare chest while he circled my waist with his arms.

“There. Let it out.”

I was selfish. I didn’t want him to leave. I didn’t want to hand him over to the war. I had just found him in my life.

I drew a breath and let my power flow. It poured into him like a cold current. He shuddered, and his eyes glowed brighter. Unnaturally.

He held me close.

“I will write. Don’t even think about not writing me back. If necessary, I’ll send my mother here.”

“We are saying goodbye, and you threaten me with Cassandra,” I scoffed.

“See. You are speaking again.” He gave a crooked smile. “Truly though. I want your letters. Preferably sinful ones. Something to warm my thoughts at night.”

I rolled my eyes, but a laugh escaped me.

At dawn the courtyard filled with people. The rain softened to a mist that clung to hair and cloaks. In silence the knights, townsfolk, and servants gathered. I didn’t cry, though the tears lay heavy inside me like stones.

Aidenar wore his leather war attire. He was riding to war with his two swords at his back. His fair hair blew in the wind, his silver eyes gleamed faintly in the pale light. He looked no longer like a boy, but like a man. My man. After saying farewell to everyone, he approached me. I didn’t know whether he would want to show me any affection in front of everyone. What I was to him in the eyes of the world. He stopped before me. I gazed at him through half-lidded eyes.

He stepped closer and grabbed me fiercely by the waist, pulling me close.

“I am yours, and you are mine.”

With those words he kissed me. His mouth touched mine and we cared nothing for the eyes upon us. Reluctantly he drew back, mounted his horse and rode out with the rest.

I stood there and felt only the whisper of his wind upon my cheeks.

The nights after Aidenar left were ragged. The nightmares returned, though Malric didn’t appear. Mina said my defenses had strengthened and soon she would teach me to slip into the minds of others.

Nevertheless the dreams shifted into something else. They no longer felt like mine. I saw fragments of a different world: people in clothes I didn’t know, speaking languages I had never heard, carrying banners unfamiliar to me.

I dreamed of burning villages.

I dreamed of battlefields where storms shattered cavalry.

I dreamed of an earthquake tearing apart the greatest fortress I had ever seen, a stronghold that had never existed in the Dominium.

At last I stood atop a lighthouse and watched a fleet of hundreds of ships ready to storm a city, bearing sigils and crests I didn’t know. I felt the power of the element in my veins. I knew that the thousands before me were about to die.

Because I would kill them.

Was it me? Were those my hands?

I woke up. So much destruction, so many deaths. No mortal army could stand against an unleashed element.

So much senseless loss. I still felt the lust for power from my dream.

But I felt something else. A gentle pull. Like that time at the waterfall.

I threw on my cloak and stepped out into the night. Only the moon and the lamps parted the shadows. I descended lower and lower, deeper into the castle, all the way to the old temple. We had inspected it earlier. Only four vases. No trace of the Plague. But something called to me.

I approached the bowl of earth element and touched the edge of the stone. Nothing happened. But I could feel it was calling me. Blood thicker than water. I looked for a knife but found none. My gaze fell upon a stone column, its edges sharp and unpolished. I dragged my hand along its side with all my strength until red stained my palm. With my bloodied hand, I grasped the bowl.