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The ghost bent down, whispering words that sliced through Destiny’s brain, destroying any hope she was going to survive. At least not with her sanity intact.
* * *
Peri leaned back in her chair, her satchel tucked protectively in her lap as Tia’s words echoed through her stunned brain.
Because you’re going to give me the power I need to rule the world…
She shook her head. She’d never been overly modest. Not when it was obvious she’d been blessed with a powerful magic that could rival the strongest mages. But she didn’t have the strength to take on a leech. Even if she was nuts enough to challenge one.
Which she most certainly wasn’t.
No matter how often they might aggravate her.
“How many glasses of that wine have you had?” Peri asked, regarding the older woman with a wary gaze.
Tia leaned back, smoothing the silken material of her caftan. “You don’t believe me.”
“About what? That I have the sort of power that would allow you to rule the world? Or that you would walk away if you really believed it was possible?”
“The answer to both is that I saw you in a vision.”
Peri grunted, as if she’d taken a blow. Being seen in a vision was never, ever good. “You’re a seer?”
“Not like your friend, Skye Claremont,” Tia said, revealing she’d done her research on Peri. “I don’t have visions of the future, but I can interpret dreams.”
“A dream teller.” Peri had never met a mage with that particular gift, but she’d read books on the rare ability. They didn’t have the precision of a seer, but they could see their own future. Something denied to seers. “What does that have to do with me?”
“I saw you.”
“In a dream?”
“Yes.”
Peri sucked in a deep breath. Or at least she tried. It suddenly felt as if there was an unseen heaviness in the air, pressing against her with a smothering force. Was it Tia? Or a subconscious warning?
Maybe both.
“How did you recognize me in your dream?” she eventually managed to rasp.
“I heard rumors that Maya had discovered a young mage with wild magic thundering through her veins. I wanted to discover if it was true,” Tia said. “I traveled to New Jersey to monitor your progress.”
Peri grimaced. “You were spying on me?”
“Checking out the competition.”
“Same thing.” Peri wasn’t sure if she was more unnerved by the knowledge that this woman had been watching her from the shadows, or that she was claiming that Peri was a part of her vision. “If you were checking me out then it’s no wonder I was in your dreams.”
“I can tell the difference between a dream and a foreshadow.” The hard edge returned to the woman’s voice, as if she was offended by Peri’s doubt in her vision.
“Fine.” Peri hesitated. She didn’t want to know her future. After living with Skye, she’d learned that blind ignorance was a very good thing. But Tia obviously wasn’t going to be satisfied until she’d revealed how she was going to rule the world. “What did you see?”
Tia’s features softened, as if lost in the pleasure of her vision. “I was seated on a throne and you were standing at my side. We were surrounded by a river of magic. More magic than I ever thought possible.”
Peri shook her head. She knew she was more powerful than most mages, but she couldn’t produce a river of magic.
“Where was this river?”
Tia shrugged. “That hasn’t been revealed. All I know for sure is that it’s somehow connected to you.”
