Page 170 of Shadow Queen
“How is Sevina?”
He swallowed and nodded again. “She’s well. It wasn’t a difficult birth, but it’s too early. The midwife and healer are both with them. They said we’ll know over the next couple days”—he paused and swallowed again—“if the child will make it.”
If the child will make it. His words hit her like a blow to the stomach. “Is there anything I can do? Anything you need?”
He shook his head. “Only prayers. His fate is with the gods now.”
Norah clutched his hands tightly.
“Do you want to see him?” he asked.
More than anything. “I don’t want to impose, I only—”
“You’re not imposing. I would…” He paused when his voice cracked. “I would love for you to meet my son.”
A tear escaped the corner of her eye, and she nodded. She let Adrian lead her up the stairs, down a wide hall, and to a large chamber in the back of the house. Inside, Sevina sat in the center of the bed, propped up with a small, wrapped bundle in her arms. A woman Norah assumed to be Sevina’s mother stood to the side and curtsied as Norah entered. The midwife was cleaning up, while the healer had set to packing away his tools. Norah looked over her shoulder at Adrian, who smiled encouragingly.
She drew nearer to the bed. Sevina was beautiful. Aside from the sweat across her brow, she looked far from having just delivered a child. She smiled at Norah.
“Salara, you honor us by coming.”
“I had to. How is he?”
Sevina looked down at the bundle in her arms. “He’s well, only sleeping.” She pushed back the blanket from the child’s face, and Norah could see his black hair peeking out from underneath. She smiled.
“We’ve named him Theisen,” Adrian said from behind her.
Norah glanced back at him in surprise. “A Mercian name?”
“As soon as I heard it, I knew it was the one,” Sevina said. “Theisen Arvedi Rhemus. It’s a strong name, for a strong boy.”
“That he is,” Norah agreed, “if he’s anything like his father.”
Sevina’s smile widened.
Norah glanced around at the small family. Aman stood in the door. They were welcoming, but she knew she should give them space. “I should go,” she said. “I only meant to see how you were. Please keep me updated.”
“Of course, we will.” Sevina still wore her smile, but Norah could see her worry underneath—the worry of a mother as she waited to see if her child would live.
The ride to Odepeth was long. It was warmer in the valley, and it brought a sweat to Mikael’s brow. He coveted the cool walls of the seer’s temple that channeled the breeze like funneled lips of the earth’s breath. But the fear of what he might discover there sat heavy in his chest, and it suffocated him.
Still, he reached Odepeth too soon. He slid from his wearied destrier and walked the steps of the temple with a growing anxiousness. He thought about the gift of the seer often, a blessing and a curse. He questioned himself—if he had the ability to go back and not see his fate, would he? For the agony that came with knowing how little time he had left was maddening, and it made a man maniacal and obsessive. Visions fueled wars; they grew anger like crops in fields of suspicion and haunted even the best of intention. Yet, knowing this, he couldn’t keep himself from returning. He supposed that answered his question.
The guards bowed their heads as he passed. They were keepers of the seer. Some kingdoms had several seers; Kharav had one. One was enough in Mikael’s opinion. He knew that seers didn’t all see the same visions, and he had no desire to have another purveyor of obsession.
As usual, the seer greeted him in the center of the temple, surrounded by the intricately carved columns of stacked stone. “Salar.” The old man bowed his head respectfully.
Mikael paused under the gravity of the moment. He would know today—he would see if there was a different future for him now. “I’ve come to see my fate,” he said.
The seer gave a long breath of regret. “But I have shown you your fate.”
The seer’s words cut into his chest like a blade of battle, stopping his heart, taking his breath, and draining his life force.
“So, I’ve not changed my future?” he asked.
“You do not change fate, Salar.”
“You don’t know that,” Mikael snapped. “Perhaps you don’t see. I wed the North Queen! I broke her marriage to Aleon, yet when I last came, you told me nothing had changed.” He shifted his tone to be softer, hoping, pleading. “Perhaps you don’t see?”
