Page 32 of Iris of the Crowned Flame

“No, I spent more time in the classroom as a child, preparing to lead a country. I mostly just admire the gardens.”

With that, the brown-eyed priestess rolled her eyes, and the one in charge tsked at me. I felt small, inadequate.

“What about his mama seeing that we are both change makers? What does that mean?”

The Priestesses exchanged looks, and while it seemed wild to believe, they looked like they were talking within each other’s minds again.

Finally, Juniper nodded and turned to me. “This is the prophecy. This paper cannot leave this room. You can read it here, but we don’t have time in this meeting to explain what we understand it to mean. We must start understanding what threat Egan poses. Once we’ve dealt with that, we can focus on this.”

She had reached into an inner pocket of her coat, though I see a slight shimmer suggesting she pulled something throughwith magic. She handed me a folded, aged paper with handwriting on it. I unfolded it and held it for Spencer and me to read together.

When the Queen of the realm binds her fate to a King who sees the depths of souls, she shall cause the land’s heart to bleed flames into the sky and will herald a change in the realm itself.

When the earth trembles and rivers of fire reshape the ocean, the Gods will wake from their celestial sleep. Amidst the tumult and the awe-inspiring spectacle, they shall bring life into a new Goddess, born not of flesh but of magic, destined to weave balance into the very fabric of existence.

She will destroy the way of life, her steps resonating with power older than time itself. Through her touch, greed and envy will find their match, and the realms shall know an era of unparalleled enchantment.

Thus, the ancients foretold, their voices a whisper carried on the winds of destiny, for in the union of Queen and King lies not just the union of hearts, but the awakening of powers that shall reshape the world.

I stood up and moved towards the window as I contemplated the meaning. Spencer most certainly fit into this; I could tell why they accepted him. I couldn’t see how I fit in. I didn’t have magic within me, and even if I did, it would be magic to grow plants, not to cause fire and destruction. Sure, I had the luck of being born to the sitting king and queen, but they couldn’t possibly bespeaking of me, could they?

I took a deep breath. I needed to play through this game to understand what they were trying to tell me.

“Ok, so we need to find out how this magic works within me. How do we do that? Do we just go to the garden and try?”

The brown-eyed priestess scoffed. “Absolutely not. We know there is evil within these walls. We will go outside the walls to the temple to try.”

My face twisted in confusion. “There are no Oracle temples in town. I’ve lived here all my life and haven’t seen one.”

Juniper smiled. “My sweet Princess, that’s only because you weren’t invited in.”

I looked at Spencer, apprehensive. This plan was feeling quite dangerous. His eyes swirled, reflecting his fear. But what choice do we have? We were in too deep to back out now.

“OK, let’s do this.”

CHAPTER 21

Two of the priestesses departed the room with me. The others will spend time with Spencer to understand his command of his powers and to learn more about Egan. Before we left the castle grounds, they insisted on going to my chambers. I led the way. Once inside the chambers, they busied themselves in my wardrobe, pulling out a set of clothing that closely resembled their own.

“It’s not what acolytes usually wear, but it’ll do well enough.” I heard one mumble.

Amyra was still sleeping in my chambers, but Ivy was not in sight. My eyes lingered on her, watching her breathe. One priestess caught my gaze, raising her eyebrow at me, but didn’t ask questions. They hurried to change my clothes and restyle my hair. Once they were done, I looked more like an ordinary citizen than a princess. I supposed that would make it easier to navigate beyond the walls without any of the usual fanfare. They handed me a cloak long forgotten from the depths of my wardrobe.

“You’ll need this to help cover your identity. No one can know you left the grounds today.” Both looked over at my bed, at Amyra.

I nodded. As we left the room, I started down the hall to walk towards the main staircase. “No, this way.”

The brown-eyed priestess tugged on my arm, and I followed them into a door that winded through to servant paths throughout the castle. How did they know the layout of this building this well? I had the feeling that I shouldn’t ask questions until we reach our destination, so I added it to the growing list.

I followed the women through the hallways, long after losing track of where we were. Eventually, we climbed a staircase and approached a door to the outside. This door opened into an alleyway within the town outside the gates. I didn’t know that this was possible, and yet these strangers just knew how to navigate around this place?

We walked through the streets, zigzagging down alleyways and along major thoroughfares. It felt like they were trying to shake off someone following us, but I couldn’t see anyone behind us when I had the opportunities to look. I didn’t dare drop the hood to look around more, just in case they were noticing something I couldn’t. The weather at least made the hooded cloak make sense. A light drizzle fell, and many of the people we passed were wearing their own head coverings to shelter from the weather.

Eventually, we found our way to the city edge and into farmlands. We noticed the potent smell of manure, suggesting the livestock were well-fed and healthy. Other plots of land clearly used some of that manure for fertilizing. I had never walked this far from the walls guarding the castle before. The carriages we used would breeze through this space within minutes so that the smell never lingered. It took us much longer to trudge through on foot.

Eventually, we made it to a forested area. The stench dissipated as we dodged into the narrow entry of the thick woods, the priestesses easily locating the walking path. We could only walk single file through this area. Thick undergrowth hid the path, making it invisible unless you searched for it. I was stunned once more by how well these women knew my own lands. I wonder if they had grown up here, and if they had, what led them to the Oracles out in the foothills?

After what felt like an eternity of walking through this forest, we approached a clearing. Although we saw no buildings, several rounded stones formed a circle. Inside the circle of stones, nothing but dirt was present. Outside, the grass and undergrowth didn’t start growing until a solid six or seven feet away from the circle. The ground looked well worn, like many dozens and dozens of feet have walked this area. The trees were another eight to ten feet from the start of the grassy area, providing a large clearing. Its simplicity truly made the space breathtaking.

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