AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ziza’s eager to lick the next queen’s boots.”
“I need to see some prophecy-breaking before I let any crown grace Raya’s head. I don’t trust her one bit.”
“Neither do I. But I’d like to meet her first.” And hopefully read this strange girl’s—woman’s?—threads. Raya seemed hardly past my age from my glimpse of her, but I’m fairly sure she’s been the Head of Lunesse for years.
I comb my hand through my hair and twist it over my shoulder to make it somewhat presentable, then lurch to my feet. “Can you butter up Eina when she finds out I ran off?” I ask.
Camilla waves a ringed hand. “Oh, you slip that crone a good bottle of plum wine and she’ll forget how to speak entirely if that’s what you want. Where are you going, though? I want to know what happened after the ball. What was my brother doing at your tower?”
Kissing me and then some, and I might not have stoppedhim if my visions weren’t acting up.But uttering whole truths aloud doesn’t come to me as easily as it does for the princess. “We were discussing my future as Seer.”
“Before dawn?”
Cyrus really should have chosen a better time to confront me, including the best time: never. “He was angry about the arrangement I made with his father. And probably drunk. He…threatened me.” I grimace. “He wants me to leave my position.”
“What! You can’t.” She cocks her head, frowning, as if waiting for me to react more.
I’m too busy thinking to worry. Worry only causes panic. Thinking at least lets me pretend I’m being productive. “Of course I won’t leave! With the beasts here, Cyrus’s priorities have changed. I’m not going to make hasty decisions becausehedoes.”
“Good. I’ll speak to him. He isn’t thinking straight, I know it. Fairy magic’ll do that to you.”
Or just me.I turn away to hide the rising blush. “Thanks. Could use some certainty in my life right now.”
“The Seer wanting for certainty!” Camilla lets out a boisterous laugh. “We truly are in end times.”
In the palace halls, I find the chaos I expect: courtiers swarming like clicking-heeled beetles, asking after the prince’s wedding plans and matters of prophecy. Weaving in and out of the throngs, I avoid them and their questions alike. Idon’t see Cyrus or Raya, but I do spot the purple feathers of the Imperial Guard helms.
I follow them. Next to the Imperial Guard will be the king.
“Your Majesty,” I call after him. “Please excuse my appearance. May I have a moment?”
A smile stretches the wrinkles of King Emilius’s face when he sees me. “Ah, Seer—you are up. Yes, join me. I’m pleased to see you’re doing better.”
We walk side by side exchanging pleasantries while we’re still within earshot of others, airily discussing how the Fates blessed Prince Cyrus. The king is weaker today, needing both his cane and the help of one of his guards in order to walk. The pace suits me; I’m not at my best either.
Finally, we arrive at his study, a tidy, warm-paneled room nestled in the heart of the east wing. His private library takes up two walls, a fireplace sits in the third, and portraits cover the space behind his desk. If you told me it’s against the law for a speck of dust to enter the room, I’d believe it.
King Emilius shuts the door behind us. With his guards outside, I guide him the rest of his way to his armchair. “The beasts—I dreamed there’ll be more,” I say now that we’re alone. “Their numbers could overrun the kingdom.” The vision of the empty village chilled me, but it was a future thread—one we can still prevent.
The king looks only slightly perturbed, as if he prepared for this. “From where do they come?”
“I might be able to pinpoint a location, but I don’t think it will matter—they were roaming the whole countryside.” I can’t dull the nervous edge to my rambling; I need to be theperfect Seer, one who Cyrus could never dispose of without vicious backlash. I will be exact. I will be invaluable. “They kept close to the Fairywood. Whether they’re emerging from there, however—”
“It’s likely they are,” he interrupts. “I brought in physicians from the university to dissect the beast corpses. The findings are strange. They are as much plant as they are flesh—sap in their veins, a woodiness to their skin beneath their fur. The growth on them is similar to that found in the Fairywood—turns black at the touch of blood.”
“Did…did they seem human at all?” I’d seen memories when I grasped the beast’s claw. And in my dreams, it had spoken like a man.
“A human, transformed?”
“Isn’t that what the Fairywood does? Its magic can grow things. Change things.” We never found an explanation for the black rot on the border, nor the roses that appeared. “If its magic can transform the land, maybe it can transform a human, too.”
The king knots his gloved fingers below his chin, brows furrowed. “This is why we must tame those woods, as we’ve done the fairies that live there. Such free-flowing magic is unacceptably dangerous. If we cannot use it for ourselves, we leave it open for manipulation by darker forces—then who knows what is possible?” With a shake of his head, he leans back against his chair. “We will resume burning the Fairywood, no matter Balica’s disapproval. We never should have stopped.”
I remember the smoke rising in my last dream, how thebeasts marched anyway. “But if Felicita’s prophecy isalreadyhere…”
“Then nothing we do may help, and Raya, as Cyrus’s bride, may be our only means of salvation,” King Emilius finishes. “I’m aware of that, too.”
Salvationordamnation. But lingering on the worse outcome of Felicita’s prophecy won’t help. “I’m worried it’s already too late. Cyrus barely knows her at this point.”
