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“He said you lost yourself after your sister died.”
Rafferty’s eyes turn so hard it steals my breath. In the blink of an eye, he goes from the calm, collected man I first met, to an angry, murderous warrior. “Taranus has no business speaking of Niahm.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring it up.”
“Not your fault.” He closes his eyes and breathes deeply, nostrils flaring. Then, he appears to calm once more when he looks at me again. “He’s not wrong about me losing myself, though his issues with me were always more about jealousy.”
“Yes. He said you came after him because you were angry over losing the throne.”
“Do you believe him? Do you believe there is truth in the accusations that I am a dirty, murdering rebel?”
I don’t even hesitate. “No.”
“Why? You met us both at the same time, so why do you believe me over the man on the other side of the bars?”
“Does it matter?”
“It does to me.”
Taking a deep breath, I get to my feet and begin to pace. “I saw you,” I admit. “Twice. Once back in Texas outside the doctor’s office, and again in a restaurant during a date.”
“A date?” His brow arches. “Have you someone back home?”
“No. Not like that; I’d just met him. And he likely has already forgotten about me.”
“I very much doubt that. You don’t strike me as a forgettable woman.”
My cheeks flush.If only you knew.“Anyway, I dreamt of you, too, the night I came here, and while I don’t understand how any of that is possible, I feel like I can trust you. Which might be dumb, but hey, what do I have to lose?”
His smile falters briefly. Then he clears his throat. “I know why you saw visions of me,” he says, softly.
I whirl on him. “Why? How?”
“Our destinies are entwined, Ember. See, I dreamt of you—bathed in fire. I believed you to be a figment of my imagination. That was until a seer told me of your prophecy.”
I don’t even focus on the one part of that conversation I probably should—prophecy and all. Instead, I move closer to the bars. “You dreamt of me?”
“Many times.”
“And I was on fire?”
He shakes his head. “You’d caused the fire.”
The words are more of a gut punch than they probably should have been, but after coming here, seeing all I’ve seen, prophecies don’t seem too far out of reach. “I caused the fire? What does that even mean?”
“I don’t know,” he answers, honestly. “But I do know that you are going to change the world, Ember. One way or another.”
“You all have the wrong person. I’m no one. A woman who—until recently—had never even left Austin, Texas.”
“The prophecy claims you will make the one true king.”
I step back. “That’s insane. I don’t have a magical vagina or anything. How the hell is marriage to me supposed to make someone all-powerful?”
He gapes back at me. “Magical vagina?”
I’m too shocked to be embarrassed. “You know what I mean.” Pinching the bridge of my nose, I shake my head. “This is all insane.”
“You’re standing in a dungeon beneath a castle in Faerie, and a fortune seems insane?”
