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The opulent bedroom was enormous, probably the biggest in the castle, the tall windows overlooking the mountain range to the north. I stopped fighting the compulsion and the pain receded slightly. Enough that I headed for the bed, where a trio of dragons carved into the headboard watched me approach, greedy eyes glittering.
The hand-carved dragons were fascinating, though I didn’t think I could ever sleep beneath such a realistic rendering of fierce creatures who could swallow me in one gulp.
Or burn me to a crisp.
My nails dug into my palms as I surveyed the bed, the rest of the room fading away as that little voice kept urging me forward.Look, Anaria. Look and see. The bed had been left in complete disarray, as if the sleepers had been dragged out of here, the rug on the floor so rumpled I could almost imagine someone being hauled across the floor, kicking and screaming.
Long, hideous shivers wracked my spine. Had this bed belonged to Lord and Lady Wynter?
Was that why I was here? Did their deaths have something to do with the Oracle? Or did this have to do with us?
I turned toward the half-opened door, intending to find Raz, or Tristan, or even Tavion, when an unseen force spun me back around, shoved me one step closer to the bed.
I stopped fighting, stopped thinking altogether when the largest dragon’s eye glittered in the light like a beacon, the inset stone flashing a brilliant ruby red. I climbed up on the bed and the thick, spongy mattress sagged beneath my bare feet, kicking up puffs of dust with every step until the air was thick with it.
But even that desiccated smell didn’t mask Torin’s scent.
She’d been in this room.Stood right here.
A trap, a trap, a trap,my brain screamed as I reached for the eye.
The ruby was a perfectly cut stone as big as my palm, burning with a red fire, the stone surrounded by a rim of gold. The face of the priceless gem was smooth—except for the fingerprint in the very center.
A garish blemish no one could miss this close.
I pressed my thumb down on that mark and the stone slid inward with a quiet hiss that echoed all the way to the depths of my soul. The revealed chamber was barely big enough for my hand to fit inside, but the plain, white stone contained within made the breath shudder out of my lungs.
I didn’t know what the white rock was…but my magic did.
This was how I’d felt touching the broken skull…even before I’d seen the vision of how my friends died amongst the roaring of winter’s snow and ice and the Fae army surrounding us.
As if fate itself crushed me in its jaws.
And now that it had me, it would never let go.
My legs shook so badly I could barely stand, and much like how the weak Descendant magic used to draw me in, the white stone begged me to cradle its smooth surface in my hands and let it warm after being cold for so very long.
I shook my head, trying to get rid of this compulsion.
Then I held my breath and picked up the rock.
And when I curled my fingers around the stone, I wondered if this was destiny nudging me forward, or another bad decision I’d come to regret.
While I wasn’t yanked straight into another vision of my death and an endless, bitter war, this experience was deeper, more sublime.
This was a communion between entities, my magic reaching out a ribbon of star-drenched light, the stone faintly pulsing in my hand as the two touched each other. Tentative and curious, but there was recognition there, too.
“Anaria.” Tavion’s deep voice boomed outside the bedroom. “Where are you?”
The spell broke apart, stars dancing off in the wind, and I slipped the stone into my pocket, not daring wonder how I’d known where it was hidden.
Not daring to acknowledge Torin, of all people, had led me here.
Hiding places were commonplace amongst the wealthy and I’d seen my share of hidden rooms and passageways and secret cubbies. But I’d never seen anything like this carved headboard, and yet, when I traced the golden rim of the hole, the ruby eye locked back into place.
No, I shouldn’t have known how to do that at all.
“I’m in here.” I hopped off the bed just before Tavion crashed through the door. “Just exploring this place.” I gestured to the elaborate headboard. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
