Something inside me shattered. “You knew. How could you do this?”
She’s not the sharpest arrow in the quiver, is she?
Grandmother’s lips thinned. “You’ll catch more flies with honey, Gladys. And my granddaughter is brilliant. Please, Haven, we don’t have time for this. Touch the water. It will show you things you need to see.”
“If I don’t?”
You can’t change your fate. We’re only trying to prepare you.
I’d never had a choice. Not about anything.
The thought sat in my chest like a stone. Every decision I thought I’d made—learning from my tutors, saving Khouri, leaving with the guards—had been guided by fate. Had any part of my life truly been mine?
I stared at the glowing water, feeling hollow. What was thepoint of touching it? Of seeing these “possible futures” when apparently I had no say in which one came to pass?
“Haven?” Grandmother’s voice was gentle, worried.
With a resigned sigh, I held out my hand, allowing my fingers to brush the pool’s surface.
A thousand images bombarded my mind. Impossible images. There was pain. There was suffering. There was death. But threading through it all was a strange kind of … agency. In every vision, I was making a choice. Fighting. Leading. Loving. In every moment, I was acting, not just reacting. Maybe that was what they meant about choosing the path to my destiny. Not whether I’d walk it, but how.
I yanked my hand out of the water. “What was that?”
Possible futures.
I hid my hand behind my back. “There’s no way what I just saw will happen.”
What did you see, Haven?Gladys’s amused tone made me wish she had a face for me to slap. She deserved it.
“I saw a crown.”
Did you?Gladys sniggered.
“I saw—” No. I couldn’t bring myself to speak of it.
Your grandmother and I have seen where the path will take you.
Grandmother had seen all that? The battles, the fires, the crown—all that I could handle. But me with … my cheeks burned. “I sincerely hope you’re lying.”
Chapter
Forty
HAVEN
Grandmother dispersed, leaving me alone in the cave with Gladys. Even as vapor, Grandmother had brought the warmth of home. Now that she was gone, I pulled the cloak more tightly around me. “What now?”
Destiny wasn’t hanging out in the cave with us. Or was she? I scanned the wall carvings for a depiction of the goddess. I didn’t find her. Instead, my gaze snagged on the dragon. Its eyes, rubies that were bigger than my two hands fisted together, seemed to stare back at me.
“Are dragons real?”
You’ve seen the answer. The basajaun will take you where you need to go.
“Which is where?”
Not here.
Grinding my teeth was probably bad for them. “Are all disembodied voices as annoying as you?”
