Shadow Seer [18+]

~ Thirty Five ~

"You're... you're lying," Sanaa could barely get the words out. She only felt worse when the Seer looked so apologetically that she knew she was telling the truth.

"I have no reason to lie to you sweet girl. There is no way for Prince Amir to live, if Emperor Ghassan is alive."

"But that's not fair!" Sanaa screamed, disregarding the city around her. "Amir is a good man, he is, he... he doesn't deserve to die!"

"That is not for us to decide. We merely See the future. We have no way of controlling it."

"That's not true, that can't be true." Sanaa was defiant. "I've changed the outcome of wars simply by telling Ghassan what—"

"What had already taken place. What you Saw was always going to happen whether you told Ghassan or not because—"

"I'd always tell him. There's no path in which I don't tell him."

The Seer said nothing. Sanaa couldn't breathe.

"We've bet our lives on finding a way out of this. How can I tell him that there isn't one?" She'd convinced Amir to run away with her because she'd told him they could find a way to be together. If that wasn't a possibility, would he leave her?

"Stay with the Dark Prince," the old Seer said, interrupting her thoughts. "Stay with him and love him in only the way you can. Your love will set you both free."

Sanaa hated that those words no longer brought her comfort. She had thought she and Amir could conquer anything together but, nothing, not even love was stronger than death.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked the old woman who smiled warmly. "Did you ever regret not being intimate with someone? Do you wish you'd given up your power?"

"Giving up my power and giving up on intimacy are not the same thing, Sanaa. I have known love and love has known me."

"I want to be with him... like that. I'd be lying if I said I didn't, but what would I be without my power?"

"Free."

"What?"

"Without your power, you'd be free."

Sanaa thought about that, "But if Ghassan found us... He'd kill us both."

The old woman sighed, but not unkindly, "Ghassan's threat will always be over your head, whether you are intimate with the prince or not. The question is, whether you face that fate with him as his lover in all ways, or to hold back because of your fear."

"My fear protects him," Sanaa protested. "I've Seen things. I've Seen what Ghassan will make him do and I can help him avoid that future. Without my power, I have no way of knowing what Ghassan will do next!"

The old woman's reply never came as Sanaa's eyes clouded over and she lost herself in a vision. The bustling market around her faded into a distant hum as a serene stillness settled over Sanaa's features, masking the world from her consciousness. A palpable energy surrounded her, an invisible force pulling her into the depths of foresight.

In the vast expanse of her vision, the world transformed into a desert landscape, the golden hues of sand stretching endlessly. A scorching sun hung overhead, casting a shimmering haze over the horizon. The air crackled with anticipation as the distant murmur of approaching hooves grew louder.

Suddenly, she was there, standing amid the arid expanse, the ground beneath her feet felt solid yet unreal, as if she were a spectre observing the scene unfold. The vision became so vivid, Sanaa inhabited another realm, simultaneously present and absent. She'd never had a vision like this before and it overwhelmed her even as she struggled to take in her surrounding. In the distance, an imposing figure emerged and she knew immediately that it was the emperor.