Demons attacked us again. My sisters and I were all injured—except Alleah, thank the Goddess. We are in the Healers’ Hall, but it is just as a precaution. They injured Kellis the worst; Kellis and Selton.

Kellis fought fiercely, she and Navix. Side by side. He carried her to the Healers’ Hall over her protests.

Now, he is sitting by her bedside—reading to her from the Herald. And he just won’t go away.

Kellis has an absolutely bewildered look on her beautiful face.

I don’t quite think she knows what to do with him. I can so understand that.

Jayi was slightly injured, as well. But she is nowhere to be found.

Boldek has carried her off, and she is not refusing him. That is the way it is supposed to be. I am more than happy for my young friend. Though I suspect I will not be seeing her as frequently as I had. That was the way of the newly mated. Especially the wealthy. They had a tendency to disappear into their bedrooms and not reemerge for days. Sometimes weeks. 

For those of us more common folk, we mate, spend a few days together if we can, then we go back to work.

Indulgence is for the royals, after all. Not the rest of us. But…

I want that for my friend. I want that for all the females I care about. 

It’s hard not to hurt for me and Kellis and the fact that we won’t have that love, though. 

It still hurts Kellis. I can feel that. 

But my sister will never admit it.

She also fears what it means. Fears she’s fated to die young. Fears she’s going to leave the rest of us alone. I understand that, without having to pick up on Kellis’s feelings. 

Because I have long felt them, too. 

Sometimes I just want to hug her, this most sensitive sister of mine. Yet that is the last thing Kellis would want. She always tries to be so strong—for the rest of us.

We all try to be so strong for the rest of us. 

This new gift of mine has given me new insight into my sisters. Strong souls, all of us. Kindness in our hearts that shines through to me now. And fear. 

We are all so horribly afraid. 

 I don’t know if it’s because we are all so alone, with just each other to depend on, or if it something else.

I know am not the only one with exceptional gifts. Some of my sisters possess gifts, too. They do not know.

It is not my place to tell them. Or it would unbalance the order of things. I don’t know how I know this, I just do. 

And that is my biggest fear. 

Something is intended for my sisters someday. All of them. And there is nothing I can do to stop that…