“It is the witch blood prophecy,” Ambriel said, his expression growing solemn. “It was first uttered by a witch Seer forced into making a prophecy using dark magic, nearly fifty years ago. The witches hunt for the woman it describes, for she will be their salvation, and the demons seek her out, for it is thought that she will bring about their doom.”
Elizabeth’s jaw dropped.
“No, you must be mistaken.” There was no way a prophecy could be about her.
A prophecy from a witch about demons, artefacts, and doom could not meanher. She had left Briarton on a whim and had no other ties to their world. It wouldhave been impossible for someone to predict she would become tangled in their world, much less predict it before she was even born.
It didn’t make any logical sense.
She bit her lip. But then, whyhadCaspian sought her out? He had appeared to her at the ball and showed up again in her home city. She recalled wondering if he had been following her. Had this been why their paths had kept crossing?
“He’s never brought it up,” she said weakly, not wanting to believe there could have been anything but random chance that had brought her here to Arboras.
“If he does not suspect you, I would be surprised. I have long followed his quests for mortal women, and I believe he may be choosing his conquests deliberately, hunting for the woman from the prophecy.”
Elizabeth cringed at the word “conquests.”
“Long have the demons coveted the artefact we seek.” Ambriel looked down at her. “The demon called Finnigan hunts through the land, searching for it, most desperately.”
Finnigan’s travels.
She recalled Finnigan’s words, and her blood ran cold.A rare and precious artefact. Something mortals need not concern themselves with. It is an item of immense power, sought by witches and demons alike for centuries.
“You’re saying both angels and demons are hunting for this woman?” Her voice came out as barely a whisper. “That they’re—looking for me?”
Ambriel’s gaze grew pitying. “I believe so.”
“I don’t think so,” she said, her voice lacking conviction. “I’ve never heard anything more ridiculous. You must be mistaken. It can’t meanme.” She paused, casting for an explanation that would absolve her of any responsibility to the prophecy. “I can hardly evendomagic.”
But as she said it, she withered under Ambriel’s kind smile.
Softly, he said, “Yet here you stand, and now, fate has made your path cross with demons and alerted you to their evils. I have long searched for the answer to the prophecy’s riddle, and I believe it is you.”
She swallowed.
“You will find the artefact, and when you do, it will change the tide of our world.”
“How can I possibly find something when I don’t even know what it is?” Elizabeth whispered.
“I will show you. Close your eyes.”
Hesitantly, she did, and a vast consciousness brushed hers lightly in greeting. She felt a feather-light touch on the edge of her mind.Extend your awareness. It feels like an angel, buried in an object. I know you can find this for me.
His consciousness felt strange. Vast and powerful, like the minds of Caspian and the other demons at the castle, but where Caspian’s consciousness felt like a churning vortex of hate and darkness, Ambriel’s consciousness was cool as ice. His mind was alien and complicated, giving her an impression of order and logic.
His consciousness stroked hers in silent invitation to return the gesture.
“You, Elizabeth, are the key to finding these—”
An image of two amulets of rough-hewn gold entered her mind. One had a deep purple gem in the center, and the other had a blue one. The edging was rough, looking like solidified waves of molten gold. The gems appeared to glow, and the surface was lightly scratched.
Elizabeth came to herself, throwing him out of her mind and retreating to the privacy of her own head, gasping for air as if she had just run.
“Very good. That’s a good way to deter people from entering your mind unannounced, but you don’t have to use it with me,” Ambriel lectured.
The truth was, she had thrown him out of her mind in a knee-jerk reaction when she had realized he was in danger of hearing her thoughts.
“W-what are those things?” she asked, feeling flustered.
