Page 40 of A War of Crowns

“Percy, please,” Duchess Edith whispered, her eyes still wet with what tears she hadn’t yet shed. The sight of them made Seraphina’s heart lurch. “She is well. All is fine.”

The wasting sickness that had swept through Goldreach nearly twenty-two years ago had been devastating. There had been no cure. No one could say from whence it came. But it had taken many lives and ruined countless others.

It had taken her mother and Olivia’s. It had withered Olivia’s left leg and left her friend plagued by constant pain. And it had taken her godparents’ youngest child—their only daughter, Odette.

Seraphina reached over and squeezed Duchess Edith’s hand. “I’m not sick,” she promised. “I’m going to be fine.”

After a few moments of tense quiet, Father Perero softly encouraged, “Tell us,” as she settled herself back onto the edge of her bed with her godmother’s hand still in her grasp. “Tell us what you saw, Your Majesty.”

Seraphina swallowed against the rawness of her throat. “I saw Mysai…and I saw a great, black smoke hanging low over it. I saw…usuri falling from the sky.”

Duke Percival frowned again. “Mysai? Are you sure? You’ve never visited Mysai, Your Majesty.”

Seraphina nodded as a great weariness burrowed its way into her bones. “I recognized it well enough from our history books. It was Mysai.”

Olivia took another swig from her flask and muttered, “Well, that’d certainly explain the silence.”

Duchess Edith asked, “Did you see anything else? Did you see a way to dispel the smoke?”

Seraphina frowned and looked toward Oracle Tsukiko again, but the prophetess stood silent once more. “I don’t know. It was all…” She shook her head and clenched her eyes shut, trying to recall all the many odd details. “…so very strange. I saw…”

She swallowed hard. She didn’t wish to tell them about Goldreach.

But she knew she had to.

“…I saw Goldreach fall,” Seraphina whispered, her eyes still closed. A collective gasp rippled through the room. “I saw Goldreach burning. I saw so…so much death.”

When her godmother squeezed her fingers, Seraphina opened her eyes and gently squeezed back. “I saw…stars falling. I saw the ground ripping open. I saw a great darkness consuming all.”

She didn’t bother mentioning the crow. Nor the oddly colored stars.

They had enough troubles to contend with without adding yet more mystery.

In the wake of her words, her godfather paced the room, his cane thumping against the rugs with each step. Father Perero looked pensive. Duchess Edith frowned and stroked her hand. Alyx purred in that way all contented usuri seemed to do—happily oblivious to the worries of the humans within the room.

But Olivia simply drained her flask before clipping it back to her belt. The other woman’s voice was dubious when she asked, “Are you trying to tell me the fate of the entire world hinges onMysai?”

At last, the Oracle spoke, but only to say, “It is impossible for us mortals to see and understand how the threads of fate are woven together.”

Olivia twisted her lips. “Well, that’s…supremelyunhelpful—”

“The Lord will guide us through these troubled times,” Father Perero reassured them all. “He has brought us this warning.” The Shepherd looked to her rather than the Oracle, as if she had anyidea at all what they should do next. “That must mean there is still time to change things.”

But she didn’t know. She didn’t know anything.

You do, the Oracle whispered directly into her thoughts yet again, stopping Seraphina’s heart completely in its tracks.

Drawing in a shaky breath, she looked toward the prophetess. The Kunishi woman’s strange silver eyes pinned her in place as yet more words unfurled within her mind.

You already know what to do.

The peace summit? Drakmor? Seraphina chewed on the inside of her lip.

But what if he refuses?

Still, that shred of doubt nagged her. What if this was all an ill-advised gamble? What if she allowed her Master of Ceremonies to spend coin they truly couldn’t afford to spend on a peace summit that ultimately came to naught?

What if the king continues to ignore us?

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