Page 54 of War Queen
He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
No matter. Either way he’d think she’d lost her mind. Might as well get it out. “Alexander’s still here,” she said. “Somehow. His spirit.”
Soren frowned. “Did you expect something different? Did you not trap him here?”
“No—” She stopped. Is that why he had come to her? Had she trapped him by not sending him to the gods? No… She shook her head. It had to be something more. “He came to me. I’ve seen him.”
Soren only stood, staring at her. Yes, she knew it sounded mad.
“It first happened in the mortium,” she continued. “I had Alexander’s blood on me, and he came to me, as the seer did in Odepeth. I mean, not exactly like the seer. With Bhasim, I had to drink the blood—”
Soren’s eyes narrowed.
Speed it along, she told herself. “Anyway, I thought it was a dream, but he came back, again, here in my chamber after I left the mortium. Which makes sense because I still had his blood on me. Then, in the dream, or the vision, or whatever it was, he showed me a vial of blood and smeared a drop on my hand.”
The lines at the corners of his eyes deepened, but still he said nothing.
“And two days ago, I received this.” Her hands shook as she showed him the vial.
Soren stepped closer.
“Just like the one Alexander gave me in the dream.”
His breath came with a deep vibration. “Whatever you think that dream is telling you to do, it’s a lie. Don’t do it.”
Norah swallowed. “That’s… the thing I wanted to talk to you about. I thought about it, and I was thinking…” Her words came all over the place. “I thought—”
“Don’t do it. That’s not the Bear’s blood.”
“But it was Alexander’s blood in the mortium—”
“Salara, don’t do it.”
“I kind of already have,” she blurted.
Soren’s eyes blazed.
“He came back!”
“Salara,” he said through his teeth. “Why would you do such a stupid thing?”
“Because he’s trying to talk to me!”
“And what did he say?” he demanded.
Nothing. Her breath left her. “Nothing. I don’t think… he can speak. It’s like a… a vision, where you see but can’t hear.”
“That isnotAlexander,” he said angrily. “It’s a trick, and a cruel trick at that.”
“No.” She shook her head. “Soren, I saw him. It’s Alexander. I felt him!”
“It’s not Alexander.” He grabbed the vial from her hand and flung it into the fireplace.
“No!” she cried as it shattered into pieces.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her to look at him. “That is not Alexander,” he said firmly, his eyes burning into her. “Don’t let someone use your grief to trick you.”
Her lip trembled. “Soren,” she pleaded.
