“You heard correctly.”
“And you hold this information from the Cauldron?” my daughter asks, sucking on her fingertip.
“Yes, Fallon.”
“Are you certain it’s the Cauldron speaking and not Meriam?” Lorcan asks.
I’m about to say yes, but what if it is Meriam? “I…I… They spoke of Meriam in the third person.”
“Meriam is cunning and manipulative,” Lorcan says.
“Perhaps, but she doesn’t have the sight, does she? She couldn’t have foreseen that Agrippina would be attacked,” I counter.
“She can use Agrippina’s eyes, Mádhi. Meriam might not be able toforesee, but she can see.”
I run the beaded tassels of my belt through my fingers, the faceted black diamonds glimmering white against the black silk. “How could Meriam speak intomymind?”
Fallon pushes a lock of her dark auburn hair behind her ear. “The same way she speaks into Agrippina’s. She must’ve spelled the connection into existence that day in the Temple. Or maybe she did it after she sent your soul into a serpent’s womb? I don’t know. All I know is that we shouldn’t put it past her.”
“It isn’t Meriam speaking, Zendaya. It is me. The Mahananda.”
My heart ratchets up.
“I see doubt in your mind. My keeper should never doubt herself or me. Perhaps you don’t deserve to become my keeper. Perhaps you don’t deserve immortality.”
“Mádhi?” Fallon touches my arm, making me jump. “The voice is speaking with you, isn’t it?”
I don’t nod. I don’t have to. My daughter has learned to read me just fine.
“Ask it what it showed me the day it welcomed me into its depths.”
“What did you show Fallon the day you undid her obsidian curse?”I ask.
“You dare question me?”The anger that rises from the disembodied voice rattles my temples.“You don’t deserve my guidance. You don’t deserve for your species to endure. And you certainly don’t deserve Priya’s crown. Goodbye, Zendaya. Do not seek out my mercy for I have none to give to those who doubt me.”
“No,”I squeak.“Wait. No.”I imagine the Mahananda’s surface rippling before becoming hard as stone.
“What is it, Mádhi?”
“It told me I was undeserving. It told me not to seek it out. I’ve doomed my species.” I palm my mouth. “What if I’ve doomed yours too? What have I done? What have Idone?”
“The Cauldron may be temperamental, but it’s fair, Daya,” Lorcan says calmly. “It would never doom one of its children for asking questions. Which strengthens my conviction that the voice you’re hearing is Meriam’s. Not to mention that your eyes didn’t whi?—”
The ground suddenly rumbles, bleaching Fallon’s complexion. “What if we’re wrong, Lore?”
Day!Enzo’s shout grips my heart and holds it in a vise.Day, where are you?
In my bathing chamber. Where are you?
I’m with your grandmother but—but…oh. Holy. Mahananda.
What? What’s happening?
Silence.
Enzo?I screech. When he still doesn’t answer, I close my eyes and concentrate on our mind link until it becomes as firm as a rope, one I scramble up until Ifeelhim. His heartbeats are slow and even.Enzo?I shout again. He must’ve lost consciousness. “Something happened.” My whisper is as tremulous as my limbs that rattle as I stalk toward my door. “Something’s happening.” I seize the handle. Locked. I twist around to find Lorcan and Fallon exchanging a grave look. “Open the door, Fallon. Something’s happened to Enzo. Open the door.”
She doesn’t.
