Elizabeth lifted the kettle, pouring the now-perfect tea into a porcelain cup. The liquid swirled with colors that shifted as it settled, deep greens mixing with red and yellow. “I think Victoria needs someone who won’t be intimidated by her brilliance or put off by her single-minded focus. Someone who understands what it means to be consumed by duty and responsibility.”
Someone who’ll challenge her instead of worshiping her.
“Oh, I’m confident he’ll worship her as well, given time.” Elizabeth carried her cup to the reading table, a smooth circle of polished stone that showed reflections like dark water. “Feral needs someone who won’t submit just because he’s powerful. Someone who’ll stand her ground and demand he meet her as an equal.”
This sounds like a recipe for constant arguing.
“Or passionate partnership.” Elizabeth settled into her chair, cradling the teacup between her palms. Warmth spread through her fingers as she gazed into the tea’s depths. “Let’s see what the leaves have to say about it.”
She sipped slowly, letting the tea’s magic work through her system. The starflower petals activated her divination abilities, the silvered moss grounded the visions in reality, and the dragon scale essence added enough unpredictability to show her true possibilities rather than fixed paths.
When she’d drunk half the cup’s contents, she swirled the remainder three times clockwise and poured it onto the dark surface.
The tea leaves scattered across the stone, and Elizabeth leaned closer.
At first, the patterns seemed much too busy to discern. Leaves clumped in tight clusters here and there, with no clearorganization. But as her magic touched them, images began to form.
A laboratory materialized in miniature, complete with bubbling beakers and scattered notes. Beside it, King Feral’s world took shape, a cluster of huge, ancient trees with trunks so wide you could fit Elizabeth’s manor house inside. Multiple levels. Spiral staircases. And natural windows where trees had been trained to grow in specific patterns. In the center of it all, the alpha tree, Feral’s residence placed at the highest canopy level for surveying his territory.
Inside his dwelling, she spied pelts and weapons mounted on the wall, plus a large, lush bed, and an enormous hearth where an equally large fire crackled.
The two spaces couldn’t have been more different, yet as Elizabeth watched, thin lines of light began connecting them. A book from the laboratory drifted toward Feral’s home. A bow from his wall floated to the laboratory’s desk.
The objects didn’t fight or clash. They existed in both spaces at the same time, as if they’d always belonged together.
Well?Grimble padded closer, sniffing at the leaves.What catastrophe do you see?
“I see complexity.” Elizabeth traced one finger above the pattern, careful not to disturb it. The images shifted, showing new configurations. Victoria bent over a microscope while a massive wolf paced behind her. In another, the wolf lay sleeping while Victoria sat nearby, reading by firelight.
The pattern darkened. Walls rose between the laboratory and sitting area, thick and impenetrable. The connecting lights flickered and dimmed.
“There’s resistance,” Elizabeth said. “From both sides, I suspect. They’ll fight the connection even as it forms.”
Victoria thinks emotions are inefficient, and from what I’ve heard, Feral thinks anything that isn’t pack is unnecessary.Grimble’s whiskers twitched.You’d be asking them to overcome their fundamental beliefs about what they need.
The tea leaves swirled again, this time without Elizabeth touching them. New images formed, these ones less clear. A flash of silver fur. Victoria’s face, shocked and angry. Books flying through the air. A howl that shook the leaves themselves.
And in the center of the mess, something new. Two figures standing back-to-back, facing outward together. The bond between them growing stronger as Elizabeth watched.
The image held for three heartbeats before dissolving.
Elizabeth sat back, frowning. “They’ll agree to the match.”
You sound certain.
“Victoria will agree because she understands duty, and me fixing her up with someone will be much easier than going through a courtship that will take time from her studies. She’s already seen her cousins go through this without a problem. Feral will agree because his wolf already knows she’s meant to be his, even if his human side hasn’t caught up yet.” Elizabeth tapped her fingers on the table. “The question isn’t whether they’ll marry. It’s how to help them move from agreement to actual partnership.”
You can’t force emotions any more than you can force that mistpape.
“No, but I can create opportunities for connection.” She stood, moving back to her work area. The plants around her stirred, sensing her shift in focus. “They’ll try to avoid each other. Keep things purely transactional. My job is to make avoidance impossible.”
Grimble groaned.I hear that scheming tone in your voice.
“You love it.”
I tolerate it because you feed me.
Elizabeth smiled, already running through possibilities. Victoria would bury herself in research. Feral would lose himselfin pack responsibilities. Both would use their work as armor against actually having to interact on any meaningful level.
