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“Much was riding on tonight, Oracle.” The sharp clicking of the Mistress’s heels echoed through the chamber. “I did not want our king’s magic to be corrupted by her wickedness.”
This room, like the last, was open to the sky, and I stared up at the stars hopelessly. The Mistress had told the truth, after all. She’d been tasked with watching over me all these years. But while she might want to take credit for me keeping my virginity, that decision was mine.
She would not make it hers.
The king came closer and the power inside me recoiled, shot outwards, pooling in my arms, my legs, as if repelled by his very presence. “That’s my fucking power.” He snapped, leaning over me, his blackened claws braced on the altar, claws as long as knives. “And I want it back.”
I blinked.
“That’s right. The moment you drew your first breath, my magic abandoned me. The Fae power went to you, every last fucking drop. Adele tricked me, told me she was giving me a son, but she produced you. Afucking worthless female. Good for nothing but breeding.”
My head emptied out.
No.No.That meant…the Fae king was my father. And Adele was…
Gods.Adele.She was suffering, trapped in the prison below us. I might be dying here, but my mother…someone had to help her. I tried to catch Torin’s attention, but she was looking toward the doors, a frown creasing her face.
The Oracle raised her hands and began to chant. I couldn’t understand the language, but the magic did. The power roiled and bucked, slithering over my bones, humming so loudly that I could no longer hear the Oracle over the roaring in my ears.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. They were going to kill me. And when I was gone…Em was dead, too.
There was a metallic hiss, metal dragging against stone, then the king stood over me, a long knife clutched in one disfigured hand, the blade poised above my heart perfectly clear, like it was carved from glass.
“You mustn’t rush this; we have to perform the ritual first.” Torin snapped. “If you kill her too early, the magic will never return to you. The Fae power will go back into the earth from where it came and will be lost for all eternity.”
Her white eyes bore into the king intently enough he pulled the knife away. “Is that what you want?”
“Then get on with it.” He snarled. “I’ve waited eighteen years and I’m not waiting a moment longer.”
“There is no hurrying the exact second of her birth.” Torin snapped right back, her face taut with anger and perhaps a bit of fear. “Five more minutes.”
While the two of them argued, I worked my hands looser.
“We had the jeweler measure your wrists, little thief, when you first arrived.” Solok’s smile turned creamy.
“The High Seer prepared the altar to his specifications. You will not get loose. Those cuffs are Cassiopian silver, the purest metal in the world, and will not taint the magic when the king reclaims his inheritance.”
“What inheritance?” I muttered through chattering teeth.
“The magic that ismy fucking inheritance.Mine. Not somelowly females.” The Fae King was wild with rage and despite Torin’s warning, I half expected him to stab that dagger through my chest.
I didn’t have all the pieces, but I knew why I was here.
The king found a female of pure blood to breed. Adele gave birth to me, then was thrown in prison to rot. I ended up in Varitus, until I turned eighteen and Solok brought me back to be sacrificed by the king to reclaim his magic.
Too bad Torin hadn’t told me all of this four days ago.
Too bad Tavion had dragged me straight to prison, and now I was shackled to an altar, waiting to die.
How I wished I was wrong about destiny. How I wished fate wasn’t determined the second you drew breath, because then I could still change mine.
Torin tipped her head up, empty gaze measuring the height of the moon, the Oracle still chanting nonsense, the magic shrinking away from the king, every bit as desperate as me to escape this fate.
But if the king was the true owner of this magic…why was the power fighting to stay with me?
Adele…my mother…told me to claim the magic.
Told me to never allow anyone take my power. And now I was too late for both those choices.
