Another Memory and Another Revelation
At first, Dulce’s words flowed freely. She began by recounting a few of the missions she had with Darinon, but the more she wrote, the darker the story became. Dulce did not notice the tears rolling down her face as she wrote about his death. Someone had pulled her away from the Unwashed as Darinon had run toward them, but she could not remember who. Standing up, she went into the bathroom to blow her nose because she could no longer breathe through her tears. A minute later, Dulce returned, sat at the desk and began to write again.
She wanted to stop remembering, to forget the pain. Her hand flew across the page, scribbling down memories of the events that happened immediately after his death. For the first time, the seer realized that she had never shed a tear. Not once until she had met Draven. This definitely struck her as odd, and it changed the way she recalled events after that.
As soon as she realized one thing that was out of character, Dulce began to see other small inconsistencies in her behavior. She had been aware of a desire to die, though she had thought it was because of everything that had happened following Darinon’s death. That had only been the beginning.
Dulce had lost a lot of blood after being shot in the abdomen. The scar was still there, a daily reminder of everything. She stopped writing and pulled her shirt up to look at the scar. Another memory returned, and she held back a sob. Biting her lip until it bled, Dulce’s eyes went back to her journal, but she no longer felt like she could write.
“I think that is enough.” A hand closed the journal and removed it from the desk.
Dulce stared at the place where the journal had been, fighting back the tears as the taste of metal filled her mouth. Aware that someone was standing her up, Dulce turned and buried her face in Draven’s chest, unable to further hold back the flood. Again he silently stroked her hair as she sobbed. Clinging to him, she wanted to forget the memory, to return to the way she was that morning, completely unaware of the consequences.
“You were right,” she sobbed. “I don’t want to remember any more. I can’t remember any more.”
“You must, and you will.”
She shook her head, “Everything. I’ve lost everything I ever wanted.”
“That is not true. You are a seer, so your future is never predestined.”
“Stella saw my future. She sent me away to save me from the worst of it, but she couldn’t save me from this.”
“Dulce,” Draven’s voice was firm, causing her to look up at him. “Your future was never set. That is just as true today as it was five years ago. Don’t believe them.”
“Why won’t they just let me die? I don’t—this isn’t the life I wanted!”
“Because the Unwashed want you dead.”
The words caught in her mind, and she realized that Draven meant something different than what she had already known about the cult. Not believing him, she mumbled, “They want all magic users dead. That is the whole point of the cult. Kill us all.”
Draven pulled back and forced her to look at him. “They are specifically after you, Dulce. You have not proven receptive to their attempts to control you, and their influence over you has only been met with limited success.”
Shaking her head, Dulce couldn’t believe him. “There is no reason for them to care about me specifically. I am not special. Someone like Queen Freya, yes, I can see them specifically targeting her, but not me.”
He placed his hand under her chin and forced her to look into his eyes. The way they flashed in the sunset made his eyes look like they were on fire, and she was hypnotized by them. “You are the one seer that the people still love. You are the one who has lost the most yet still shone, still fought for Ishtar. They need you to die to completely turn the people against the seers. Keeping you alive was important enough that I could not turn Maverick down when he insisted I was the only person who could help you. I didn’t believe him until the night you met Ignacio again.”
Dulce’s head hurt, and she began to shiver. Still, she continued to try to argue with him, “It’s not true. I’m no more important than any other seer. You are just trying to convince me to keep going, but nothing will change with my death. Nothing except my emptiness.”
Whatever Draven was about to say, he stopped when Dulce’s teeth began to chatter. Immediately, his hand went to her forehead. “Shit.” A part of Dulce was shocked by his incredibly emotional response, but she was too aware of a sudden drop in her body temperature. It felt like she had been plunged into an icy ocean. Everything hurt as her body seemed to crumble under the stress.
Something was happening around her, but she wasn’t sure what. After a few moments, she felt warmth pressed against her back, the wrap around her. Pressing against it, Dulce felt the warmth become a little hard, like she was pressing against a fallen tree that was still warm from the fire that had burned a part of the forest. It was a strange memory, but one that she preferred to the painful ones that had been playing through her mind.
At the time, she had gone out into the country to escape the pressures that the government had placed on her. The next mission was going to be difficult, and Ignacio had recently appeared in her life, an assassin who wanted to size her up. He had been very blunt about it, and in return, she had let him join her for as long as he felt it necessary. The assassin had not complained once as she introduced him to others as a student studying seers for school. As Dulce had pointed out to him at the time, it was actually true. She could have made his job a lot easier if she had spent more time with seers, and while she didn’t feel threatened by him, Dulce was not willing to risk her magical sisters. Between her assassin and the government, she had decided to go to the country to escape everything. It had been both highly entertaining and a real learning experience because she had never met an assassin before. Ignacio did not inspire fear either, and she had immediately felt compelled to take care of him.
After a few days, they had been out hiking when they had encountered some bandits. They could tell that she was a seer, and it was just as obvious that Ignacio and his thick black hair was not a champion. The minute they thought they had the upper hand, the leader had approached the assassin brandishing a sword. Having seen no need for his weapons, Ignacio was completely unarmed. The leader tried to taunt and terrify him, and quickly became angry when the young man did not appear to fear him. As soon as the leader had been in striking distance, Ignacio had struck. He had kicked the leader’s arm, causing the sword to fly out of his hand. The assassin caught the sword and immediately drew it across the man’s chest. The other bandits began to react. One of them drew an arrow back, but it flew harmlessly into the air as a dagger struck him between the eyes. Ignacio took out three more without incident. The last bandit began to ride away, screaming at the mountain. His screams turned into a gurgling sound as Ignacio shot him in the back.
“There must be more of them. We need to get into the woods before they arrive.” Dulce’s eyes were wide, but all she had done was nod.
Ignacio had been right, there were more of them. In response to their friends’ deaths, they set the forest on fire. It had been a very rough couple of days, but the pair had survived. By the time they returned to Copan, Dulce believed she was in love with Ignacio and began trying to save him.
In the present, Dulce muttered, “I'm sorry, Ignacio, for acting like an idiot. It’s a good thing you turned me down because I would have just disappointed you.”
A hand stroked her hair, and Dulce shivered. “Why is it so cold?”
“It’s the poison.”
Startled, Dulce tried to remember where she was. “Ignacio said he wasn’t going to kill me, and after my confession, he said it was highly unlikely any other assassin would be willing to either.”
“The assassins are decidedly not after you, not after you declared that you loved one of them. None of them was going to kill a woman who was clearly so unbiased and forgiving.”
“Ignacio?” He was the only person she could think of who would be able to talk about the inner workings of the assassins. “I thought you… didn’t you say you were in love? Don’t feel bad for me.”
“Shh.” The voice was close to her ear. “Calm down, and the cold will go away.”
Dulce patted what must have been an arm around her. “It’s okay. You can let me go. Everything will be okay, just make sure you are happy.”
“I’m still not allowing you to die.”
Dulce rolled over and tried to focus on him. Patting his face, she could see Ignacio’s confusion. “You were always so sweet, I could never believe you were an assassin until you killed all of those bandits. There was no feeling in your eyes as you cut them down one by one. It was chilling.” She shivered again.
“I'm not—”
Dulce moved up and kissed him. “Just promise me you will be happy, and I won’t regret anything.” She then pressed her face into his neck and let the warmth spread through her.
A soft voice was near her ear, “I am not Ignacio, Dulce.”
“It’s okay.” She pressed into him again, curling her knees up to her chest. “Champions and guardians kill too. They could be called assassins just as much as you, but they aren’t nearly as fast as you are. They usually have to shift. I’ve seen it. If Darinon has been as agile as you, he would still be alive. He only stood a chance after shifting, but he knew that would put me in more danger. To save me he sacrificed himself, and I don’t want anyone else to die for me. Never again.”
“I have no intention of dying for you, so don’t worry.”
Dulce laughed a little, and her body contracted in cold. Once the fit was over, she shook her head. “I would expect nothing less from an assassin.”
This was met with silence.
Dulce smiled and pressed into the warmth again, “I’m sorry for drugging you, but I was afraid you might try to die for me. Should have known better.” She giggled. “You got a lot more powerful. The way you killed all of those men in the cemetery, I would never have believed you would have been able to decapitate anyone. It really shouldn’t have been possible after that amount of powder. You should have slept all night.” The memory was muddled, but Dulce felt compelled to talk through it.
“Dulce,” there were hands on her arms, and the seer felt pressure, “Dulce, calm down. I am not Ignacio. He has already returned home and moved on with his life.”
Dulce opened her eyes to look at the speaker. The voice was firm and definitely not Ignacio’s. Her eyes seemed to have trouble focusing. “Who are you?” Her body temperature dropped again. When the man tried to pull her to him, she put her hands out and pushed on his bare chest. “No!” She began to shake her head.
“Dulce, look at the hair.”
She opened her eyes, and saw the blond with black streaks. “Darinon is dead.” It was the only thought she had to explain the champion beside her. Ever since Darinon had died, she refused to pair up with any other champion because she would not have anyone die because of her.
“That didn’t stop people from dying. More people died.” Another memory began to surface. “So many people…” There was a pressure on her shoulders, and Dulce felt her consciousness slipping away. “Too many people died,” she muttered as she felt warmth spread over her.