Eternal Damnation (The Amagarians 3)

“No, Shilah...everything has changed. I can no longer see you ruling or married to the crown prince.”

Shilah stepped back, her heart pounding in fear. “Has our realm found out that I have a second genesis?” She had been anticipating that discovery for forty-four years.

“No, it is not that. Despite your fears, I’ve seen us...you in Dxyriah, sitting on the throne, the Crown Prince of Novar by your side.” Tears pooled in her sister’s eyes and spilled over.

Shilah had never believed in that future and had known there would come a time it would evolve. She was an impure, a Serangite with two geneses, and such a joining in her world was forbidden. Since she discovered the Alpha telekinetic gene had manifested in her years ago, she had burned all the hopes she’d had in her heart for a family of her own. Impures were not allowed to breed, to taint the purity of the race, a law she believed in with her entire heart.

“I’ve always known it was impossible for me to marry Prince Novar, Kala. Our Senate may not know I am impure, but we know it, and I could not deceive them so and consent to be his wife!”

Her sister sobbed. “Yes, but what I’ve seen Shilah…I cannot comprehend it.”

“Tell me,” she urged hoarsely.

“Heavy is the burden for the one who wears the crown of darkness,” Kala said, her voice dark and gravelly with power. “It will come for you—a creature of blood and rage. I see upon your head a crown of snakes and thorns, I see an army of beasts, and at your feet our kingdoms in ruins, the street flowing blood.”

For one terrible, timeless moment, her resolve wavered. She snatched her hands from her sister and the connection severed. Kala pressed a hand over her mouth.

“Our future has changed.”

“Someone made a decision, and it was not us.” That could be the only thing to account for the change in her sister’s vision for the first time in thirty-five years. The first time Kala told Shilah she saw her on the throne, they had wept their rage and pain. For their older brother had a wife and children, and for Shilah to sit on the throne so young, it meant they would perish before them. They had warned her brother, and he had taken precautions, but their enemies had slipped under their guard, and their kingdom had fallen. Shilah had promised vengeance, but the vision had remained the same—she would rule as the Crown Princess. She had silently pledged not to marry the Crown Prince of Novar, and the vision had stayed unchanged. Even after she had entrusted her plans with the emperor of Mevia to take back her kingdom, and the vision had not wavered.

Shilah stood and started to pace back and forth. “What if I stay with Emperor Khan for another year?”

Kala took a deep breath, and Shilah held out her hands. The scream that tore from her sister was wild and frightened. Kala released her hand as if she had been burned and dashed behind the silken screen to empty her stomach. Kala came out, and Shilah stared at her.

“What is happening?” Shilah whispered, hating how afraid she felt.

“If we stay....” Kala shook her head as if unable to voice her vision. “I would rather die here and now than have you stay. I see nothing but agony and broken bones and spirit. Staying as the emperor commands is not an option. You will pray for death, and I do not see the mercy of it.”

Shilah’s knees went weak, and she lowered herself onto the sofa by the fire. “But what did your first vision mean?”

“I cannot see it in full. Shilah, I am afraid.”

So am I. “Someone made a decision that has altered my future. That someone has to be important to me for the ripple to be so far-reaching.” I see upon your head a crown of snakes and thorns. What could that mean?

“Perhaps,” her sister said, drinking deeply from a chalice of wine, no doubt to remove the taste after emptying her stomach.

Shilah stood and paced. “What if there is no delay and we leave tonight, right this moment? We do not try and plan, simply act with impulse and courage. What then?”

Kala paled, and Shilah understood. “It’s all right. You do not have to touch me again.”

The use of their powers was often mentally and physically draining. More so for her sister who had not yet come into the full range of her abilities. With each touch and decision made, Kala was able to peek into someone’s future. Her current ring of power was that of an Alpha—the beginning grade of her skills out of the three levels for her geneses of foreseer. If she had been an Imperial, Kala would have been able to see the pathway and who made the decision to affect their futures, and the different probabilities surrounding the future based on all possible actions. As it were, only a few Serangites ever attained imperial powers from the existing geneses of telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, and foresight. Most of the imperial bloodlines were contained within the royal families of the three kingdoms of Serange. “We must leave at once,” she said. “It is simply too dangerous to remain any longer in the Empire.”

“How will we escape?”

A thought struck Shilah. “Were you safe and alive in the new visions?”

Kala’s head shook frantically. “I could not see.”

“But before when I married the Prince Novar you were there, yes?” She had heard the vision several times, but she wanted to ensure that part had not changed since the rebellion in Dxyriah.

Her lips trembled on a smile. “I walked you down the aisle of the grand cathedral.”

Shilah’s stomach knotted, hating not getting a sense of her sister’s fate. “It is foolhardy for us to try and decipher your vision. We can no longer trust the honor of the emperor, and we must act. The emperor will not dream that we would try and escape. We must do so, tonight.”

“And the guards?”

“We must kill them.”