Page 14 of A Dance With Fire
“The markings on your back just prove you are the rarest. A fire Fae, yes?”
Smoke filled her lungs, but she didn’t choke. She never could. Not on her own magic, but she could still feel the ash coating her body, still feel it in her hair, on her tongue. “Yes,” she ground out.
Davina smiled and took another sip. “A rare gem. Do you know why you’re so rare?”
“No.”
“Of course not. You’ve been living as a human your whole life, suppressing what makes you integral to us.” She said it with a disdain that bled into her tone and made Shula uncomfortable. Fanny had spat at her for being Fae, Davina for being too human. “It is a wonder you did not explode for keeping it tightly leashed inside.”
“Can you skip to the part where you explain everything to me?”
Davina sighed and set her teacup down, the porcelain clattering against the saucer, echoing her annoyance. “Mana save me from ignorance. Fine. You are aware that all magic comes with a price?” Shula’s answer was a barely perceptible nod. “It is a way to balance out things in the universe. If you use magic, you are taking and that requires a tithe. I see fragments of the future, the price of it is my sanity.”
So she was aware of it. Shula looked at her with sympathy, which only seemed to amuse the seer.
“Some have it worse. Some seers have visions of death, and the price is that they can never witness their own.”
That didn’t seem so bad, all things considered.
“Because you are an Elemental, you draw your power straight from the universe, from Mana. You do know what Mana is, yes?”
Shula’s eyes rolled. “Of course I know what Mana is.” It was basic Fae knowledge. Mana was everything. It was the life force that flowed through the earth, the soul that connected the race of the Fae and kept them tethered to their magic and to nature.
“Since your magic is a fragment of Mana, it is raw power and, as such, requires no tithe. Because you are literally part of Mana itself. It is also why you were able to suppress your power so long without your well of magic becoming too great.”
The bleeding wounds on her back argued otherwise. “Then what was that?” Shula demanded. “Why did my magic consume me? And why do I have the scars you predicted I’d have?”
“Things are changing, Fire Dancer. The Fae will fall beneath robes of white and red unless we do something.”
“What does that mean?”
The darkness in Davina’s eyes faded until her entire eyes were white.
No, not again.
“Things are changing, Fire Dancer,” she repeated. “Will you rise to the occasion or diminish your own flame?”
“Davina.”
But it was like Davina couldn’t hear her, like she was too far gone. She stared and stared until her gaze became lost to an eternity only she could see, and no words elicited a reaction from her.
“Davina!”
She began to convulse, falling face first against the table. The teacup clattered and tea spilled all over the silky cloth. Her body shuddered in violent waves and words spilled from her mouth.
“You will be betrayed, Fire Dancer. Beware the robes of white and red. Remember, the eyes of the demon lead to freedom.”
Her head hit the table. Hard. Then there was silence.
Shula sighed and walked around the table to pick her up and lean her back against the pillows. A giant knot had formed on her forehead where she’d slammed her face, and Shula didn’t doubt she’d have a headache when she woke up.
Once she had Davina laying comfortably, she cleaned up the mess. Shula couldn’t bear to leave her like this, so she waited, waited for hours and still Davina didn’t stir. It would have worried her, had she not sought out the pulse at her neck and felt the steady, strumming beat of her heart. When the sun finally began to lower across the horizon, Shula knew she had to leave her and get ready for her show.
The words she’d spoken while convulsing tried to haunt Shula. She forced herself to shake them off as she exited the tent and tied the strings of the flaps together, letting customers know that Davina was currently out of business.
Even if one of her prophetic ramblings had come to pass, how accurate were the rest of them? She didn’t understand the powers of a seer, but Davina had said it herself. The price was her sanity, and so her ramblings had sounded crazy, unpredictable, and unrealistic. Still, Shula wouldn’t disregard the words. Robes of white and red. The eyes of the demon lead to freedom. It was the same ramblings over and over.
You will be betrayed...
