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The council hall was quiet, everyone working away upstairs while The Hand returned to Onuna. I’d instructed the council members to leave me unbothered and posted a few guards outside the main doors, just in case I was out longer than I hoped. Any interruptions could be dangerous. I rolled my shoulders to loosen the tight muscles before stepping to the center of the ring. I sat, curling my legs under me and resting my hands on my knees, clearing my mind and calming my body before speaking the sacred words.
My mind drifted first to her, always her, then a swift, great current swept me away.
* * *
“You use a lot of power to come see me, god king.” The voice wavered in and out, echoing all around me.
A chill shivered up my spine and touched my mind. I stepped forward into the massive white room. It went on forever in both directions, with no end or creature in sight.
“I know, which is why we must keep this trip short.”
“You loved my dimension once.” The room shifted, and I was back at the palace in our room. “But it seems your heart belongs to another now.”
The bed shifted in this phantom place as Dianna rolled from it. Only it was not my Dianna.
“It does.”
The Higher One lifted one of her hands, running her fingers over her face. “She is beautiful. Is she yours?”
“Yes.”
The Higher One tsked, waving one long red-tipped finger at me as she walked forward. “Wrong again.”
“Must you take her shape?” I asked, my stomach churning.
“Why? Is it distracting?” Her hand trailed over a thin lace robe, exposing the matching lingerie beneath. It was a set that Dianna had asked me to make for her. The Higher One was playing in my brain, using my memories to their advantage.
“You can not distract me,” I said, the room vibrating. “You are not her.”
“Pity.” The Higher One looked at her nails. “So the prophecy is true. How sad.”
“Yes, yes, everyone is upset because I found someone I want to spend my life with. I grow tired of hearing it.”
“That is not the sad part.”
“What do you mean?”
The Higher One jumped onto the bed, placing one toned leg across another as it lay back. “You know the rules, nothing from me until….”
“What price do you ask of me for this information?”
The Higher One slid a hand across her thigh, then higher.
“If you cannot help me without that, our time here is done,” I said and turned to leave.
The Higher One laughed. “I’m kidding. I just wanted to see if you are serious, and you are. The Samkiel of old would have wasted no time accepting my advances.”
“I grow weary. What is your price, then?”
“I have no need for a price. I have seen, just like the fate has, what is to come. You are already about to pay a steep price, god king.”
“Am I to be punished because I went to Roccurem first? He speaks in prophecy and riddles. I do not need that from you.”
The Higher One sighed and rolled her eyes. “Roccurem was locked up for a reason. The fate is fickle.”
My blood ran cold.
“Explain.”
