Page 73 of Demure
Sierra shook her head. “No, I’ll be fine. But I want to ask: is what you see set in stone?”
It was Fia’s turn to shake her head. “Far from it. The future Ishow you now is your current future. If you change paths, it will change. But know that intentions aren’t taken into account, just actions. For example, if you see your death and then think about eating a healthy diet, the future I see won’t change until you actually begin to do so and there is a change within your body. This makes my gift excellent for long-term predictions, but terrible for telling the immediate future or helping someone make critical decisions.”
Sierra drew her eyes to Aodhan. “Have you already seen your death?”
Aodhan nodded. “I have.”
Sierra waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t. He either wasn’t scared of his impending death, or believed he could change it. This thought made Sierra’s thoughts spiral to the fact that he may have already seen her death, and panic snaked through her insides. Realizing she needed to rip off the band-aid and get it over with before she freaked out anymore, Sierra turned to Fia. “Alright, I am ready.”
Fia dipped her chin, before placing Sierra’s hands on either side of her head. “Here we go,” she whispered.
The room around Sierra faded into white, and appearing before her she saw a series of 3D images. The first was of her and Aodhan, and she was dressed in a gown like she had worn while imprisoned, but this time it was red, and Aodhan was dressed in very fancy attire, almost like a prince in a cartoon fairytale. They were clearly having a ceremony of sorts, and she wondered if it was their wedding.
Before she could question too much, the vision changed, showing her with Slaine. Sierra looked dejected and she assumed they must’ve been discussing something sad, but with a quick glance at her future self’s skin, Sierra could see it was still clear—no lesions in sight—so that couldn’t be the reason.
The next image was of her and Aodhan having sex in the treehouse. Sierra felt herself blush but knew that Fia wasn’t judging her. Sierra tried to look more closely to see if she had aged some inthis vision in comparison to the previous ones, but it was hard to tell in the dim light.
The fourth image was of her in a large library, Aodhan sitting at a table behind her. They were both reading large books and scrolls, and making notes on parchment. Sierra figured this was her trying to complete her research.
The fifth image came, and things in the future began to grow darker. Sierra and Aodhan were engaged in a battle, both of them wounded, before the picture flashed again, and she was in another cell, eerily similar to the one she had spent time in just the week before.
Sierra’s heart rate began to pick up, and her breathing grew labored, even as she reminded herself that Aodhan was right there with her. She felt his warmth as he scooted closer, but he didn’t touch her, and Sierra figured it was probably for good reason.
The sixth image came, and Sierra was running through the enchanted forest alone, but it was impossible to see who was chasing her. It was dark, but she could see well enough to recognize the signs of fear on her own face as she ran.
The seventh image came, and Sierra felt all the air leave her body, beginning to feel lightheaded. She was lying on the forest floor, and she didn’t need anyone else to tell her that this was the last image, because she could see it. She could see she was nearing the end. Her lips were moving, maybe as a silent prayer to the God she had reconnected with in her last moments or maybe to Mother Nature; she couldn’t be sure.
She tried to see if there were signs of aging in her face, but to her horror, she didn’t look much older than she did now. Sierra let out a whimper, and Fia dropped her hands from the side of her face, the room slowly coming back into focus. Sierra was aware of the tears falling down her cheeks, but she was powerless to stop them.
“I can only show you what I see. I don’t know when this will happen,” Fia apologized.
Sierra grimaced. She couldn’t decide what hurt more: the factthat her future was only seven images long and likely close to the end, or the fact that it didn’t include finishing her studies or seeing her family in the human world again before her death.
“How many images does Aodhan have?” Sierra asked in a whisper, the tears continuing to flow.
“Hundreds,” Fia answered solemnly.
Chapter Forty-Three
Sierra wondered if this was what people felt like when they were diagnosed with cancer, and told they only had a few months left to live. While she obviously didn’t have the same hard limit they were given, facing the fact that her death would be coming soon was more challenging than she had anticipated. She had thought she was prepared for this, but she was wrong.
Sensing her emotions, Aodhan dropped his arm over Sierra’s shoulder and pulled her into his chest. “Don’t panic. Remember, this is just the future of your current path. If we make a change, there could be more images.”
Sierra nodded into his tunic, but the tears wouldn’t stop. She knew she would fix this—she had to—she just wasn’t sure how, since their current path had felt like the only one that would get her out of the clutches of Conlan, but it appeared that it as it was, it wouldn’t work.
Fia rose from the chair and headed into the small kitchen, quickly stirring some powders into mugs. She made three, carrying them back to Aodhan and Sierra, placing one in each of their hands before sipping her own.
“It’s a calming brew I make. It’s all natural; don’t worry.”
Sierra sipped the beverage from where she was tucked into Aodhan’s chest. He held her with one arm, quickly downing the drink in the other before setting the cup on the side table and running his hand up and down her back in a soothing motion.
“We had planned to head to my father after this, either with a solution to the loss of magic, or to meet up with our friends to help us devise a plan that didn’t end with my father imprisoning Sierra again.”
Fia nodded, her face going blank for a few minutes. Sierra furiously wiped her cheeks. The tears had stopped coming, at least, but she needed to calm her emotions and take some deep breaths so they could come up with a new plan.
Fia’s eyes came back into focus. “I haven’t checked your father’s future in a long time, but I did check for him back when he was a younger man, before you were born.”
Sierra’s felt her eyes widening as she realized that Fia was older than Aodhan, and possibly even older than Conlan. Aodhan’s eyes were wide too, which made sense as he had told Sierra earlier that he thought Fia was only 200 at most—so apparently they were both mistaken.
