“Rise, child,” the Oracle said in a dreamy voice, and Leap snorted loudly. I raised my eyebrows at his irreverent attitude, but if anyone else noticed it, they kept it to themselves. “I apologize if I’ve interrupted you, but I’m afraid I’m going to need this room.”
“Oh,” Madame Gale said, a pained note in her voice. Her eyes darted toward Adara and Mavlyn, obviously wondering what business they had with the Oracle, but she wisely decided not to ask. “Certainly, we can find another room. Just give us a moment.”
She gestured for the guards to grab us, but before they could obey, the Oracle held up her hand. “These two need to stay behind as well.”
The guards froze. “Happily,” Madame Gale said stiffly after a very protracted silence. “I’ll just need to collect an item of mine from one the boy. He stole something from me, you see.”
“Yes, I know,” the Oracle said, and though her tone remained serene, I could hear the sharp smile in her voice. “That’s one of the reasons I came down here. I’m in need of a new fan, you see.”
There was another long silence, and if looks could kill, the look in Madame Gale’s eyes would have struck the Oracle dead. “There are a number of fans available for purchase,” she said, looking like she’d swallowed a poisonous toad.
“Yes, but not too many of them can be used to manipulate and control the decisions of others,” the Oracle said. A thread of steel entered her voice now, and power hummed in the air surrounding her. Just a hint, but the hairs on my arms stiffened, and the guards shifted uneasily on their feet. “The winds have told me all about the many exploits you’ve made with that fan, Madame Gale. I could easily pen a letter to Lord Oren several pages long informing him of them…or, I could let you leave this room unscathed, with him none the wiser. Providing that none of you mention anything that happened here tonight, of course.”
All the blood drained out of Madame Gale’s face, leaving her looking like a fresh corpse left to rot on a snowy mountainside. “Yes, Oracle,” she said quickly, dipping into another hasty curtsy. “Have a good evening.”
She fled from the room as if she were being chased by harpies, rudely jostling Adara as she did so. An annoyed look flashed across Adara’s face before she met my gaze, and something inside me warmed as she gave me a relieved smile.
So, she had noticed we’d been taken. And it seemed she’d convinced the Oracle to save us.
“You there,” the Oracle said, pointing at one of the guards. “Release these two, and then clear the room, please.”
The guard hesitated. “Are you certain, Oracle? They are criminals—”
“I know very well who they are,” she said calmly. “Now release them.”
The guard sighed, then fished a key out of his pocket. He undid Leap’s cuffs first, then approached me more warily, clearly nervous that I would harm him if he set me free. I wanted to, but there were more important things to worry about than beating up a guard who was just trying to do his job, so instead I held still and allowed him to unlock the cuffs. I sighed in relief as I felt my magic rush back into my fingertips, and the guard leaped back as flamed blossomed to life in my hands. Quickly, I shook them out before I accidentally set him on fire.
“You didn’t see that,” I said, glaring at him.
He nodded in wide-eyed agreement, then rushed out of the room, the other guards following suit. The door slammed shut behind him, leaving the five of us alone.
“Well, that was the most excitement I’ve had in months!” the Oracle exclaimed, plopping unceremoniously into a chair. She ripped off her veil, revealing a heart-shaped face with ice-blue eyes, a pert nose, and a wide mouth that was made for smiling. I had a feeling that despite the serene act from earlier, her spirit was just as wild as the mane of white curls cascading over her shoulders.
“All right, let’s get to it,” she said, snagging one of those curls and twining it around her forefinger as her mouth widened in a mischievous grin. “Which one of you poor fools wants to hear how you die first?”
29
Adara
“What?” I blurted as Quye’s question echoed through the drawing room. A shiver skated over my skin, and I resisted the sudden urge to hug myself. “That isn’t what I came here for. I don’t want to know how I die!”
“I second that,” Mavlyn said, raising her forefinger into the air. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m immortal. In fact, I’m far more interested in hearing about howyou’regoing to die,” she said, smirking at the Oracle.
The Oracle gave a breathy sigh, throwing her head back and pressing the back of her hand dramatically against her forehead. “Alas, it is the curse of the Oracle to never be allowed to see her own future,” she said. “Not that I think my death will be especially exciting or anything. I’ll either be devoured by shadow creatures, or I’ll die of boredom and old age in my fluffy feather bed. Depends on the choices you two make, really.”
She nodded at me, and then at Einar, making me frown. “Us two?” I asked.
“Oh yes,” Quye said, nodding sagely. “Your fates are intertwined. There’s no use fighting it,” she added when Einar opened his mouth, looking as though he wanted to argue. “You of all people should know that.” She gave him a pointed look.
“And just what is that supposed to mean?” I propped my hands on my hips as I looked back and forth between them. “Is there something you know that I don’t, Einar?”
“Not a damn thing,” he said stonily, but he wouldn’t quite meet my gaze.
I growled, seized by the urge to storm over to him and shake him until whatever secrets he was hiding spilled from his mouth. I’d been so worried when I’d rushed down here with Mavlyn and the Oracle, but Einar barely seemed grateful that we’d come to his rescue. Insufferable male!
“I’d tell you what it is,” Quye said, drawing my attention back to her, “but that would really take the fun out of things, so I’ll leave it up to you to pry the truth out of Einar later.” She winked at me. “I can, however, tell you about the prophecy. That is what you came here to speak to me about, yes?”
“Umm. Yeah. Right.” I blinked, trying to get my mind back on track. Of course that was what I came here for. A tingling awareness spread through my veins, and my heart was about to beat faster. I’d been waiting for days for this moment, and now that we were finally here, I was thinking about Einar. What was wrong with me? “Yes, I’d love to hear the prophecy.”
