Silence continues to brood as my stomach somersaults.
“Thirteen years ago, Ed Bransby and I swore the Blood Oath, and, as you all know, the Blood Oath holds even in death. But I’m here tonight to tell you that I’ve been released from that Blood Oath,” Valdemar tells the crowd.
Murmurs flitter through the hall, gasps of disbelief and confusion erupting as some of the Raven Hands look to one another for reassurance that they’re hearing this right.
“And I have the greatest honour of informing you that I’ve sworn a new Blood Oath to our very newest member of the Raven Hands.”
Heads swivel as people search the room, looking for telltale signs of who the lucky Raven Hand could be.
I hear Jupiter’s name bandied about, see glances cast his way. He would be the obvious choice.
I feel sick. What if they throw things at me? What if they boo?
“It’s without further ado that I would like to introduce you to not only my new Blood Oath Raven Hand but the person who will co-lead the Raven Hands from here on in.”
“It’s time,”Valdemar says down the bond.
If his previous announcement hadn’t piqued their interest, then this one now has the room held in rapturous anticipation.
I step back from the doors as they’re opened by two footmen on the other side.
It’s exactly like last week, stunned faces pinning me with icy glares as Valdemar jumps down from the stage and heads towards me.
Willing my feet to move, I step forwards.
Our eyes lock, and I’m so grateful that all I can see is him as we walk towards each other, the Raven Hands parting before us.
He takes my head in his hands and kisses me gently.
“It’s time,” he repeats aloud. Taking my hand, he leads me to the stage, his fingers squeezing mine.
“I know you’re nervous, but don’t be. Just remember what I did to you the last time you were on this stage, my angel.”
My skin heats at his words as I recall reenacting the dream we’d had. We’ve reenacted all the dreams, my favourite being the fountain in the middle of the maze.
Once I’m standing on the stage, blank faces stare at me, eyebrows furrowed and mouths slightly open. I don’t need to hear them to know what they’re thinking.What is she doing up there? Is that a raven tattoo on her arm? What the hell is Valdemar playing at? Is this some kind of joke?
“I would like to introduce you all to Evangeline Bransby, who is not only the first woman to become a Raven Hand but also the first to swear the Blood Oath.”
“You were found guilty of killing her brother,” a man with thick ginger hair shouts. “How can you trust her?”
Valdemar glares into the crowd, and I feel his anger running down his arm and fingertips and flowing into my hand. “I trust her with my life, and so should you.”
But it isn’t enough. These people need to know what happened, but to reveal the full truth of that night could get them killed, so a snapshot will have to suffice.
“Valdemar didn’t kill my brother,” I begin, Valdemar flinching beside me. “He took the fall to keep everyone else safe. He can’t tell you who did kill Ed, as it would put your lives at risk. But if there’s anyone in this room who believes he would kill one of his own, then you aren’t in the right place.”
Silence, thick and dangerous, swamps the hall, and I’m worried it will swallow me until I hear the slow clap from the front.
Jacinta. Jacinta is clapping.
She knows the truth. She knows Valdemar didn’t shoot my brother.
“It’s about time someone spoke up about what happened,” another woman calls from the back, and as she joins in, so do the other women, followed by some men. Not all of them, but enough that the room is filled with noise.
And it’s then that I see them. My mother and father are at the back of the hall, my father with his hands on my mother’s shoulders, and Ed is there with Annabel wrapped in his arms. They nod to me, my brother and my mother. My family—all of them here to watch except William, my dad, who’s since visited me and Valdemar. It was an awkward visit, Valdemar’s presence a difficult one to swallow, until we told William an edited version of what really happened to Ed that didn’t disclose the Raven Hands’ gifts. Luckily, he was more focussed on me and relieved that I’d accepted the news about my birth father without too much scorn.
“Thank you,” I say to the four ghostly figures.
