I crossed my arms and said nothing. I wished she couldn’t alter reality. I wished everyone in the square could have heard Lordin’s sick confession, though I had to remember she wasn’t naturally sick. Emell had filled her with evil. Then Zawne had filled her with love, and the Crown of Crowns had fueled her desire for power. Lordin was trying to juggle all these personas, all these goals and aspirations. I had a feeling it was driving her to madness.
“I wasn’t planning to become Zawne’s queen,” Lordin said. “Emell thought so, but she was wrong. See, I want to trick Zawne into sacrificing himself and becoming a Min. I need him to partner with me. I’m sure that together we can take over as the Crown of Crowns.”
Chapter 19
“Never,” I shouted, suddenly angry at how Lordin planned to manipulate Zawne. “Not in a million years! I know you have a good heart somewhere inside you, but it’s cracked and broken. You’ll never get the universal throne, Lordin.”
“Maybe not,” she said, shrugging with cool indifference, “but maybe I will. All I need is Zawne.”
“And to eliminate the competition,” I said, suddenly understanding everything. “That’s why you broke up Roki and me. You were scared of our power together. You were worried that Roki and I could ascend the throne instead of you. You’re still scared of us and our bond!”
Lordin’s face went dark. She started toward me. “I”—lips twisted in a snarl—“am”—balling her hands into little fists—“scared of no one!”
She raised her arm and I flinched, squeezing my eyes shut. Without warning, she flitted upward and, in a flash, was on top of me, hanging from my head, and we were skidding in all directions.
“Thief!” Lordin screeched as she made several attempts to grab my Valer. I used all my strength to unhitch myself from her, my Valer instinctively jittering around my body, its natural defense mechanism.
I panted. “I can’t believe how foolish I was to believe in you!”
As I spun, my eyes hunted for her, knowing that she could see me. But then, in a shot, she was swinging at me again, and she tossed me into the air. I crashed heavily into the buoyant space. It felt like I’d hit the ground as my whole body cramped or spasmed.
I mustn’t give in, I told myself, thinking about all the people who’d died because of her. I steadied my Valer, using it as bait, and fine-tuned my senses. Instantly I felt Lordin’s presence just before she was upon me, and I lunged at her head, sending her hurtling several feet away.
I caught my breath, surprised at my superhuman strength, and looked up to see several amused Min staring at me. I didn’t know if I’d struck something that had ended Lordin’s spell or if someone had interrupted us.
Roki was there with a concerned look. “You all right?” he asked. “You kind of gaped out there for a second.”
I explained it all to Roki: Lordin’s twisted motives, Zawne’s loyalty to me, the whole bloated mess. We had left Shiol and were lying on the rooftop of the tallest building in Geniverd’s capital city, watching the clouds go by as we tried to make sense of it all.
“It’s wild,” Roki said. “I hope Lordin doesn’t turn into one of those perverse serial-killer Min.”
“Me too,” I said. “I hope she’s all right. Her mama’s in jail now in Gaard. So that’s one good thing that came out of this. I just wonder how having her mama locked up will bend her mind.”
Roki turned to me, looking offended. “Only one good thing came out of this? What about us? We’re together again because of what happened.”
“Of course,” I assured him. “It’s only you and me now, Roki. I’ve vowed to myself to let Zawne live his life. I won’t lie to you, though. I still love him in my own way, and if I hadn’t become a Min, I never would have left him. But things have changed. The world moves on. Raad taught me that. We must grow and face the future. You and I will face it together.”
At that moment, I remembered that I still didn’t know the identity of the Seeing Water. I asked Roki, “Can you tell me what the Seeing Water is?”
“I’ve only heard from secondhand sources,” he said. Apparently, it’s an amalgamation of the spirits of all the billions of babies and children unjustly killed in the universe since the beginning of time. It is ‘seeing’ because it can see through anything and everything in the universe. The ‘water’ represents the children’s tears. Tears from having their lives cut short prematurely. Tears for saving us again and again despite what the universe did to them. The Seeing Water wields more power every time it gains a new spirit.”
“Hanchell said that it is merciful. What is the Seeing Water saving us from?”
“From ourselves. The Seeing Water can end all our lives in an instant. It can destroy planets in the blink of an eye. Instead, it chooses to apportion power to the Crown of Crowns to help us look after our galaxy. It oversees all the Crowns of Crowns in all the galaxies in our universe.”
“So we can ask the Seeing Water to help us? I mean, to stop Lordin?”
Roki shook his head. “You don’t understand. It may be merciful, but its wrath is in proportion to the evil in the universe, the unrighteousness. Three great personal sacrifices of its choosing would be required to even approach its presence.”
Just then I felt the presence of someone behind us. I craned my head to see an enormous man watching us. He had curly gray hair down to his shoulders, ashy-white skin, stern eyes. He was
