Lomanâs question accomplished what none of the other reactions at the table had, and broke through the fog of swirling thoughts that Diarmuid had found himself lost in ever since experiencing the combination of the terror that Ollie unleashed and the miracle that Ignatious used to drive away the darkness.
Loman hadnât asked a good question, or even the right one, in Diarmuidâs opinion, but his question was pointing in the same direction that Diarmuidâs mind had been traveling as he struggled to process what heâd seen.
Diarmuid understood, at least thus far, that there were three âsourcesâ of power. Witches, Oracles, and Vampires. He also understood that what Sir Ollie had done represented the power of Vampires more than the power of Witches, and that this was a unique ability of the increasingly extraordinary young knight sitting next to him.
Similarly, Ignatious had just demonstrated his ability to use a form of sacred flame that few in the Church could ever hope to conjure. It felt nothing like the power of Vampires that Sir Ollie had demonstrated. If anything, it resembled Lady Ashlynnâs miracle of healing in the courtyard when she treated Sir Tomminâs wounds, but even then, the two things felt very different.
Ignatiousâs flames hadnât just banished the dark wind that Sir Ollie had summoned. In the midst of that darkness, the future seemed impossibly bleak. Diarmuid had felt as if he were a small child, dragged into a slaughterhouse to learn the cruel truth of the fate of the gentle cattle grazing on the hillsides.
Diarmuid had glimpsed what awaited him at the end of his life, and it filled him with despair, but Ignatiousâs flames had rekindled the fires of hope within his chest. His faith had been shaken even more than it had been by the previous revelations, but he hadnât lost all hope yet. Heâd only glimpsed the Void; he hadnât seen the whole of it.
Scripture said that one had to pass through darkness to reach the light on the other side... Just because he hadnât seen the light, that didnât mean it wasnât there. Finally, he understood what Ignatious had said about some things being a matter of faith. Clearly, there were things about which the scriptures were very wrong. A vampire had just summoned sacred flame, and that alone proved several tenets of the Inquisition were either wrong or outright lies. But that didnât mean that everything the Church had taught them was a lie.
"What is a miracle?" Diarmuid asked, looking directly at the High Inquisitor who had returned to his seat next to Lady Heila. "I used to think I knew," he admitted. "But since coming here, Iâm not so sure. What Sir Ollie just did... is that a miracle? Or Lady Ashlynnâs healing in the courtyard?"
"I feel like the Church has called the things we do âmiraclesâ for a long time, but Lady Heila called what Loman did in Hanrahan âsorcery,â" Diarmuid said. "The Church calls any use of divine power outside the Church âwitchcraft,â but that feels like it only encompasses the work of witches, so what are the workings of vampires?"
"Iâm sorry," he added when he realized that the people sitting near him, from Lady Ashlynn to Ignatious, Lady Nyrielle, and Lady Heila, were all looking at him with a strange, knowing smile. "Itâs just that, I think Loman and I arenât even using the right words to understand what weâre seeing, and Iâm afraid that weâre struggling to put things into categories that arenât right just because theyâre the only ones weâve ever known."
"Thatâs another of the Churchâs deceptions, isnât it?" Diarmuid asked directly. "Itâs divided the world into two neat categories. Sacred and demonic. Miracles and witchcraft. Good and evil. But the truth is more complicated than that."
"Impressive," Nyrielle praised. "I approve of this one, Darling," she said with a slow smile as she leaned up against Ashlynn, as if to whisper in her ear, even though she didnât lower her voice at all. "You should choose a good tree for him."
"Itâs too early for that," Ashlynn said when she saw a puzzled look forming on Diarmuidâs face. "It might be impossible for him and others from the Church, even if it was something he wanted. Their sorcery doesnât make it easy to open a new path..."
"I succeeded with Ignatious," Nyrielle pointed out, gesturing at the second of her human progeny. "Iâm sure you would succeed as well, and it would be a shame to lose a tool as sharp as Diarmuid. He is too intelligent for the Church; heâll only grow weaker there."
"Ah, hem," Ignatious interrupted with a soft cough as he saw the look on Diarmuidâs face turning from confusion to fright while Mistress Nyrielle spoke about him in the same way a housewife might talk about buying a prize hen at market.
"There will be time for those questions later, wonât there, Mistress?" Ignatious asked politely. "They still need answers," he said, glancing at Diarmuid and Loman before returning his gaze to Nyrielle and Ashlynn. "Or should we wait until Thane and Isabell return?"
"At least wait long enough for Heila and I to pass out a few of Georgâs treats," Ashlynn said as she stood, nodding briefly to Heila before she walked toward the table where Georg had left several covered trays. "Liam, do you need help getting back to the table?" she asked as she noticed the young lord seemed to be propping himself up on the table that held the casks of wine, cider, and ale.
"I was just wondering what Iâm even doing here," Liam said bluntly as he pushed himself upright, leaving his empty goblet behind. "Iâm fine," he said a moment later. "I just... I asked to follow you, Lady Ashlynn. I havenât changed my mind, even now," he said, glancing at Ollie with a complicated expression on his face.
"But I never studied for any of this," he said, gesturing at Loman, Hauke, Ignatious, and the others. "Iâm just an ordinary little lord, like Hugo. I donât have any of this power, whether itâs witchcraft or miracles or sorcery or anything else. So it all feels a little too big for me at the moment."
"That you can recognize that is already a step in the right direction," Ashlynn said gently as she helped him back to the table before filling a goblet with cool water and setting it in front of him. "A clear head will help even more. For now, just listen. Nyri is right," she added, looking down at the opposite end of the table from where Liam sat.
"Diarmuid asks good questions," Ashlynn acknowledged. "And youâve already learned much of what you need to understand before you speak to your father about joining with the Vale. Just a little bit longer, and then you can rest. A good nightâs sleep will go a long way to settling things in your mind and your heart," she promised, even though she felt that tonightâs revelations might take several nights, if not weeks and months, for some people to digest, particularly her wounded brother-in-law.
"Loman," she asked, pausing to set her fingertips on the young priestâs shoulder. "Are you well enough to continue tonight?"
"I donât know if Iâll ever be âwellâ again," Loman admitted. "But Iâve been lied to long enough. No matter how much it hurts, I need to hear the rest tonight," he said in a fierce, determined voice. "After that... After that, I can figure out what I need to do."