Page 135 of Salt in the Seas
“We had an enemy in our midst, and we were unaware,” Aeliana said. “Iris protected both our people and yours with her actions.”
Iris broke out into sobs again, making the elders hesitate.
“What was their judgment?” Elder Perla asked.
Nori shook her head. “I wasn’t shown their judgment.”
A strange hope flashed in her mother’s eyes, and a grim smile crossed Elder Algaen’s face. “What did the rest of you see?” he asked.
Silence filled the room until Velden broke it. “I was under the impression that was meant to be a private affair. I don’t believe we’re under any obligation to share our visions with you, unless you would like to share the visions you saw when you came in return?” He raised his eyebrows.
Elder Algaen narrowed his eyes. “Then how are we to know if your judgment was guilt or innocence?”
“I think it’s clear that Holm was the only one guilty in our party,” Aeliana said, hating the way the words sounded like a lie. He hadn’t been guilty by choice. “Lady Merinnia said the outcome would be good. Do you not trust her word in this?” That statement tasted even more bitter. She would never trust the Seer, even if she was forced to trust the woman’s visions the same way she’d seen the sprite’s predictions come true.
“Of course we trust her,” Elder Mishkel said. “It’s you we don’t trust.”
The glares around the room only intensified, no one ready to concede to the other group.
“It’s late,” the head acolyte said. “We respectfully ask that you withdraw from the sanctuary and carry on your discussion elsewhere. Your needs have been met in the only way we know how. We can no longer aid you. It is time for you to move on.”
The elders and guards inclined their heads, and the heat of the argument was set aside, like water boiling in the background until the meat was ready for the stew.
They allowed the acolytes to usher them all back to the first cavern, where their boats remained tied up to the rocky staircase. A numbness enveloped Aeliana so that she didn’t even realize she’d boardedthe boat until Cyrus reached back to squeeze her hand, pulling her from her dazed shock.
“You’re bleeding.” Cyrus opened her hand, revealing a cut on her palm.
She frowned at it, then tried pulling energy from her starlock to heal it. Whether her energy was too depleted or her somatic skills too muted, her efforts failed. Instead, she tore fabric from the hem of her shirt, wrapping it around her palm.
“It will all work out,” he whispered. “Not today. But eventually.”
She nodded mutely even though he couldn’t see as he faced forward and grabbed an oar.
“Did you at least get the information you sought?” he asked.
“I discovered part of the curse. I don’t think I heard enough to be able to break it. Did you get it all?”
At first he said nothing, attempting to paddle until they were forced to crouch and be pulled by the Sayhleens. “I didn’t see the curse,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. I tried to make it my focus. But she found a deeper question in my mind. One that had a stronger hold. I’m so sorry.”
She couldn’t be mad at him, and yet she didn’t know how to forgive him. This was what they’d come for. But now, because the Seer was too good at seeing, they’d all seen different things that had been weighing on them. She was likely the only one who had seen the curse, but it had been cut off by Iris killing Holm.
She buried her face in her palms as she bent over beneath the low ceiling, allowing the awkward posture to hide the sorrow that finally surfaced. Holm had been a gentle giant, one she trusted implicitly more than many others in their party. How could he have been betraying them? And yet no one was immune to Mayvus’ magic.
Aeliana’s own mother had been branded and unable to resist her sister’s control. Perhaps that was what the curse meant by “a love, born of blood, doomed to wither by unfounded contempt.”
Sylmar had warned them that anyone could be affected, but for some reason they’d all thought they’d be safe. They’d all thought they would know if one of their own had been turned.
And that was when it hit her.
If Holm had been serving Mayvus, his deepest desire from the Seer would have been to see what Mayvus wanted to see. Which meant Mayvus had likely heard the curse. Had she heard as much as Aeliana? Had she heard more? Or was there something else she’d sought? Perhaps the key to immortality through the winex’s eggs?
Regardless, they had to assume that by seeing Lady Merinnia, they’d given Mayvus exactly what she’d wanted.
CHAPTER 52
The return tripto Tideholm felt even longer to Aeliana than the way to the Seer’s Sanctuary. They were forced to bury Holm on a small island with no grave marker and no ability for Iris to ever come back to pay her respects. The Sayhleens watched as they mourned him, the confusion evident in their eyes. Only Nori seemed to find their grief understandable, perhaps because she was the only one willing to listen to Aeliana’s full explanation of the branding done by Mayvus.
The wedge Aeliana had noticed between Nori and her parents seemed to grow wider after their visit to the sanctuary, making Aeliana wonder what Nori had seen and if she’d told her parents. But Aeliana wasn’t ready to share her own vision with her new friend, so she couldn’t expect the same in return.
