Offering her a small smile, I nodded. “I did yesterday, while spending all day there reading about the dead affinities. It is lovely.”
She hummed in agreement as we fell back into a bout of silence. I started to grow restless, my mind whirling with what ifs before I finally broke. “Who even wrote this book of prophecies, and why are we to believe there is any truth to it?”
I watched her chest rise and fall with deep breaths as her gaze finally slid from the forest over to me. “Technically, a Seer is a dead affinity, but the line naturally ceased to exist well before the civil war in Alfemir. The book of prophecies was penned by the greatest Seer of the old times. It is filled with four hundred and ninety-seven prophecies.”
My eyes widened for multiple reasons, but primarily at the realization that affinities could die out naturally.
I found myself asking, “And how many of those have come to pass?”
She swallowed hard before her lips thinned, like she really wasn’t looking forward to this answer. My gut churned with anticipation. “Four hundred and ninety-six.”
All but one.That truth felt like a cold bucket of water being dumped over my body.
We stared at each other as the full weight of that answer hit me. “So, this final prophecy is the one that I’m a part of?”
Amelia nodded. “The page after your prophecy said that the Seer was not able to see the fate of anything past yours. Each prophecy is set up chronologically, with yours being the last her powers could see.”
That bode well for me. Absolutely no pressure that the most powerful Seer in history couldn’t see past the decisions I needed to make.
“Okay,” I said, drawing the word out as I stowed that bit of information away to process at a later date, finding my capacity at its limit currently. “And what exactly does this final prophecy say?”
Dread filled my stomach as I prepared for it, innately knowing the prophecy wasn’t going to be sunshine and rainbows considering Amelia’s insistence that we have this talk privately.
She wasted no time in reciting it as she looked back out over the forest.
Glass will rain down on the chosen.
Deep within the archives is the key.
Falling from Grace is only the beginning.
She must do what no other in her line has done before.
The stars will seek a home within her, but will she be strong enough to be their vessel?
While the ending is unknown, two things are certain.
If she fails, the world will be no more.
If she succeeds, her death will be written in the stars.
A fate she never saw coming but one only she can fulfill.
She is both our hope and our demise.
Only she can decide.
My mouth popped open as I worked through the prophecy line by line, asking Amelia to repeat it two more times until I had it memorized.
I couldn’t deny the eerie similarities to my current timeline of events. Glass had indeed rained down on me back in the archives when the case holding the dagger exploded, and I had to assume that weapon was the key the prophecy referred to. After that, I fell from Alfemir.
If it was about someone else, I’d be shocked at this point.
“Fuck,” I breathed out before quickly covering my mouth with my free hand as my eyes went wide. “I’m so sorry. That was disrespectful to say in front of you.”
She let out a small laugh before reaching out to pat my hand as I put it back in my lap. “They are just words until intention is put behind them. It does not bother me, and if there was ever a situation for curse words, it would be this one.”
Her hand tightened on mine as I glanced over at her and recited the line I didn’t want to accept, “If she succeeds, her death will be written in the stars.”
