Page 3 of Forbidden

Nathan waved a hand through the air. “I know you can’t tell me details. I just don’t know what the right move is. I feel like Sloan has let Hawk and Morgan’s choice to leave the guild hurt his pride, and I worry that’s driving his decisionsto go after the halflings. I don’t want his wounded pride to get good people killed, paladins or not.”

“I only have pieces, Captain. From what I can tell… there will be upheaval, and pain, but… I think it’ll be worth it.”

Nathan’s face cleared, and he attempted a weak smile. “Thank you. That’s something to keep fighting for, at least.”

Ira nodded. “For now, that’s all we can do.”

Ira wonderedif there’d been some joke about the third floor being the ‘Third Eye’ in the beginning, during the planning stages of the administrative building’s floor plan, but he doubted the early members of the Paladin Guild had much of a sense of humor about that kind of thing. With nothing else to distract him, he made his way there from the library.

Lexi was the student manning the front desk today. He was familiar with most of the students who had shifts at the front desk, as he found himself there almost everyday. She cast him a cheery smile as he signed in. He’d always liked her. She’d lobbied hard for the inclusion of women on the front lines, but the council had shot down her request to become a sword-wielding paladin and hustled her quietly into the prophets’ division after she showed signs of the gift. She seemed happy enough here, but he sometimes caught her gazing longingly out the window at the training yard. The council would never allow a prophet to endanger their lives on the front lines. Their visions were too important. And he had a feeling they’d have similar excuses about allowing a woman to wield a sword, too.

“Morning, Ira. How was your weekend?” she asked,passing a hand over the silk headband that held her springy curls away from her face.

“Uneventful,” he said, which was the truth. They were always uneventful. “How was yours?”

She perked up. “Not bad. Had a date.”

“Ooh, how’d it go?”

“It was—nice,” she said haltingly, with a bashful smile. “He was sweet. Maybe too sweet.”

“What’s too sweet?” he asked.

“He didn’t even kiss me at the end.” She wrinkled her nose. “Maybe he didn’t thinkIwas nice.”

“Nonsense,” Ira said dismissively. “You’re incredible, and if he couldn’t tell, he doesn’t deserve you.”

She looked exasperated. “I don’t know about that.”

“You can’t argue with a prophet, Lexi, we know things.”

“You’re not the only one here who’s a prophet,” she said loftily.

He arched a brow. “You’re still in training.”

“I know, but I’m twenty-nine hours into a fast. I’msureI’ll have a vision I can actually log soon.”

While the field agents had to undergo rigorous physical exams before they qualified for a squad, prophets underwent certain training programs of their own, part of which involved conditioning their bodies to function over long fasting periods in order to induce visions.

When they found a young prophet—anyone who showed signs of being able to see the future—they adopted them into the guild, if they weren’t already a member, and into the prophet training program. All visions were to be logged with the guild, and priority visions were sent to Commander Sloan to be given to a paladin squad. When trainees had a priority vision that saved a life, they weremade official prophets. It led to many of the upper-level trainees pushing themselves for longer and longer fasts in order to force a vision that would allow them to graduate.

Young prophets were also common visitors to the medical wing. Ira didn’t like it, but you didn’t argue with tradition—something Lexi had learned the hard way in her quest to join a different division.

“Well, don’t go too long without eating,” he said. “And be sure you drink plenty of water.”

She grinned, lifting her bottle from the desk. “I’m keeping track, not to worry.”

“Good, good. I better get to it. Hopefully I have something to log soon, too.”

She winced. “Oh yeah, I noticed you haven’t logged anything in a few months. I’m sure you’ll have one soon.”

“All in His time, I’m sure. Have a good one, Lexi.”

“You too, Ira.”

He rapped his knuckles on the desk as he passed it. Alone in the hallway beyond, he let his head fall back in despair.

He hadn’t logged a vision insixmonths, to be precise. His supervisor, Cara, was beginning to ask him questions about his health. The truth was not so simple.

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