The man’s brow furrows. “I didn’t recognize his accent, but I believe he was from Frost because of his pale skin.”
I keep my expression clear, even though this is another unwanted tie to my kingdom.
“You made an assumption,” I say, casually examining my fingertips. “Just as you assumed you would get away with harboring the Oracle.”
The man startles. He glances up at Lilis before he leans back from me. “The Oracle?”
“Yes,” I say, chewing the inside of my lip. “The Oracle you harbored.”
The color drains further from his cheeks, and now he’s deathly pale. “We would never protect the Oracle. We aren’tthat foolish. If the Oracle was here, we were unaware.” Then his eyes fly wide. “Was Stanimir the Oracle?”
If he’s trying to misdirect, he’s doing a terrible job of it.
I lean forward, a sudden movement, my icy power flaring, but the man’s wide eyes and clear expression betray no hint of a lie.
It looks as if he had no idea the Oracle was living here in his village.
But then, I’ve been fooled once today.
I vow never to underestimate a lowborn again.
I raise my hand, ready to strike him down, but my wolf chooses that moment to make her presence known, padding quietly to my side and nudging her head against my arm in an unusually insistent action, and I’m not sure why.
It’s only a momentary distraction, but it gives the villager the chance to close his eyes, bow his head, and start praying. “Goddess of Sea and Stars, protect me,” he whispers. “Protect me as you protect the waves. Goddess of Sea and Stars, protect me as you protect the night sky?—”
Suddenly, the Oracle’s voice returns to me.Come for me when the stars go out.
With a frustrated hiss, I lower my hand. “Return to your people. Make sure they understand that what happened here today was their own fault.”
The man rises to his feet, eyeing Lilis and the other two fae as he backs away. No doubt he won’t risk turning his back on any of us until he’s a safe distance away.
My wolf nudges my chest again before she swings in the direction of the dead man and pads over to him, sniffing around the dagger impaled in his chest.
She gives a sharp growl, the kind she only makes when predators dare emerge from the northern wilds, and she smells them on thewind.
Her nose must be telling her something about the weapon that I can’t detect.
Whatever it is, I need to find out.
I fight a sudden trickle of unsettling ice at the base of my spine. Not the cold I’m used to. If I didn’t know better, I’d say this is what a shiver feels like.
Someone is playing a game with my fate, sending notes, luring all three kings here, hiring an assassin to kill the previous Oracle, and, most importantly, triggering the new Oracle’s power. All on the same day.
Someone who, to do all of those things, must have knowledge and possibly even power that could be a real threat to me.
To Lilis, I say, “Preserve this man’s body with ice. Do not touch the dagger or remove it. I want him brought with us just as he is.”
Her forehead puckers. “Who was he?”
I shrug and lie. “Probably nobody.” Then speak a truth: “But I’m not taking any chances.”
While I need to find out as much as I can about whatever power is behind the assassin, I also need to figure out how to retrieve the Oracle.
I’m certain Antony and Maxim would have made the same assumptions I did before today: that the Oracle has been in full control of her power for years, possibly even from her childhood.
If so, they will overestimate her power.
They may even inadvertently harm her, believing her stronger or more skillful than she is.
