Page 52 of The Oracle's Journey

He leaned into my touch, just as my little light faded out and kissed my wrist.

“Yes. I just …” He seemed to struggle to find the words, “I just really love you.”

“I love you too,” I replied, and prayed that we weren’t mistaken. “Come lie with me?”

We resituated the covers and crawled under them, utterly spent, and fell asleep.

CHAPTER 20

Nicolas

Iclimbed the tower stairs of Uncle Ubras’ tower. Neglecting his duties as steward of the chateau, he rarely left the laboratory these days. I was content to allow him to continue with his experiments and studies, though, if it meant he was out of my way. My transition to the duties as Duke of Bergellon hadn’t gone smoothly because Ubras had taken it as a personal attack of sorts. The truth was that the old man wasn’t fit to run the province anymore and my brother, the King, did what he’d had to. I’d learned how to best serve my people from Ubras for half my life, in preparation for taking the station. Seeing when my role model stopped leading and started looking solely after his own interests had been far too easy. I don’t know if it was his age or perhaps some kind of illness that had taken him, but he had changed for the worse. I’d advocated to keep the old man on as steward, but Uncle Ubras hadn’t seen it as the peace offering I’d meant it to be.

After two years of near daily battle between us, the struggle died down to the most mundane issues. These days Uncle Ubras only took umbrage at any kind of redecorating or changes to the grounds. Those things I could give him, though, as they didn’t affect anything truly important. He was just an old man set in his ways, I supposed.

I trudged upward for what felt like ages. None of the other towers took so long to climb, yet it measured equal to them. I’d even counted the steps. Or maybe it was the oppressive, heavy air about the place that made it harder to climb. Regardless, I had to speak to my uncle about Emmelina’s dilemma. Unfortunately, my uncle was by far the most knowledgeable mage in the province.

The old man waited for me at his laboratory door. His sagging brow and mouth were bowed in displeasure. I hadn’t been admitted into his space for months and it didn’t appear that I’d be granted entry today.

“Nephew,” uncle said in lieu of a normal greeting, “what brings you to darken my doorstep?” The older man leaned on his staff as though he were reliant on it, but I knew better. Although he gave the appearance of frailty, with his sallow skin and haggard face, my uncle’s strength had never been of a physical kind.

“Uncle,” I nodded, holding my hands open and out by my sides, already exasperated, “why must you make every visit a struggle?”

“Because you make my existence a struggle,” he replied. “You sent people out to rescue your bride though they came back empty handed, just as I said they would. You ask for my advice but do not heed it. I grow weary of such disrespect.”

“I give you everything you need and ask little in return, just your occasional guidance. Would you rather I leave you out of the few duties I ask of you as steward? There are many people eager to fill the position. I’d be pleased to relieve you of its burden. The lack of attendance to your duties hasn’t gone unnoticed. Sebastian would have me put you out on your ear.”

“King Sebastian should come do it himself,” Uncle Ubras snarled.

“Hm.” I crossed my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow, “It’s clear you don’t plan to hear me tonight, uncle. What is it that has you upset? Me personally, or something before I came to darken your doorstep?”

“Elves,” Ubras spat the word as though speaking of vermin. “You allowed elves into our home. Don’t you know how dangerous they are? Especially those dark monsters.” His pale face went red with anger.

“You’re angry we have elves?” I asked, incredulous. “They’re good men, Uncle. I’ve come to know them some this evening and my betrothed all but sings their praises.” I shook my head at Uncle Ubras, gesticulating with my hands as my temper rose.

“You’re a fool, boy. They’re bringing more of their kind to our gates. For the sake of your people, you should cast all three of them out immediately!”

Three? Was Ozanna an elf too? “Uncle, I don’t understand this wrath. They’ve done nothing wrong and may remain here until Emmelina no longer has need of them.” I raised my hand to halt anything else he might have to say on the matter.

“If you want to keep the thieving monsters here, nephew, the resulting blood will be on your hands.” Uncle Ubras stepped back into his laboratory, slamming the door in my face.

I glared at the closed door and grumbled a few choice words under my breath. What the hell had that been about? How did my uncle know the elven brothers’ history as villains? It was possible he’d just been calling them thieving monsters as a general insult. Regardless, I believed they’d redeemed themselves in their care of Emmelina, and nothing I’d discovered while scrying told me that they would be anything but a boon to my house. Perhaps I’ve been asking the wrong questions. Looking into the wrong person.

Leaving the tower was easy. Each time I did it felt as though something pushed me to go faster down the twisting stairs, as though something would hurl me down the steps if I didn’t.

I crossed the courtyard and made my way back to the residence. The few staff that I passed at the late hour wouldn’t try to greet me, but I made a point of at least nodding to them. Most would ignore them regardless of the time, but they worked hard and deserved that basic recognition, even if I was in a hurry.

Nearly out of breath, I reached my study. After locking the door behind me, I turned to the large square mirror by the door, pulled it off its hook, then carried it to the desk, though I preferred scrying with a smaller mirror in my bedroom. The visions would often leave me with blinding headaches, though I felt expediency was more important this night. That and I wasn’t ready to climb more stairs.

I sat down at the desk and started the mental process of clearing my mind, slowing down my racing heart, and relaxing my body. With my mind quieted, I started excusing each of the physical senses I didn’t need for visions, shutting away hearing, smell, touch, and taste. That done, I opened my eyes to stare into the reflective surface of the mirror with one question in mind: Who is the greatest threat to my people?

Almost instantly, I gazed into a large, round room with tables and boxes and, perhaps, chemistry tools. It took me a few heartbeats to recognize the interior of my uncle’s tower laboratory. Nothing in particular happened. It did, however, lack the sense of surreality that always accompanied my visions. I could only deduce that I wasn’t seeing this by my own power.

It may not have been a vision, but I suspected it answered my question regardless.

Ubras

I watched my whelp of a nephew scamper away from the tower and back to his residence—the residence that had once been mine. Chateau de Bergellon was where the heirs sent the spares to rot. Oh, they talked about duty, how important Alarie is as a border territory. How Bergellon needed a strong and noble leader. But it was simply a repository for disposable princelings.

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