“Then why didn’t you just say that?” Dom bit back as her tattooed hand rubbed her forehead. The frustration was leaking out of every pore in her body. Clearly the relief she’d gotten from our train tryst hadn’t lasted.
A roar now, Dom continued, “Why send me to watch her, to keep her safe if you knew she didn’t even have them?”
The hole in my heart Dom had created — the same one she’d been slowly trying to mend — ripped right open. She wasn’t interested in protecting me, not really. It was alwaysabout the shares. About The Oracle’s offer of more power. About vengeance against her own father, the man who I could only assume left those scars on her back.
In an operatic cacophony, The Oracle spoke. “She is the key to unlocking the vault.”
The voices split off, a new member taking each line. “We need two.”
“If the pair could not mend…”
“... Could not find common ground.”
“The prophecy could never be completed.”
From beside me, Leo’s heavy chest heaved as she rolled her eyes. “What on fucking Earth does that even mean?”
She’d kept herself calm the entire meeting, not letting anyone know how she felt. But the choir had been enough to set her over the edge. Even my angel didn’t have the patience of a saint.
The Oracle at the center of the semicircle spoke louder now. “The shares are being held by a trusted lawyer, one Mr. Tierney trusted to keep Kiera’s endowment safe until she came of age. Once she has them, the two of you must pool your authority. Only then can Zeus fall.”
Rage bubbled in my chest as I pieced together the puzzle. “You set all of this up?”
I took a step forward. “You knew how we could end all of this from the beginning? Made me grovel to stay in the haunted fucking house all to make usworktogether like fucking school children?”
The silence that followed confirmed everything.
There was no containing the anger now. “You sick FUCKS. My life is at stake!”
78
KIERA
Standingat the center of The Oracle’s chambers, I waited for them to answer for what they’d done to me. They had let me be abused by Gabriel, let me be broke and alone for years. All to be a part of their sick game.
One Oracle took a deep breath, a blase tone in their voice. “We all take risks for Justice, Fledgling.”
The fuck did they call me?
I shook my head and muttered my dissent. “Just a bullshit line when you’re sitting at the summit of a mountain with clean hands.”
The chorus returned to argue. “The Oracle’s hands are bloodied by the Justice of the Many.”
Before I could quip something more damaging, Leo stepped forward. “You said there was a lawyer. Who? How do we get in contact?”
A singular voice rose from the council's shadows. “Your instructions will come in due time. You’re dismissed.”
Gripping the railing tighter, Dom shook her head. “No. No. We didn’t travel across the country for you to tell us to wait for instructions.”
She scoffed and stood straighter, her body vibrating with anger. “No, cut the bullshit. We want detailsnow.” Her booming voice echoed down off the vaulted ceilings, raining down on us like a torrential summer storm.
A deep voiced Oracle roared from the darkness. “Your threats mean nothing here. You would be remiss to remember your place, Ms. Dumont. Don’t forget who elevated your position, who has cleaned upyourmesses.”
Dom licked her lips, wanting to bite back.
Despite how angry I was at her, it was clearer to me now that Dom had been held hostage too — by the acts of her father and the veiled figures at this table.
As my mind tried to keep up with everything I’d learned this morning, one thing was becoming obvious to me: The Oracle was posturing.
