Guardian of Calandria | ✔️

Chapter Thirteen

          Her hands rested on his, palms to palms. It was funny how small her hands were compared to his. If they held them wrist to wrist, his fingers could curl over the top of hers and bend flat against their backs. Instead, he sat across from her, legs curled inward, and kept a steady hand against hers. Addrick resisted the urge to stroke the soft underside of her wrist with his fingers. The flawless skin was begging to be caressed, but she needed to focus. She was already annoyed enough with his intentional teasing. Addrick didn't know why he couldn't resist calling her stupid; it came out of his mouth before he stopped himself.

His lips twitched as his eyes drifted to the Guardian necklace resting against her chest. It lifted with each breath. Kira had her eyes closed, trying to concentrate as the elder seer had instructed. Addrick glanced to the older woman. She was nearing the end of her life cycle and her hair, which once matched that of the Wilders red, had gone to gray. He'd known her most of his young life. She'd been the one to care for him after his parent's death. To Addrick, Myra was family. When Kira continued to struggle with the other Wilder seer's, Addrick sent a magic bird message to call Myra from her tribe. Though her magic had weakened, she was still the wisest seer he'd ever met.

If anyone could help Kira tap into her power, she could.

"Yer not concentrating enough," Addrick said.

"I'm concentrating just fine when you're not blabbering in my ear." Her eyes didn't open as she spoke. Addrick took a deep breath. They'd been sitting downstairs in his house for hours already and she hadn't sensed a single vision. She should've seen something, anything, in that time. What Addrick would have for dinner, where he'd be in two days—something as small as that should've been at her beck and call.

"Are ye focusing on the energy like Myra told you?" A hand slapped him over the head.

"Yer not helping, lad," Myra said.

Kira sighed and opened her eyes. They narrowed as she stared at Addrick. One corner of his mouth ticked upward. He slid his hands away from her, taking the time to caress her wrist. She grunted and crossed her arms.

"He does have a point," she said. "Shouldn't I be seeing something? I haven't had a vision since the day I saw Addrick's tribe under attack. It doesn't make sense; I used to see them all the time. I didn't know what they were, but now that I do . . ." Myra stopped walking the circles she'd been tracing and knelt beside Kira.

"What did ye say, lassie?"

"I haven't had a vision since Addrick's tribe."

"But ye had them often as a wee lass, aye?"

Kira nodded.

"Like what. Tell me what kind of visions ye saw."

"The first day I met Rylanne, I was walking through the Glades and I saw this boy up in a tree. At first there was nothing abnormal, he was spying on the women's bathing hole. Next thing I know my stomach starts to churn. Like I wanted to vomit, but nothing came. I closed my eyes, instead of seeing darkness I became a bird. My body floated on the winds above the Glades. Then I saw Ry fall. He hit his head against a rock and broke his neck, he was dead instantly. When I opened my eyes, he was still in the tree."

"Then he fell, aye?"

"Yes. It was the first time I used my magic in front of someone other than my aunt. A few weeks later Wilder traders came to town, they're the ones whose visions I saw the most. Whenever a Wilder was near I saw everything, from the meal they were going to have to how good or bad their trade would be. When I got older those smaller visions faded and I saw only the bad visions. Guards arresting a Wilder, someone being harassed by a villager, I even saw how a Wilder would die in their sleep from old age."