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They each watch the water, never looking away. Their attention is absolute. One reaches toward the pool, trailing their fingers through whatever they see there.

I squint, struggling to spot what has their attention.

The water ripples, yet the reflection remains clear.

Sterling.

My heart stutters, and my mouth goes dry.

He stands alone in a chamber of ancient stone. Water rises around him and has already reached his knees. His face appears calm but determined as he studies an inscription on the wall. He doesn’t see the rising water. Doesn’t notice how it swirls with unnatural purpose, or how it creeps up his thighs with hungry intent.

Not just rising…but climbing him.

I try to call out, to warn him, but my voice doesn’t exist here. I’m just a helpless spectator. The water creeps up to his waist. His eyebrows knit together, his focus still on the writing rather than his element overtaking him.

Then the vision crumples.

As brutally as it started, the scene’s torn from my eyes by an unseen hand.

I come back to myself with a gasp, hands gripping the edge of my desk so hard my knuckles have gone white. My body shakes with tremors I can’t control. Feathers slide over feathers, shivering and weak. Sweat plasters my hair to my temples, and my throat is raw, though I don’t recall screaming out loud.

My eyes burn. Tears run down like sea water. I bow my head, and the tears drip onto the table. I squeeze my eyes shut, wanting to unsee everything I’ve just witnessed.

For several long minutes, all I can do is breathe.

I’m in my study. I’m safe. Sterling’s element is water. There’s no way he could drown.

When my heart stops attempting to hammer its way out of my ribs, I force myself to focus. To analyze what just happened. Without a doubt, that was not Mar’s doing. Even after only one vision, I know the touch of her presence. This wasn’t it.

The crystalline clarity at the edges, the faint sense of apology for the truth she brings. How bright it all was…

Aletheia.

The Goddess of Light and Truth.

As soon as the thought swells up in my mind, I know it’s true. But why such a obscure message? It’s as if someone else deliberately interfered with the vision. The smears…the tears…the blurring…

If someone can distort divine messages…

The implications chill me to the bone. Gods have rules. Limitations. They can’t interfere directly in mortal affairs, so they send visions, omens, and even avatars.

But those communications are sacred. Inviolable.

Or at least, they’re supposed to be.

Someone or something has found a way to tamper with them. Something is very, very wrong with the divine order of things. If gods can’t speak clearly to mortals, if their messages are being intercepted and distorted…

Who would dare to stand against the gods? Who would defy them so blatantly?

Chapter Twenty-One

The morning sun catches on the shiny silver coins as I pass them from my palm to weathered hands. I’m supposed to be distributing food, blankets, medicine, and other essentials.

But I’ve tucked away some of my personal allowance too.

The palace treasurer would have an apoplexy if he found out, but what Felix doesn’t know won’t hurt him. And what good is being queen if I can’t slip a few extra coins to those whose cheeks have gone hollow with hunger?

Besides, no one’s watching too closely. I’m sure of it.