turning back away from her.
“I think maybe you should take the same herb we gave him. It will help you keep sight of what is real, and what isn’t. I don’t want to lose you any more than you want to lose me.”
“For all we know, that herb could also end up preventing me from having a crucial vision. What if I have these visions for a reason? Maybe they are supposed to help us in our goal. I’m sorry, I can’t risk losing whatever help they can provide.”
“Your father has still had visions since he started taking it.”
“But there is no way to know about visions it prevented. It’s just not an option. I’m not taking it!”
Torian’s voice rose, and Emariya couldn’t help thinking he sounded like a petulant child.
“Even if it means losing your mind?” Emariya asked, her voice small.
With an exasperated sigh, Torian said, “Can’t you see? I’m risking the awful things they make me see for us. Weren’t you just as determined to use magic before, to help us at the fjord no matter the cost to you?”
“That was different.” Now who sounds like a child? Emariya chided herself.
“Why? Because it was you doing it, not me?”
His accusation stung, but she refused to consider the fact that perhaps it hurt so much because she knew he was right—at least about that.
“Torian, my brother and my mother, they thought their cause was noble too. They were blinded by their goals into misusing people and my mother misused her gift. I don’t want to follow that path. I want to do the right things for the right reasons, not the wrong things for the right reasons.”
He rolled back toward her once more. “So do I, but that may not be a choice we have.” His eyes took on a haunted shadow. “Emariya, if what I saw was true, Terin may no longer be on our side.”
Emariya gasped, trying to picture the lighthearted, happy girl she’d known conspiring with Reeve.
She couldn’t imagine it. She didn’t want to.
“Do you understand now, why I desperately wish I didn’t have to see? Do you realize what I’m facing for you?”
As someone who’d had to accept her sibling’s betrayal, Emariya could honestly say that she could.
“Just promise me we’ll face it together. We’re on the same side; neither of us must endure what comes alone.”
Wordlessly Torian pulled her close, cradling her against his chest. The solidity of him supported her, giving her a sense of being safe and protected. But now who would protect Terin?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Almost Doesn't Count
A large sweeping hill afforded the travelers an expansive view of both Damphries and the surrounding area. The rolling hills, just beginning to turn green with the first hints of spring, gave way to a mild valley that should have offered them easy passage to the normally open gate—the only way through the wall enclosing the fortress-like estate.
Instead, the gates were drawn and fortunately so.
“Did you realize that many people lived in the Uplands?” Jessa asked. Despite her dislike of horses, Jessa decided she’d suffered more than enough bouncing along in the wagon bed, and had reclaimed her easygoing mare.
Eyeing the throng of people below, Emariya shook her head. “We barely saw anyone on our way through before. Where did these people come from?” At least three hundred men, women, and children blocked the way to Damphries. From the tattered tents and thriving campfires, she expected they hadn’t just arrived.
“So the rulers of the estate just boarded up and refused to deal with them?” Blaine asked, incredulous. “Why have they not struck this madness down?”
Glaring, and wondering yet again what Jessa saw in her cousin, Emariya sighed. “It would seem so, yes. And the Councilor who leads here hasn’t struck them down because they are our people.”
“Then this is the price you pay for not enforcing order,” Blaine shrugged. “People need to be managed for their own good. How many lives might be lost to this
“I think maybe you should take the same herb we gave him. It will help you keep sight of what is real, and what isn’t. I don’t want to lose you any more than you want to lose me.”
“For all we know, that herb could also end up preventing me from having a crucial vision. What if I have these visions for a reason? Maybe they are supposed to help us in our goal. I’m sorry, I can’t risk losing whatever help they can provide.”
“Your father has still had visions since he started taking it.”
“But there is no way to know about visions it prevented. It’s just not an option. I’m not taking it!”
Torian’s voice rose, and Emariya couldn’t help thinking he sounded like a petulant child.
“Even if it means losing your mind?” Emariya asked, her voice small.
With an exasperated sigh, Torian said, “Can’t you see? I’m risking the awful things they make me see for us. Weren’t you just as determined to use magic before, to help us at the fjord no matter the cost to you?”
“That was different.” Now who sounds like a child? Emariya chided herself.
“Why? Because it was you doing it, not me?”
His accusation stung, but she refused to consider the fact that perhaps it hurt so much because she knew he was right—at least about that.
“Torian, my brother and my mother, they thought their cause was noble too. They were blinded by their goals into misusing people and my mother misused her gift. I don’t want to follow that path. I want to do the right things for the right reasons, not the wrong things for the right reasons.”
He rolled back toward her once more. “So do I, but that may not be a choice we have.” His eyes took on a haunted shadow. “Emariya, if what I saw was true, Terin may no longer be on our side.”
Emariya gasped, trying to picture the lighthearted, happy girl she’d known conspiring with Reeve.
She couldn’t imagine it. She didn’t want to.
“Do you understand now, why I desperately wish I didn’t have to see? Do you realize what I’m facing for you?”
As someone who’d had to accept her sibling’s betrayal, Emariya could honestly say that she could.
“Just promise me we’ll face it together. We’re on the same side; neither of us must endure what comes alone.”
Wordlessly Torian pulled her close, cradling her against his chest. The solidity of him supported her, giving her a sense of being safe and protected. But now who would protect Terin?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Almost Doesn't Count
A large sweeping hill afforded the travelers an expansive view of both Damphries and the surrounding area. The rolling hills, just beginning to turn green with the first hints of spring, gave way to a mild valley that should have offered them easy passage to the normally open gate—the only way through the wall enclosing the fortress-like estate.
Instead, the gates were drawn and fortunately so.
“Did you realize that many people lived in the Uplands?” Jessa asked. Despite her dislike of horses, Jessa decided she’d suffered more than enough bouncing along in the wagon bed, and had reclaimed her easygoing mare.
Eyeing the throng of people below, Emariya shook her head. “We barely saw anyone on our way through before. Where did these people come from?” At least three hundred men, women, and children blocked the way to Damphries. From the tattered tents and thriving campfires, she expected they hadn’t just arrived.
“So the rulers of the estate just boarded up and refused to deal with them?” Blaine asked, incredulous. “Why have they not struck this madness down?”
Glaring, and wondering yet again what Jessa saw in her cousin, Emariya sighed. “It would seem so, yes. And the Councilor who leads here hasn’t struck them down because they are our people.”
“Then this is the price you pay for not enforcing order,” Blaine shrugged. “People need to be managed for their own good. How many lives might be lost to this
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