Page 60 of When Wishes Bleed

I didn’t know how Mira’s helpers managed to spin the black overlay so perfectly, with symbols of our heritage and those uniquely Fate’s scattered throughout. Wishbones lined the modest V-neck. There was a crystal ball, tea cups, lit candles, a human palm, the Lovers card, various bones, gemstones, herbs and flowers, and around my waist coiled an embroidered rope.

Mira, who’d stepped out of the washroom to give me privacy to change, gasped when she came back in. “It’s perfect.”

Her eyes became glassy as she took in her creation. I spun in a slow circle so she could see all of it. The back was gathered at the small of my back and spilled to the floor in a short train.

Her eyes caught on my feet. “I’ll get your shoes.”

“Do you have any that match with daggers in the heel?” I asked as she hurried away.

She glanced at me over her shoulder. “Of course I do.”

She returned with nude-colored heels that shone like glass, placing them on the floor in front of me.

They were like the black ones I’d worn here, with a small, silver dagger built into the heel. I slid one out, the metal raking against its sheath. “Perfect.”

She worried her hands as I pulled on each shoe, casting wary eyes around the room.

“What’s the matter, Mira?”

“What exactly are you conjuring?” she asked, pushing her blue-gray hair out of her eyelashes. “I noticed your things are set up in the corner.”

“Nothing. I was just searching for something in my trunk,” I lied.

The crease between her brows didn’t fade.

“The necklace… the black necklace Tauren gave me. Would it look good with this gown?” I asked, attempting to change the subject.

She smiled. “It would! I’ll get it,” she whispered and ran to the bed, sliding her hand beneath the mattress where I’d hidden the box to prevent anyone from stealing it.

“How’s Brecan? Has he calmed down?” I asked as she clasped the heavy necklace around my throat.

“As much as he’s going to,” Mira said, a hint of warning in her voice. “He loves you, you know.”

“He thinks he does, but what does he know about love? Sneaking off behind the House of Air with any willing witch doesn’t make him an expert on the subject.”

“Nor does isolating oneself from peers…” she added gently.

“I didn’t isolate myself. I was told not to go near you. Any of you.” She opened her mouth as if to argue, but I cut her off. “I wasn’t even welcomed into the House of Fire to pay my last respects to Harmony.”

Just thinking about it made me furious. How dare the Priestesses and Priest pretend that I’d chosen not to be part of my own people? They were the ones who placed me in the woods, in a cabin, as a young girl. A child. They’d forbidden me from joining the others, from even speaking to other witches. Some defied them when they wanted their fate read, but many more were too afraid to step foot anywhere near me. They came to fear me.

Over time, I became like the House of Fate… something to hide from and peek at from a distance. To run from, squealing and shivering from adrenaline and fright. I became a thing, not a person, and certainly not a peer. While they honed their affinities, cheered on by those in their House, I had no one but Fate on which to rely.

Fate – who had begun to writhe in my stomach.

I clasped a hand over my middle. “What’s the matter?” Mira asked, her eyes flicking from my hand to my face.

“Something is stirring, and I don’t know what.” I did know that it was bigger than anything I’d felt from Fate before. This wasn’t some small nudge or even a warning. This was something darker. More urgent.

“Sable,” Mira gasped. “Your fingertips.”

I expected them to be blue from cold, for my lips to match them. But the tips of my fingers weren’t frosted. They were black. As if I’d dipped each into an ink pot and let the ichor dry on my skin.

My eyes met Mira’s frightened ones. “What does that mean?”

A shiver ran up my spine. “I’m not sure.”

I stared at my skin, watching the inky stain spread ever-so-slowly.

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