“You are my declared mate. We are both to blame. Such are the laws of the Arcanea.”
“But it was my fault.”
“No. What mates do, they do together, not alone. I consider myself equally responsible.” I took her hand. “It doesn’t matter what happens from here on out. We’re a united front against all odds. Your crimes are mine to bear.”
Emma’s brows knitted together. She seemed conflicted— like she had something on her mind.
She must’ve brushed it off, because she changed the subject and said, “I think we need to talk to our friends about me being the Worldweaver, and about the hag. I’ve been feeling guilty about keeping it in the dark. We should come clean.”
I wasn’t sure if that was the right move. But at the same time, if this prophecy foretold anything about the horrors to come, we needed all the help we could get. “Very well. When do you want to tell them?”
“It’s lunch. They’re all free,” Emma said. “I asked Odette to get everyone around in the Rec Room. We should go there now.”
So she’d decided to do this in advance, without telling me. I thought this was our secret to share, as it had happened to the both of us. But I guess she was the center of it, so she had the final decision. It was a blow to my pride, but still. I knew she was making the right choice.”Let’s go.”
The Rec Room was deserted this time of day, on account of everyone being in the cafeteria. Our friend group was in a secluded corner, goofing off by a long bench near a picture window. Odette was chatting in low whispers to the other girls, like usual, while Stefan shoved Theo, trying to get him to wrestle. Theo ignored him, though when Stefan pushed Alexei, the griffin shifter had no trouble hitting back.
The two boys broke into a playful scuffle before they saw us approach. The conversation stopped, and all eyes looked up. “You wanted to talk about something urgent?” Odette asked.
Emma took a deep breath and sat down on the bench. I sat beside her. “Yes. It’s pretty important,” she said.
She took my hand in hers for support. I squeezed it, and Emma said, “At the start of last semester, Ethan and I ran into a monster near the edge of the school grounds. It was a hag, but she didn’t attack us. She foretold a prophecy— said that I was the Worldweaver, and that I was destined to destroy the Arcanea.”
“What?” Kiara asked. She’d turned pale.
Emma steadied her breath and began to recite the prophecy that was spoken to us. “And there shall be a sorceress who is above all Marked. She will be written as destined and cursed, for there is not one who is as strong as she, nor one who is so damned. Realms shall bow to her will, but never shall she escape her cruel fate. She will be known as the Worldweaver. She who holds the power of the Arcanea will be their final end, for when the wolf howls, the Worldweaver who rules over reality itself will surrender her magic and die.”
The room was dead silent. The boys were wide-eyed in shock, while the girls seemed breathless.
“Ethan and I have been investigating. We don’t really know what the Worldweaver is, but we know the Black Claw wants my blood in order to raise Droga from the dead. If they capture me, they can use it to summon the Dark God on a specific day, though I haven’t found out which one yet,” Emma said. “If that happens, Droga will take over, and I’ll have condemned the fae to extinction.”
“Emma, how could you not tell us this?” Kiara asked in exasperation. “This is important information!”
“I’m sorry, I just didn’t know who to trust at the time.” She ran a hand through her red hair. “Though I think I’m safe for now. I don’t think the cult is chasing after me— not at the moment, anyway.”
“How can you be sure?” I asked.
Emma shrugged. “I can’t. But they were coming for me all last semester, and they’ve suddenly stopped. It’s only reasonable to deduce that they’re biding their time until the proper moment. If the ritual date was anywhere close, they’d be doing everything they could to kidnap me right now.”
Her point made sense. Delmare was the calmest— she laid a hand on Emma’s knee and said, “I understand why you didn’t bring this up. It’s upsetting to everyone. But we want you to know we’re here for you, no matter what.”
“That’s not all,” Emma continued. “The hag said that before the first of the snow melts away at the end of the fourth winter, I will meet my death. That’s only a few years away.”
“Nothing is going to happen to you,” I said as the girls gasped. “The prophecy is wrong.”
Emma frowned. “Prophecy or not, this is serious. The same hag who came to foretell the prophecy came to me in my tent during the King’s Contest. She told me if I was to keep Ethan alive, I had to use the dark necklace to do it. She promised he would be king. I feel like she was sent by Milonna to be my guide.”
I kept silent about the second encounter. The hag had made things up. I wasn’t due to be king now, was I?
Odette perked up. “Is this like when you met Milonna in the forest?”
“Odette!” Kiara and Delmare hissed at the same time. Odette turned pink and put a few fingers over her lips.
The boys gasped. I felt blood rush from my face. “W-what?”
Emma growled, “Odette, you weren’t supposed to tell him.”
“I am your mate!” I all but roared. Several people shushed me, but I ignored them. “This is something I should know!”
