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It was as if there was a beast within her whispering to my own…soulboundand reuniting for the first time after having been separated, and the two were merely catching up… The newly awakened beast within me listening and utterly enraptured as hers wove its tale. One not so different from my own. Of heartbreak, horror, and death… So very much death.
I couldn’t exactlyhearthe words, but… I couldfeelher. My heart clenched in equal parts sadness and awe as all that she was funnelled into me by my Knowingness - one of my gifts.
Something that felt entirely separate from myself, like a separate consciousness altogether, my Knowingness could read people, things… Situations. An instantaneous transfer of information and energy that I could decipher. All that was required was to stand in their presence.
I studied her, trying my best to at least appear normal as my mind processed all of the information flowing into me from her. Images flashed, sounds, feelings… It washed over me so powerfully that I was amazed my knees didn’t buckle. I had never experienced aKnowingso profoundly before. Usually, it was just the essentials… My magic always seemed to decide for itself what was ‘essential’.
Things like:
Is this person trustworthy?
Are they lying?
Should we rob them blind?
Would the world be better off if we killed them?
‘We’ obviously referring to my olana kah’hei and me.
Things that were necessary in our line of work… Which consisted of robbing and looting from those who possessed… shall we say… Ill-gotten goods. Or, more transparently…
Extraordinarily wealthy individuals who had made their fortunes via the exploitation of others.
Then… We shaved a nice hefty chunk off the spoils to keep for ourselves before anonymously distributing the remainder among those in need. Because theAkashknew that Queen Zurie didn’t give a shit about any of us and wouldn’t dream of robbing anyone of their suffering.
This is also what was currently funding The Uprising.
Not only had Queen Zurie and her army slaughtered nearly all of my people - the Kahlohani - but she had overtaken our islands and enslaved the poor souls who had unwittingly chosen to remain. After exploiting the mainland of Atratus for the first 447 years of her reign, the last remaining place in the entirety of Atratus whereaetracould be grown was the Kahlohani Islands. And withoutaetra, she would likely be rendered powerless and poor.
Guised as providing the sole resource that would provide even the weakest of wielders access to a deep well of magic, she had inspired nearly an entire kingdom to fight for her.
Though now, it seemed the tables were turning. For the last few years, myolana kah’heiand I had been growing an opposition to rise against her again, and it hadn’t proven too difficult a task.
For nearly 500 years, she’d had 90 percent of Atratus living in poverty. A fact that inspired both my rage and heartbreak. I knew it meant to live in poverty. Exiled after we’d lost the war, I’d found myself destitute until I’d literallystolenmy wealth from the very ones who’d taken it from me. Though I didn’t necessarily consider Atratusiansmypeople, I knew their plight, and I would wish it on no one but the ones who had forced it upon them.
Such as Zurie.
To add insult to injury, the mass majority of the Atratusians living in destitution because of her had also been the ones who had foughtforher. All in vain under her guise of makingaetraaccessible to all becauseaetraequals power, and power equals wealth.
The only caveat she failed to mention was that to purchaseaetra,you had to already possess wealth.
Which still left the mass majority of her people in poverty.
Once we gained enough support, we wouldoverthrow her so that I could reclaim the Kahlohani Islands. Liberate the Kahlohani people she had enslaved. Give back our exiled people their home. Purge the land of Zurie’s exploitation that was destroying our land and sea.
The dream that had haunted me for nearly my entire life began to replay distantly in my mind as my eyes consumed Mareina.
King,my Knowingness whispered,You are destined to be King.
Anxiety knotted in my chest. I promptly swallowed back. I tried to visualize a future withherin which there wouldn't be yet another war despite my efforts to prevent it, as my vision foretold. One in which she didn't loathe the very sight of me. One in which I didn't transform into what appeared to be a hellish monstrosity.
And it was like trying to lift a boulder from the sea floor.
Fuck off,I growled back to my Knowingness.
Unease settled in my gut as flashes of the premonition returned to me.
Why? Why does it have to be that way?I seethed internally as I plastered a lopsided grin on my face. One that I knew femalesalwaysfound disarmingly charming.
