I may not be able to feel what she feels, but I recognize her determination and the sheer fucking, trembling courage that must be raging through her as she raises her head, glaring in defiance at all three of us.
She’s breathtaking to behold.
Before I can respond to her accusation, Maxim’s voice sounds sharply from her other side, coming from within the gray shroud he carries with him, and it seems he isn’t taking her accusation lightly. “You place responsibility for this destruction on our shoulders whenyouare the one who could have stopped it before it began.”
He isn’t wrong. If she had chosen to reveal herself to us years ago, to surrender herself to one of us at any time in her life, destruction would not have come to this village today.
Her focus flies to him, and her back turns to me slightly, and suddenly, I’m presented with an opportunity.
I can seize her while she’s distracted. In a heartbeat, I work through my strategy. I will leap from the smoke, draw on my icy power, blast Antony back first, then Maxim, and hold both of them at bay for the seconds it will take me to snatch up the Oracle and race away with her. My wolf is ready for my call and will reach me within moments.
The Oracle won’t be able to fight me off, no matter how angry she is. I’m certain that her power is in her visions, not her physical strength. Even if she’s been trained in combat, nobody but another king couldchallenge me.
As I leap from the shadows, ready to claim her, the Dragonstone Blade flashes.
An explosion of golden light fills my view, consuming everything around me, washing the world in gold just like it did on the beach.
But this time, it’s only an instant later that my vision clears and my surroundings return to normal.
Nothing appears to have changed.
I prepare to continue my attack, but I jolt once more to a stop.
No. All isnotwhat it was before.
Maxim and Antony haven’t moved from their positions, that’s true, but the Oracle now stands only three paces away from me, facing me, as if she anticipated my attack and stepped right into my path.
The force of my icy power billows around her slender form, a snowstorm plucking at her clothing and dusting her skin and her hair with white powder, making her body appear suddenly porcelain.
Tear tracks freeze on her cheeks, lines of grief now painted white. Despite the danger I pose to her, her head is slightly bowed, and her eyes are closed.
I freeze, my instincts roaring at me to be still, even though my mind tells me my chance to claim her is still right in front of me, and I should act immediately.
Then, a stream of golden light courses up the inside of her right arm, pouring from the dagger’s sharp edge, all the way up to the Oracle’s neck and disappearing beneath her hair.
“You have a choice to make, Stellen, King of Frost.” Her voice is strained as she tilts her head back and finally looks me in the eyes.
I startle as her appearance transforms in front of me.
Her irises fade even further from a dull blue to a pale gray that quickly becomes pearly. Shiny.Fucking perfect.
Her eyes are suddenly the same flawless color as the polished stone that the ancient Frost Fae carved and set atop our most sacred hill. My sister would go there to sing her songs. It’s the only place I ever felt any kind of peace.
Together with the transformation of her eyes, the Oracle’s hair bleaches to glistening white, becoming like snowflakes spun into strands, which waft around her shoulders and cling to her perfect curves.
She is everything I could desire. A physical perfection that could drive me to my knees and shatter me into worthless pieces.
And yet, her transformation makes me wary of her for the first time since I responded to her scream.
Every account of the only other female Oracle—the one known as the False Queen—warns of her beauty. Her power to beguile and charm and betray.
Until this moment, this Oracle was herself. She was beyond physically plain, complex in the layers of emotion beating off her.
Now, she is an icy surface. A frozen lake with nothing but more ice beneath its frosted facade.
Now, she is the Oracle I expected to confront, a heartless fae of cunning and guile who would hide within this village no matter the risk to its people.
Glaring at her, I ask, “What choice must I make?”
