A voice is calling me from far away. I am warm and comfortable. I don’t want to leave this place, but I am drifting away from it slowly.
“Awaken,” says the voice again, softly and urgently.
My eyes fly open.
Remembering what happened, I sit up fast. I groan as my head spins. My hands fly to my throat. There is no bandage. The skin there is intact.
I am a bed. A woman is standing nearby. She had been leaning over me, but had moved away swiftly when I sat up. Her head is bald. Her eyes are a grey so pale that it is almost indistinguishable from the whites. Her gaze makes me uncomfortable.
I look away from her, and I see Aeron lying in the bed next to mine. He is covered head to foot in white. He is deathly still.
I cry out, and reach for him, almost stumbling from my bed. Her hand catches my forearm.
“Do not touch him,” she says, her voice emotionless.
Her hand is cold. I snatch my arm away.
“Is he…?”
“Dead?” she says dreamily, her tone mildly curious as if I have asked an interesting question. “Almost. Half dead. Nearly there.”
And then she gives her head a quick shake, as if to clear it of fuzz.
Feeling horribly weak and dizzy, I collapse back against my pillows. I glare at her in horror.
“Here drink this.”
She puts a large glass of water in my shaking hands. She guides it to my lips. It tastes funny. I try to push it away, but she presses it against my mouth, forcing me to drink.
All the while she speaks.
“You’ve lost a lot of blood. These liquids will help you. You will leave soon. I have arranged a boat to take you to the mainland. You will find your friend. You must leave now.”
The glass is empty. I weakly push it away. I have drunk it too fast and now I feel nauseous.
“Are you a healer?” I ask. “What happened?”
“The return of Dane Balthazar has happened,” she says, as if reciting it. “He saved your life. You betrayed them, as I foresaw. You cannot stay here.”
“Dane Balthazar?”
“The twin of Aeron Balthazar. The older twin. He who should have ruled, but can rule no longer. For he wears the bloodstone now. To save his brother’s life. And so it must be Aeron Balthazar who rules. But he cannot. He is dying.”
“No!” I cry out. “You can’t let him die.”
“The curse of the bloodstone is beyond any healer’s powers. They cannot heal him. And I cannot help him. This is your doing.”
“I didn’t mean it. I didn’t know.”
“And yet you have done it,” she says. “Lover. Traitor. If you stay, they will die.”
“They? Is Tyler okay? Where is he? Where is Dane?”
“Negotiating with the elders. He fought Geoffre. Killed him. He was victorious. By rights he should rule, but the elders will not accept him, for he was raised by the angelli.”
“What does that mean?” I whisper.
“The elders fear Dane is a traitor. They will never allow him to rule. Aeron must recover, or they will kill Dane.”
I stare at her in horror. Tears stream down my cheeks.
She looks at me without any sympathy. “Your love is worthless to them. Your love is poison. Do you understand?”
“I only want them to be happy,” I whisper, wanting her to tell me some way to make this right. Some way that I can stay here with them. “Isn’t there any way…?”
“You must make them hate you. You must make them believe that you care nothing for them. You must leave them behind forever.”
“I can’t,” I whisper.
“If you stay, Aeron will die. I have foreseen it.”
I shake my head, not wanting to believe it. And yet her words have the ring of absolute truth.
“Will Aeron live if I leave?” I ask weakly.
“So long as you are gone, Dane Balthazar will love his brother most, and the power of the bloodstone he bears will heal his brother. Aeron Balthazar will recover to lead his pack. While the pack is leaderless, the keystone is unprotected. There will be war. You cannot stay.”
I’m crying so hard now that I cannot speak. They had always said that I would betray them, and they had been right. I had nearly killed Aeron. How could any of them ever forgive me for it? And if I stay, he will die. Dane might die. I cannot allow that to happen.
And yet the thought of never seeing any of them again is unbearable.
I get out of bed on shaky legs. I go to Aeron. His body is so still, barely breathing, his face so pale. He is hanging on by a thread. I reach out to touch him one last time.
“No!” she says harshly.
“I only want to say goodbye,” I say, begging for this one last thing.
“Say it in a letter,” she says harshly. “Make them hate you. Make them never seek you out. You can never be with them. Do you understand?”
I nod, dully. I should never have come here. I should have listened to them the first time around. Aeron is dying. Cilla is dead because of me. Tyler must have loved her once, and she is dead.
“The boat is waiting for you at the marina,” the oracle says. “Make haste.”
When she is gone, I write them a letter, taking care not to let my tears drop onto it. I keep it brief, as if I don’t care enough to write a long one. I say cruel things in it, words that I know will hurt them deeply. I leave it on my pillow.
