Page 60 of Female Fantasy
The trove can control armies.
And I am destined to control the trove.
My eyes fly open, and when they do, Ryke is staring right into them. His red mouth is slightly parted, his nostrils flared. I bite my lip, and his gaze rakes over it, indicating what he’d like to do with his tongue. He reaches out and traces the bow with his fingertips.
But I know I should tell him about my revelation.
“Ryke,” I start to say.
And then he swallows my voice as his mouth crashes into mine.
Chapter Twelve
“I must have left my wallet over here, but it’s cash only anyway, so it doesn’t matter,” Nico mutters, sitting down across from me.
Then he notices my ashen, confounded face and startles.
“Whoa. What happened to you? Did EGC discontinue the series in the five minutes I was waiting in line to buy stale chips?”
I shake my head. “There was a woman.”
“A real one?!”
“Very funny.” I roll my eyes. “She was a mystic. A psychic.”
“So not real, then.”
“She shared a prophecy with me. It was for both of us, actually.”
Nico throws his head back and laughs. “Now I know you’re fucking with me.”
I glare at him, scanning the other passengers, looking for a glimpse of the woman with golden bangles and cunning eyes. But the fortune-teller has seemingly evaporated into thin air. Maybe she’s hiding in the bathroom a laNew York Minuteor something.
“I swear on Teymoor’s life.”
Nico cocks his head. “You’re going to have to do better than that.”
“Fine.” We lock eyes, the stale air around us growing charged. “Then I swear on Ryke.”
Nico’s eyebrows fly up. “Shit. What was the prophecy?”
I rehash the prophecy to the best of my ability, trying my best to repeat it word for word. When I’m done, Nico’s forehead practically folds in half.
“The red maiden? A goat dressed as a lamb? Squatting birds? What the hell does any of that mean?”
“Zero idea. Prophecies don’t typically spell things out for you.”
“Well, you’re the fantasy expert,” he says, scratching his chin. “Surely you have the tools to decode this bad boy.”
I blow out a frustrated breath and wish for the millionth time that I had access to my fanfic group. They would have this prophecy annotated in seconds. A heroine like me isn’t supposed to go through a story arc like this without her inner circle. At least I’ll be with my love interest sooner rather than later. But what role does Nico play in this narrative?
“I’ll think on it,” I tell him, pulling my notebook from the back pocket of my purse. “Let me play around with it a little bit while I put off writing this advertising copy.”
“She was probably just nuts anyway,” he says. “What are you working on now? Another diaper rash ad?”
I shake my head. “Better. Anal fissure cream.”
He groans dramatically, banging his head on the table like a cartoon character. “How is this even your life?”
