The Strongholder (The Mindrulers Book 3) by Steve Pillinger

Author:Steve Pillinger [Pillinger, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-30T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28: Benevolent mindbending?

The rest of the Council left the Fraternity Room in fear and awe as they set out to follow Shiván’s example of constant reliance on the One. But Lannie stayed under the Ambon. She needed a period of clear thinking before she tackled those rough waters.

She sat on the floor at the foot of the sacred emblem, closed her eyes, and allowed its healing influence to flow through her. “Thank you, God,” she murmured.

After a while she straightened and opened her eyes. What am I doing here? she wondered. I thought I’d made a success of embracing the new career God gave me discerning the truth; yet when it came to Shiván’s strange behaviour, I just fell right back into my old way of jumping to conclusions and making snap judgments. For months he was there in front of me all the time, struggling, losing his train of thought, making silly suggestions, and I just dismissed it as… what? I don’t know what I thought about it, because I never thought! It was “just Shiván”, so I paid no attention. God, have mercy on me! She buried her face in her hands.

Now I’m in the same place as Shiván, and I can only thank you, dear Prince, from the bottom of my heart, that Shiván isn’t treating me the way I treated him. He brought me home last night; this morning he’s been looking after us, in full control of his faculties; he brought us the Ambon—and he was the one who discovered its power against the Curse.

I can forget about a ‘career’, now: just to stay in my right mind I have to trust you as Shiván does, moment by moment. Teach me how to do that!

Her face went down into her hands again and remained there for some time. Her thoughts turned to her lost fiancé Matt, and her snap judgment that had dismissed him as a bully who persisted in browbeating others till he got what he wanted. Was that true? Probably not. She’d tried so hard to get hold of him in the few days between their break-up and when she’d ended up here. Maybe it was just as well that she hadn’t. She’d have continued insisting that he’d bullied her, when really… Of course! It was for my sake he was doing that! He knew I wouldn’t do what I needed to without pressure, so he was supplying it. Idiot! How could I not have seen that?

She sat up, took a deep breath, and leaned back against the wall beside the Ambon.

And the situation with Gil? Same thing the other way round. She’d got him up on a pedestal, and rationalised away everything that would have tumbled him off it.

Well, Lord, one thing is for sure. Now I have to trust you moment by moment. Will you keep me from making any more snap judgments?

She felt, rather than heard, the glad affirmation. Her brow cleared and peace settled on her heart. She stood—just as Perrely stumbled back into the room and made a beeline for the Ambon.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.