Page 123 of Only Flames Remain

Emrys and Rensford still stood at my back.

“My name is not Noor…not in truth. My name is Greer Winterock. I am not merely a historian, as you know me around the castle. I have been overseeing this palace for centuries and have kept my true nature a secret. Not only is it a gift…but a curse.”

I raised a brow at her. “What is your true nature?”

“I have the magic of the shift, as you can see. Though I am no dragon.”

She was arguably more terrifying. A fae who could pass herself off as anyone else. She could take the shape of another fae. Another human. I hadn’t met anyone like her in my one hundred and thirty-seven years. She had been cloaking herself as Veytari this entire time, when in truth she was Vireth. Veytari did not possess shapeshifting magic. I hadn’t been able to distinguish anything off about her this entire time.

“I have a reputation about the castle that I make it my mission to know everything about everyone. That is not the whole truth. I am an oracle.” She squared her chin as she glared down at me.

Gods above.

It was no wonder she knew every hidden secret spilled within these castle walls. She used her reputation as a gossip monger to hide the fact that she was an oracle, allowing her to sow the seeds of her visions while remaining anonymous.

Clever.

I knew Azhar hadn’t betrayed my trust. Greer must have seen my curse.

Emrys turned his bitter gaze on her. “You’re telling me you’ve been hiding in this castle for the last three centuries, when that entire time you could have been counseling our family? My father?”

I turned my gaze on him, pinning him to his seat. “We need to stay focused on the current matter.” I turned back toward Greer and Enora. “What is it that you have seen?”

Greer held my gaze. The silence that ensued was physically painful. I was practically crawling out of my skin as I waited for her to speak.

“War is coming.”

Emrys snorted, but I didn’t pay him any attention.

She continued. “It is imminent. The path for Aveline was not clear when we first met, though I saw her magic immediately.”

“You did? What is she?” I asked, heart racing.

Greer shook her head. “I’m afraid that is a separate journey Aveline must take to find those answers. What I can tell you is what I saw for her. And what I saw for you.”

I swallowed hard. “Go on.”

“I cannot see what will happen tomorrow or the next day. Not even next week. I only see what the old gods want me to see. With a bowl of water, I can scry. I can see Aveline as she is right now. Since I met her, I know who to search for. But the visions…they are an entirely different magic.” I took a deep breath as Greer continued. “No matter the course you choose now, the result is war. If you do nothing, war will come. If you send men to recapture her, war will follow.”

“There is no way to prevent it?” I asked, voice cracking. “We have tried so hard to maintain this peace for the benefit of our people. There is nothing I would enjoy more than reducing King Faris and his entire brood to ashes, but that isn’t the best course of action for our kingdom. It never has been.”

“I didn’t say that it was the best course of action, only that it will come to be,” she replied.

“But Aveline is safe, for now? They do not know of her magic. And Kallias is—is in love with her.” Anger burned hot up the back of my throat as the words left my mouth.

Greer gave a finite shake of her head and met Enora’s gaze for a brief moment. “I am afraid that House Ashbourne is aware of the magic Aveline possesses. They have an oracle of their own. Aveline is the tide that will turn this siege. I have seen fate and fire for her. Blood and ash. She will be an important piece in the war to come. You cannot survive without her, and the Myrosian royalty will not give her up easily.”

“I can’t survive without her, or my kingdom can’t?” I asked.

“Both.”

My gaze pinned King Mavros to his seat, and he merely glanced away. I raked a hand through my inky hair in frustration.

I addressed the oracle once more. “And for me? What did you see for me?”

She swallowed hard. “You will make a deal with death.”

I reeled back, unsure I heard her correctly. “Excuse me?”