Contents
Chapter Six
Overview
Lore awakens from a vivid, unsettling but bloodless dream and confronts Bastian for inviting Kirytheans to witness their magic without warning. They argue about secrecy, risk, and her need to keep training with Gabe despite Bastian’s misgivings. Before Bastian’s coronation, Lore meets Gabe in a confessional, admits the dreams continue, and they begin another session, underscoring fragile trust and rising stakes.
Summary
Lore dreams of an impossibly vivid forest and an intimate, familiar voice promising a shared, private place. The dream lacks the murderous aftermath that once followed her visions, but its intimacy unsettles her. She wakes to Bastian at her door with food; they eat in strained silence before confronting the Kirythean spectacle.
Lore condemns Bastian’s unilateral decision to invite Kirythea and to publicly display their joint channeling. Bastian argues he acted to deter an imminent invasion and to show unity, but sidesteps the deeper issue of excluding her and the council. Lore voices fear that channeling with Bastian correlates with the return of her dreams; Bastian insists no harm followed and suggests she cease working with Gabe, which Lore refuses.
They acknowledge shortages and the need to keep healing lands, yet Lore demands stronger barriers and advance warning before any further public demonstrations. The conversation exposes fault lines: Bastian’s distrust of Gabe, Lore’s need for control and support, and their lingering, unspoken intimacy. Bastian departs before dawn; Lore prepares for a morning appointment with Gabe ahead of his coronation.
At the Church, Lore moves past stained-glass depictions of the pantheon, avoiding Nyxara’s window and pausing at Hestraon’s. In a secluded confessional, she and Gabe revert to ritual distance. She reveals she hadn’t known about the Kirytheans and admits her dreams have returned, though no deaths have followed. Despite tension and wounded trust, they agree she must keep training to fortify her defenses, and at Gabe’s prompt to close her eyes, Lore begins another session as her forest vision rises again.
Who Appears
- LoreDeathwitch protagonist; has vivid, intimate dreams post-channeling, confronts Bastian’s secrecy, insists on continued training with Gabe.
- BastianKing-to-be; apologizes for inviting Kirytheans to witness channeling, defends deterrence strategy, bristles at Gabe’s role but yields to Lore.
- Gabe (Priest Exalted)Meets Lore in a confessional; tense, formal exchange. Learns her dreams returned and begins another defensive training session.