Throne of Honey

Chapter 9

I didn't want to open my eyes, honestly. Being overwhelmed in front of strangers with that much power and respect was a little embarrassing. But I did open them, I saw a wisened goblin staring back at me with eyes of silver fogged over. Her hair matched, braided on either side of her face with beads of bone at the bottom. Miniature art is carved around the whole of it. She was beautiful in her old age with a warmth in her gaze. 
"Ahh, there she is." I hear sheepishly behind her. Killian was hovering right over her shoulder, he and the goblin were similar in size, but this was one of the instances where he had a couple of inches over someone. 
The woman swatted at him like a grandmother fussing at one of her children,
 "If you do not back up, Killian, so help me, I will spell you into a dragon's belly."  Her tone was irritated, but there was a hint of familial love in it. He lifted his hands in surrender and backed up a few feet, peering from a safe distance. 
"Alright, child." Her attention was back on me now, "Do you know what happened to you?"
Straight and to the point. 
"I'm not... " I paused for a moment as glimpses of it danced across my memory. "Not entirely sure." I know what I saw, I remembered every bit of it, but something inside of me warned me to play to ignorance. I could feel a heavy presence lingering in my mind. Warning me. 
The older woman looked at me, squinting her eyes and assessing me.
"You will need to be careful so that it does not happen again." She replied, and something in those words let me know she could tell I was hiding something, but she respected my privacy. 

The Maester came behind her, I could still see a large aura around him, his power and his memories dancing around, I averted my gaze and looked at Killian instead as I spoke,
"I think I'm just exhausted. It's been a long day." My throat felt dry and my head was pounding. I may not have been conscious, but I had been awake mentally and I felt drained. 

Killian pinched the bridge of his nose, "You've been out for two days." 
My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. The king! 
We needed all the help we could get if we were going to save everyone. 
I stood up all too quickly and my legs almost buckled under me. 

"We need to go," I said quickly. "Your help is graciously appreciated. "
I bowed my head at the elder woman and then at the Maester before spotting the stone door with protection sigils etched into the arch. Killian looked flustered but he followed me out. 
Once we were out of earshot in a corridor long enough to see down either direction and knowing nobody could hear us, he grabbed my wrist gently and pulled me to a stop. 

"Can we slow down and talk. Please." I slowed down to a stop before looking at him. 
Worry in his face. His guard was completely down right now because I had worried him. 
I could see it in his aura, not a bright flame, but a cautious ember afraid the rain may fall. 
I touched his cheek tenderly and he leaned into it, allowing me to comfort him for a brief moment. I could tell him my secrets. I could trust him. 

"I'm scared Killian, what I saw, what I can still see." I pulled my hand away and shook my head, "There's so much I am going to tell you, but all I can tell you right now is I don't feel safe in these walls." My voice was steady, despite the trembling  I felt in my bones.
He took my hand in his and nodded before leading the way. 
This was his home and his family. The people that raised him when nobody else had. He trusted them implicitly. But I didn't. Something had not been sitting right with me. And as he lead me through the winding hallways and perspective tunnels, I could see the images that burned into my memory and tried to piece everything together, trying to decipher if Im another victim of the same sickness that infects others' minds or if it wasn't a sickness at all. 
Would I die as well? 
Who else had it taken hold of? 
This had started before I had ever laid hands on the book, so maybe it was a different thing entirely. The worst part of all of this was that I trusted the person who's memories I had witnessed. I could feel what they had felt. And they did not feel evil.



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Once out of the city and in the forest, Killian and I set up camp. 
We needed to eat and rest for the days to come. We couldn't go back to my room and we were farther from a tavern than would be beneficial for rest. 
"Astrid, can we talk about it now?" 
His voice was soft and patient. I had made a promise and I intended to keep it. He may know something I don't or be able to pick a detail out I haven't yet. 
I take a deep breath and begin. 
I try to leave out anything too sexual because it wasn't necessary for him to know every detail. 
I go into deep detail about the intense emotions, the voice, and what I saw. The glass, the blood, the anguish this ethereal woman felt before she bled into a decanter. 
Being told by a disembodied voice that these events had already happened. And being able to sense a secondary presence that wasn't a part of us.

By the time I finished, the fire needed more wood, but Killian looked at me, his face a puzzle. 
Almost indecipherable, but his aura flicked and jumped, I recognized it as fear. 
"Whats wrong?" I asked.
 His voice barely above a hoarse whisper, his eyes met mine. 
"I now understand why the book was in the restricted section."