Page 65 of Oracle of Ruin

My fingers curl around the gold band, my face reflecting back to me in the sapphire. It is identical to the one Tanja wore. The one she was wearing when she died. I can almost imagine her placing it on Ruby’s finger, her smile when she did it.

My throat constricts with emotion and I nod.

“I promise.”

Chapter28

Verosa

Once Ruby leaves, Blaine grabs my elbow and Torin by the edge of his cloak. “We need to have a talk. All the Nightwalkers too.”

“I’ll grab them.” Torin eyes the tension between us and stalks off, more than happy to relieve himself of us, even if only for a few moments.

I cross my arms over my chest, sighing through my nose. “Want to clue me in to what this is all about?”

“I figured you would let us in on that,” he presses, “given that your plan seemed to revolve around the others’ capabilities and not your own. You haven’t been back to Irene’s tower in ten years and there’s no way in hell you’re going into the dungeons. That is too much of a risk. So where can you use those new powers of yours—which we aren’t done discussing, by the way.”

The air between us turns cold, lethal. His body mimics my own, all fine lines and hardened muscle. Defensive. Commanding. Another argument waiting to blow up.

At some point, the others file in silently, just watching the showdown until Kya raises her voice. “He’s right. What aren’t you telling us?”

I shoot her a betrayed look. Of all the people in this room to undermine me, she is the last on my list, even past Torin. Her face remains impassive, her assassin façade in place. Amír stirs restlessly beside her and Rowan’s eyes bore holes into my face.

What aren’t you telling me?

I sigh, obviously and miserably outnumbered. “Mavis took me on a mission right before you all found me. I thought it was a simple scouting mission or a test to see how my new powers hold up in a real-life scenario. In reality, we were searching for someone.”

“Who and why?” Blaine presses.

“Just wait a minute,” I retort, the darkness in my core snapping like a leash against my anger. “There was a man who had heard something about how to end the war. I didn’t know the man was Duke Gadsden until we found him.”

The scent of charred human flesh floods my senses for only a moment. The man who tormented me during my teenage years with marriage proposals and preyed on all the maids. The man who was partially responsible for Tanja’s death. Perhaps he deserved what he got, but his blood evaporating from my hands is a feeling I won’t soon forget.

Rowan emits a sound something like a squeak or a grunt which he covers with a cough. In any other situation, I might have offered a laugh. Such an odd sound for such a domineering man. His feet scuff against the floor and he nods, asking me to continue.

With a heavy sigh, I comply. “He planned to sell the information to the king and Lucius in exchange for immunity. Some of the nobles have been doing that, as we know—spying on the innocents, selling them out if they see a woman or young man with blond hair. Selfish bastards.”

Amír slams her fingers against her holster before snapping. “And? Any day now, Vera.”

“And,” I drawl out pointedly, “we got to him first. He spilled everything. Rumor has it, there’s a being that lives in the mountains not too far from here that can see the future. An Oracle that knows how this war ends, and what must happen for it to come to pass.” I draw out the map that I stole from Mavis and unfurl it.

A sharp inhale rings through the room. Kya drags two fingers across her heart and Derrín taps his feet against the ground, his toes making a mangled tune against the wood.

“That’s the same place the Kijova were heading. Amír, your tracking…” Kya hisses.

“This is all speculation.” Blaine pinches his brows together. “You’re taking the word of a slimy pedophile who would say anything to save his life. You want to put your life on the line based on his word alone?”

“And what of the cost? There’s always a price for these sorts of things,” Amír adds.

“I know it’s true because Irene had books on it,” I snap finally. “In her study. To earn the truth of your future from the Oracle, you must be deemed worthy by the gods through a trial. Once you pass the trial, you are granted the visions of the future that you seek. Something like that could save so many lives, at the risk of only one.”

“Yes,yours,” Rowan bites back, fear lacing his words.

“It’s worth the risk! How many have died? How manymoreare going to die?”

The room falls silent. I can see it on their faces—they all want to beg me not to go, but they cannot argue with my words. A whole kingdom has fallen to the whims of a madman. Only one equal in power can take him out. If my soul is already damned, then why not give it to the one thing that might save everyone else?

“The people are expecting a miracle,” Torin mumbles under his breath, worry lines now creasing his forehead.

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