“Oh, immensely.” Leoake laughed. No shame in it at all. “When you live as long as I do, you learn to find entertainment in the grand scheme of fate.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Fate’s scheme or yours? You gave me that jacket because you knew I would need it.”
“You needed to protect your head, and I made sure you would keep it a little while longer.”
A little while longer.His tone was playful, but it left an ominous feeling over her.
“Why?”
“As I said, the fates like to plot and I like to watch how it all weaves together. To predict how each piece fits on the board, and occasionally make a play of my own. It’s all quite predictable, but in some rare instances, I’m pleasantly surprised. Your fate is the most entertaining game I have seen in many, many centuries.”
Dyna clenched her fists, her head heating. “My life isn’t a game.”
“And yet it was you who called it that first, clever mortal.”
She scowled and raised her chin. “You hide behind your runes and tricks because you’re nothing but a charlatan.”
Leoake’s smile faded, and the angles of his face sharpened.
“Is it not true? You laugh and mock me, patronizing the future I so fear and desperately want to stop while offering nothing useful after binding me in a geas.” She was taking a monumental risk of offending the fae, but she was sick and tired of feeling like she was tumbling through life without a solid path. She needed to know if there was any slim chance of defeating the Shadow. “If you’re a true seer then tell me, will I succeed?”
Leoake steepled his long fingers, tapping them together as he studied her. “Very well. Only because I’m intrigued by you and because I don’t wish for you to perish before I attain my favor will I give you what you seek.”
He circled her in slow prowling steps, observing her as if everything in her soul was exposed to him. The faint sound of thunder rolled in the distance as light swirled in his gold eyes, making them eerily glow.
“Each of you is on this path for a reason,” he said. “Your friends. Your enemies. Those who pass you by. Each has a move to make, a purpose to fulfill.” He stopped before her, his gaze radiating vividly with the sight of the future. “You and your Guardians have all come under the same stars by will, and destiny, for this journey is your bonded fate. The pain each of you endured has molded who you are, and the pain yet to come is the cost you must sacrifice to gain that which you most desire. Success is determined by your life, Maiden, for if you don’t pay the price, the others will.”
She stared at him for a long minute, slowly processing his words. Her decision not to react, not to give any tell on her face held. The longer she purposely stayed quiet, the more awkward it grew. The wind died, and Leoake’s glowing eyes dimmed to cool honey. He frowned, his disappointment at her lack of reaction apparent.
She blinked, maintaining the air of unimpressed. “What? No rhyme?”
Leoake scoffed. “I was never considered a poet, and I may have missed the meeting where all seers decided we must rhyme when giving out divinations. Something or other about it being easier to remember.”
Dyna doubted she would forget what he had said.
She pressed her trembling fists against her hips. The pain she had endured and pain yet to come. An ultimate sacrifice on her part that would determine if they succeeded.
Fear of the Shadow led her to leave North Star on this mission, and she left knowing there was little chance of surviving the journey. If the cost of destroying the Shadow was her life, then it was a small price to pay. But she would not let others determine her future. For whatever reason, the fates gave her Guardians to keep her alive, be it for their entertainment or some other purpose. If they liked to play games—she would play.
“No destiny is ever permanent,” Leoake said, his tone serious. “Will and fate go hand in hand. You have the power to change your future, but it’s what comes at the end of your journey that may prove to be the most arduous.”
That almost sounded as if he was giving her advice, or maybe a warning.
“Well, I’m bored now. I must be on my way to meddle in the future of another poor soul. Do give Princess Keena my regards.” He motioned at Azulo, and the blue fox leaped onto his shoulders.
“I see why they call you the dastardly Druid,” Dyna said.
“Indeed.” Leoake took her hand and kissed the geas as he bowed, his sardonic smile returning. “Until we meet again, ye fair maid.”
Then he strolled for the woods with a cheerful whistle, the tune sounding so familiar it reeled an old memory like the hook on a fishing pole. But it slipped away and sunk back in the depths of her mind before she could grasp it.
“Wait, what do you prefer I call you?” she asked.
“I thought you were a clever mortal,” the Druid said as he walked away, repeating the same line he delivered in the Moors. “You know better than to ask a faerie his name.”
Azulo barked at her one last time before they vanished into the willow trees. Dyna raised her cursed hand in farewell, knowing she would certainly run intothat oneagain.
* * *
