Oro
“No,” Azul said, his light blue cape whispering against the polished stone floor as he turned. “But we are sensitive to the skies, and some of us have sensed its disturbances.”
“He said that in some interpretations . . . Crowntide is not an event. It is a person.”
“It means that there’s a person whose entire existence changes fate,” he said. “In her case . . . a person destined to end this world.”
Azul didn’t seem convinced. He looked . . . torn. Haunted.
“What are you saying?” Oro asked. He didn’t like where this was going.
Azul gazed at him with sad eyes. “If she dies, her fate dies with her.”
The room went deathly quiet, as if the wind itself had paused. Oro felt fire smoldering through him as his irritation turned to fury. “Are you trying to get me to kill the woman I love?”
He took a step away from Oro. “I’m just pointing out a way that this could end without involving your death.” He paused, looking out at the sky again. “Isla told me the prophecy. That she is bound to kill one of you. With her life tied to his . . . who do you think her choice will be?”
He knew everything Azul was saying was true. He knew every prophecy promised that Isla was just as likely to destroy this world as she was to save it. But that didn’t stop his anger from growing until fire blazed in his palms.
Azul just sighed again. “You gave her a choice. She made it.” He looked at Oro warily. “You may have a choice to make too . . . between her and this world. Will you be strong enough to kill her if it comes to that?”
Oro couldn’t suppress the treacherous thoughts that bloomed in the back of his mind.
She chose him, over you. Would you choose her over the rest of the world, if she was fated to end it? Even if she wasn’t yours?
Oro banished the insidious voice. He would never do anything to hurt Isla because of the choice she made. He remembered what he saw in the pool—he was never happier than when he had been with her, even if it was only ever temporary. He would not hold her decision against her, no matter what.
But then he thought about Azul’s question again and just how many people were at risk. Not only his friends, but all of his people. The children. Could he really let them die? Could he put an end to everything that he and his line had sworn to protect?
Was he being selfish by even considering it?
He dropped Azul’s gaze. He couldn’t think about this. Not right now . . . and perhaps not ever. But what if Azul was right, and this was a choice he would have to face? Who was he, if he had an entire world’s blood on his hands?
If he chose one woman over thousands?
“One more thing,” Azul added, as if he hadn’t already said enough.
“My husband said there were often slightly different interpretations of prophecies, since fate is fluid. Multiple outcomes. Only one of the three frozen oracle sisters ever thawed with Isla. She only heard one version . . . but I think it’s possible her prophecy could be about someone else. ”
Oro frowned. “The oracle told both Isla and Cleo that Isla would determine the fate of the world. That she would plunge a blade through either my or Grim’s heart. That she would either save this world . . . or end it. She is the heart divided. She was specifically told so.”
“Yes.” Azul looked at Oro meaningfully. “But your heart is also torn in two—between her and your duty. You are also a ruler divided. She went to another world. Her actions could have altered fate. Maybe the prophecy does come true . . . but maybe now it’s about you.”
Oro’s mind was reeling. He was positive the prophecy was still about Isla. But he couldn’t help but remember what the silver woman said—that he would make a choice, soon.
“This all ends with a blade through a heart,” Azul said. “As far as I’m concerned, it could be yours, Grim’s . . . or hers.”