Finding The Seer
1426 Words
"Oh no.”
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
Elara stared at me from the doorway, her robe hanging loosely around her shoulders. Her cheeks were pink, though whether from embarrassment or laughter, I couldn’t tell.
The huge wrestler behind her looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him whole.
I wanted the ground to swallow me too.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.Then Elara burst out laughing.
I groaned and covered my face.
“Please stop.”
“I can’t.”
“Elara.”
“I really can’t.”
She doubled over laughing.
The wrestler rubbed the back of his neck and looked away.
“I am so sorry,” I blurted.
His face immediately turned red. Elara laughed even harder.
“This is not funny.” I had just witnessed loving or would I say f*****g first hand. I was not okay.
“It absolutely is.”
She grabbed my wrist and pulled me inside before I could escape.
The moment the door closed behind us, I buried my face in my hands.
“I will never recover from this.”
“You’ll survive.”
“I just saw far more than I ever wanted to see.”
She grinned.
The wrestler finally cleared his throat.
His voice was surprisingly gentle for a man his size.
“It is nice to meet you, Lady Cressida. ”
I lowered my hands enough to look at him.
Now that he was actually dressed, he looked less intimidating than I remembered from the carnival.
Still massive and covered in old scars.
But kind.
“Nice to meet you Luca” I mumble
Elara rolled her eyes.
“This is Rowan.”
Rowan gave me a small nod.
I noticed immediately how different Elara was around him.
She seemed softer and well, more vulnerable like a lady. I had to admit, I liked it.
The sharp edges she usually carried seemed to disappear whenever she looked at him.
The realization made something twist inside my chest.
Was this how people saw me when I looked at Lucian?
The thought made my stomach flutter. And hurt.
Because right now I wasn’t sure what Lucian and I were anymore.
After a few minutes of awkward conversation, Rowan excused himself.
“I should go before someone notices I’m missing.”
Elara immediately walked him to the door.
Before he left, he reached for her hand.
The gesture was was small and simple. Yet the tenderness behind it made my chest ache.
He pressed a kiss against her knuckles.
Then he was gone.
The smile disappeared from Elara’s face the moment the door shut.
The change was so sudden it surprised me.
“Lucian can never know.”
Her voice was quiet but serious.
I blinked.
“What?”
She walked back toward the sofa and sat down heavily.
“About Rowan.”
I sat beside her.
“I wasn’t going to tell him you know. But if I may ask. Why?”
She laughed bitterly.
“Because Rowan’s pack helped betray our father.”
My stomach dropped.
“Oh.”
“Exactly.”
She rubbed her forehead.
“Lucian wouldn’t kill him. Not anymore.”
The hesitation in her voice told me she wasn’t completely sure of that.
“But he’d never approve.”
I stared at her.
For the first time, I realized Elara carried fears too.
Things she hid from her brother.
“When we saw him at the carnival I thought it was only you who knew he was your mate. How long have you been seeing him”
“Months.”
I nearly choked.
“Months?”
She nodded.
“We’ve been sneaking around like criminals.” A small smile appeared despite herself.
“I love him.”
The honesty in those three words stunned me.
She looked happy, terrified and hopeful, all at once.
I understood the feeling more than I wanted to.
Elara suddenly narrowed her eyes.
“Alright.”
I stiffened. “What?”
“Something is bothering is definitely you.”
I looked away.
Unfortunately, Elara was annoyingly patient when she wanted answers.
Eventually I sighed. “A lot happened today.”
Her expression softened.
“Tell me.”
So I did.
I told her about making lunch for Lucian.About taking it to the packhouse. About finding him after he’d been gone all day.
About how happy I’d been when I first walked into his office. Then I told her about the scent.
The unfamiliar feminine scent clinging to him.
The argument and the accusation.
The horrible things we’d said to each other. By the time I finished, my throat hurt.
Elara stared at me.
Then she sighed.
“Oh.”
“What?”
“Cressida.”
The sympathy in her voice immediately annoyed me.
“What?”
“I think I know that scent.”
I blinked.
“You do?”
She nodded slowly. “It wasn’t another woman.”
My stomach twisted.
“It wasn’t?”
She leaned back.
“There is a lake about an hour from Blackstone.”
I listened carefully.
“It was one of Lucian and Alina’s favorite places.”
The name still stung. Alina. His maye and first love. Even though she was gone I still found myself envious of her.
“The area is covered with a particular flower.”
She smiled sadly.
“Alina loved them.”
My chest tightened.
“She used them as perfume.”
Suddenly everything made sense.
The scent. His reaction. His refusal to answer.
The guilt hit me immediately.
“Oh.”
Elara nodded.“He probably went there.”
I dropped my face into my hands.“I accused him of seeing another woman.”
“I yelled at him. Just how am I going to fix this.”
I groaned. Elara laughed.
For a few moments silence settled between us.
Then I remembered the other thing. The thing that had been bothering me for days.
I lowered my hands.
“Elara.”
Her smile faded.
“What?”
I hesitated.
Then I told her everything.The strange old woman from the market.The warning.The guards whispering about healers.
Hearing Thorne mention a seer.
Everything.
As I spoke, Elara’s expression slowly shifted from amusement to confusion.
By the time I finished, she looked genuinely unsettled.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
That surprised me. I knew how close Elara and Lucian were. She was the only person who could openly challange him. He loved her dearly.
So how did she not know anything about this?
“I’ve never heard anything about a curse.”
A chill ran down my spine.
“Never?”
She shook her head again.
“If there is one, Lucian has hidden it.”
I stared at her. “But why keep it from you?”
A muscle jumped in her jaw.
“I don’t know.”
The answer frightened me more than if she had known.
If he wasn’t telling her… Then whatever was happening had to be serious.
We spent the next hour trying to piece everything together.
Maybe it was an illness or some magical injury from the wars.
Maybe something connected to Alina’s death.
Every possibility led to more questions and zero answers.
Then suddenly something clicked in my head.
I sat upright and stared at the wall thinking.
The old woman from the day I first went out to the town.
The way she spoke. The way she seemed to know things she shouldn’t.
Then Thorne’s words came back to me.
The seer is here to see you.My pulse quickened.A seer.An old woman.
Could they be the same person?
The possibility hit me so hard I nearly stood.
“What are you thinking?” Elara asked.
I slowly turned toward her.
For the first time all day, something other than sadness stirred inside me.
Determination.
If Lucian wasn’t going to tell me the truth…Then I would find it myself.
A small smile tugged at my lips.
“I have a plan.”
Her eyes narrowed immediately.
“Pray tell”
I laughed despite myself.
Then I stood.
“What is it?” she demanded.
I looked toward the window where the last golden light of evening was fading from the sky.
“I’m going to find that old woman.”
For the first time all evening, Elara looked genuinely worried.
And somehow that only made me more certain I was on the right path.
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