Chapter 12
DISCOVERY DAY
My knees threatened mutiny, but I held them steady as I glided forward.
Captain Rourke led our procession into the palace proper, where the air changed instantly. Ash and damp leaves waned, giving way to incense and old stone. Smoke rose from wall sconces, coiling around the arches.
Each step echoed off marble, only to be swallowed by a cavernous hush.
Tapestries of woven knights hung, beautiful but doing little to stifle the cold drafts seeping from the walls.
More of my mother’s artwork was displayed here and there, most portraits of her beloved husband.
I tried to take it all in, but a low hum of water came from somewhere deep in the keep.
We climbed a spiral staircase, the soldiers’ armor clanking a rough counterpoint to my quickening pulse. The higher we went, the more the atmosphere shifted. Less smoke, more salt, as though a churning sea hid within the walls.
Jasher walked beside me, still wearing the hat, emanating welcome heat and a scent straight from heaven. His wings whispered against the stone.
He kept his chin high, as if he owned the place. It was a good look for him. Very good.
At the landing, a massive set of doors waited, carved with the kingdom’s symbol: a sun half-swallowed by waves. My pulse tripped.
We strode through them, entering a grand chamber teeming with warriors.
A war room, with an enormous wooden table covered in sprawling maps, miniature battalions and tactical markers.
Flickering torches and chandeliers twined light and shadow across stone walls adorned with banners and weapons of past conquests.
A throne-shaped chair occupied the head of the table, though no one sat in it. Everyone stood along the sides, in tense discussion about battlefield reports and scouting scrolls.
I spotted Guardian Ian right away. My hands balled.
He was a tall, leanly muscled man in his early thirties with dark waves of hair and eyes like a sunset.
An exact copy of Jasher, only older. Or he would have been an exact copy, if Jasher wasn’t partially morphed, his features so sharp, so monstrous, they erased any similarities.
Well, other than their eyes. Would anyone notice the two men possessed identical irises?
Ian wore a soot-streaked tunic and ripped beige leathers. He was younger here than the first time I’d met him. Less polished.
He noticed us first, his gaze dancing between Jasher and me. He rapid-blinked, as if surprised by what he saw, then rubbed a spot just over his heart. A parade of emotions flashed across his face, confusion and shock the easiest to read. Had he never seen one of his clones only partially morphed?
In the end, he zeroed in on me and slitted his lids. I bit my tongue. No way he recognized me. In his timeline, we hadn’t met yet.
No accusations sprang from him. Or me, even though my anger demanded appeasement. To shout his wickedness to the world. To chain and confine him and throw away the key.
Now wasn’t the time to announce his evil. No one trusted me. But they did trust Ian.
Then, I saw him—the king—and I could think of nothing else.
Awe dawned, a light shining through the shadowy corridors of my being.
Before this, I’d only seen him in my mother’s paintings, when he’d worn a golden crown and a robe of the deepest purple.
Today, he sported clothing similar to Ian’s, his black hair in disarray and his icy blue eyes glittering with fury and determination.
He was a force of nature, a picture of power and authority, strength and confidence.
Ahav stepped from a cluster of men to point to a map.
“I’m king, and this is my kingdom.” He didn’t yell, but my bones reacted as if he did.
“These people are my body. You are my body. A body divided is already defeated. Your bickering stops now. We come together, and we figure this out. Understand?”
Muttered agreements rang out.
“I’ve noticed the monstra go dormant for days whenever a soldier dies, my lord,” someone piped up, earning a nod of approval from Ian. “Perhaps if we make a daily sacrifice, using criminals, we can stave off—”
“No,” the king bellowed. “No one needs to die but the monstra. I’ve been to the mountains, and I know there are nests here, here and here.”
“Then, at your command, we’ll go in hard and fast while the creatures are sleeping,” Ian said, switching tracks. “Hopefully, we can eliminate the hordes without any more loss of life on our end.”
A new chorus of agreement. I worked my jaw. Such a good actor, playing the devoted servant.
“Your Majesty,” Captain Rourke announced, bowing his head. “I present to you the oracle who says she has seen twenty years into the future. And her… pet. A monstra who is also a man. They were found on Dead Man’s Pass.”
Conversations ceased as everyone focused on Jasher and me. All gripped the hilt of a sword or a dagger, including Ian, who showed as much disgust as the others, as if he didn’t know Jasher was his clone.
“I did not believe…did not think it possible.” Ahav strode closer, then jerked his attention to me. “Where did you find this creature? How does it have the skin of a man?”
Nope, no one noticed the sunset irises. I could point it out, to seed for the big reveal, but having my birth father’s full attention hit with the force of an avalanche, growing stronger every second.
When he grunted in irritation, I remembered his question. “All monstra are half man, majesty. They morph between forms. This one just happened to stick mid-switch.”
Murmurs of disbelief blended.
“That cannot be true.” Unable to hide his frothing curiosity, Ian stepped to the king’s side for a closer look at Jasher. “How did you capture it?” he asked me.
“Easily,” I quipped. Everyone else probably assumed his interest sprang from a desire to stop the monstra, but I knew better.
Another man closed in on the king.
Eyes neon red, Jasher gave a feigned lunge. The man lurched backward.
Not exactly the-boyfriend-meet-the-father introduction a girl hoped for.
Ahav stroked his strong jaw, pensive. “I expect a different answer when I ask you the same question, Oracle. How did you capture it? Be specific.”
Rather than mentioning the shackles, I said, “He chose of his own free will to help me, and we’ve been together ever since.” The truth without further details.
Suddenly, heat flared behind my eyes. I cried out, gripping my head as the war room turned hazy, the soldiers instantly repositioned around the table. Everyone but Ahav and Ian, who stood with me. No sign of Jasher.
“What’s happening?” I gasped out, but no one heard me. My voice sounded distant, even to my own ears.
My mother sailed into the room, wearing a lovely gown of purple velvet dotted with specks of colorful paint, her dark hair flowing in shiny curls, her baby bump noticeably smaller.
“Did I hear someone say there’s an oracle in our midst?” she asked, skirting around me, heading straight for Ahav, who extended his arm in a silent invitation.
Just before she reached him, a soldier leaped forward, unsheathing a dagger. No one clocked his purpose until too late. The blade rammed into the queen’s belly once, twice, thrice.
King Ahav roared a denial. So did I.
The world spun again. I blinked, and everything righted. Back to the present. But I was panting, the men silent and staring at me.
“The queen,” I muttered, spinning, searching. Not here.
“Oracle?” Ahav asked, voice deep with concern. “You had a vision of my lady?”
“I…” Something warm and wet dripped over my lips. I wiped my face with trembling fingers. Crimson wet the pads, I realized with a frown. A bloody nose? “I saw her…she was just here…” I shook my head. “But now she’s gone.”
“Please,” he rushed out, gripping my arms. “Tell me what you saw.”
Growls left Jasher.
As I struggled to think, I scanned the faces of my audience, gasping when I noticed the very same soldier who’d stabbed the queen. But that would mean…
No. No! I don’t have visions. Flashes of memory here or there, a dream, but only ever of the past. I wasn’t an actual oracle.
Unless I was?
I bit my tongue, tasting blood. Elowen and I were due to have a chat.
“Oracle,” Ahav exploded, giving me a shake.
Jasher lunged at him, and this time, he meant business.
“Stop!” I shouted, and he froze, his claws inches from the king’s throat.
My heart thudded. What just happened?
A muscle jumped beneath my father’s eye. “Lock him below. I’ll decide the best way to deal with him after I’ve dealt with the oracle.”
“He won’t harm you, I’ll make sure of it,” I assured him. “Let him stay with me. Please.”
My request went unheeded. Soldiers yanked Jasher to the exit. When I attempted to follow, the soldiers that remained behind blocked my exit.
Jasher glared back at me, intent. That look. I struggled to read it. Not anger but…determination?
I licked my lips. As soon as Jasher disappeared, a shadow beast swept into the room. Awareness flared. Jasher. It was him, I knew it.
Ian did a double take, as if he saw him, too, but no others responded.
The gloom dominated a wall, shaped like a monstra fully turned.
“Oracle,” Ahav repeated, stern. “I won’t ask again. Tell me what you saw in your vision.”
Concentrate. I met his intense stare and offered the truth. “I saw Queen Sandrine enter this room and that soldier—” I pointed to the one who’d suggested a sacrifice, earning Ian’s approval “—killed the queen and her child.” Me.
Blanching, Ahav shook his head and stumbled backward as if I’d kicked him. “No. Charles is a good man I’ve known for years.”
“She lies, majesty,” Charles stated, cool and calm, as if he had nothing to hide.
“Perhaps she aligns with the monstra. Captain Rourke said he found her and her creatures on Dead Man’s Pass, yes?
” He pointed to a map, and the other soldiers surged closer for a better look.
“That’s where the most recent attack occurred. ”
Only the king and Ian remained in place, watching me. I lifted my nose.
“Did I hear someone say there’s an oracle in our midst?” My mother sailed into the room, wearing the same violet gown I’d imagined, spotted with the same specks of paint. She moved straight toward Ahav, smiling—unaware.
Horror slammed into me. No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening in real time. “I’m the oracle, believe me,” I shouted, desperate to force the king into action.
The monstra shadow straightened, as if it readied itself.
Across the room, the soldier I’d pointed to shifted his weight. His hand slipped beneath his cloak.
Knife.
He launched away from the table. Straight at her.
For a heartbeat, everyone else froze in disbelief. Then my body moved before my mind caught up. I swung my pack with both hands, hurling the weight into his chest. Or trying. He twisted aside at the last second, avoiding contact. But that dodge ruined his clean line to the queen.
Won’t get another chance. I threw myself at him, a collision he couldn’t prevent. I drove him to the floor, away from my mother. Stone rattled my teeth, the impact knocking me breathless. My hat tumbled free.
He recovered faster. A dagger flashed. Once, hot and deep into my side. Then the blade sank near my neck. More pain, everything happening in a nanosecond. My scream tore loose, echoing off the chamber walls.
Boots pounded. Someone shouted. The room erupted into motion, but the shadow moved swiftest. It surged off the wall in a single violent sweep and plunged itself into the soldier’s back, like smoke being forced into lungs. The soldier paused unable to deliver a third, final blow.
Then his whole body seized, his eyes rolling white. Blood spilled from his mouth and nose. From the corners of his eyes. His ears. He jerked in quick succession, as if he were experiencing the same blows I had received.
“What’s happening to him?” someone cried.
He collapsed in a boneless heap at my side.
The shadow ripped from the body, a black whip of presence. It—he—whooshed across the room, disappearing through a wall.
Everything else happened in a blur. Ahav snatched my mother behind him, one arm locking around her waist. Captain Rourke and Ian surged in together. The captain kicked the dagger away from the body and wrenched the dead soldier’s wrists back with practiced brutality, just in case he revived.
Ian dropped to a knee and hooked an arm under my shoulders, hauling me out of striking distance with flawless strength. To his credit, he didn’t jostle my wounds. He put me back on the floor and pressed his hands into my side to slow the flow.
“She needs serpens-rosa,” he barked.
Negations rang out. Too many voices coming too fast to track.
Black dots wove through my vision, swallowing the room. My hearing narrowed to a high, thin ringing. I fumbled for the vial at my throat and found only a sliced cord.
“No,” I rasped, panic rising. My fingers scrabbled over the stone, slick and shaking.
Kevin’s voice piped up from the pack, painfully calm. “I believe in you. Statistics do not.”
Finally, cold glass brushed my palm. I snatched it, popped the cork with my teeth, and dumped the grain into my mouth. Swallow.
Heat chased through my veins like wildfire, the black dots retreating. Pain dulled. Strength returned in a sharp rush.
I sucked in a breath, jerked from Ian’s hold, and forced myself upright. Chin jutting, blood still on my lips, I snapped at the room, “Told you.”
With the threat defused, the room went quiet as the occupants contemplated what had just happened, what could have happened, and what this meant.
Ian reached in my direction, afraid I’d fall again, but I sidestepped him. “Don’t you dare touch me.” I’d watched him poison a sixteen-year-old girl.
Not even a little insulted, he held up his hands, palms out. “Of course, Oracle. Whatever you wish.”
An ashen, shaking queen and her pallid husband peered at me with different degrees of relief and dismay.
“You saved my beloved and our child,” he croaked.
“That’s right, I did.” I notched my chin. “As a down payment on my reward, you may return my monstra to me.” Whoa. I sounded like a genuine water maiden. “No reason to ponder it. You are a king who represents his people. They are your body, after all. You—and they—always pay your debts. Yes?”
He mulled before nodding stiffly and looking to Captain Rourke. “Secure the creature in the suite reserved for Elowen.” To Ian, he said, “Escort our honored guest there.”
“Yes, Majesty,” both men said.
Ahav’s gaze returned to me, his features softening ever so slightly. “I will see to my lady, but the moment I’m able, we will have a talk.”