Page 66 of Oracle of Ruin

“Then I will give them one.” The sweet susurration of my power fills the silent room, the dark tendrils curling through my splayed fingers. I smile despite the pull at my chest.

“The miracle would be if we could pull this off.” Blaine casts a pointed glance my way. “Withoutdark magic.”

“We can’t. We have exhausted all of our other options.”

“Well, there is—”

“The power of a pureblood isn’t what we think it is,” I snap at Torin, who only shrugs. “Thisis the power. To master magic without paying the price, and to use it yourself.”

“I wonder who has mastered who.”

I whirl in a fury towards the source of the voice and find Blaine leaned over, his shoulders hunched and his handsome face contorted with worry.

“Do you have something to say, captain?”

He flinches, but squares his gaze to mine. “Do you hear yourself right now? There is a price, whether you realize it or not.”

“Even if there is, we must pay it! For the people.”

“It’s the people I worry about, Vera, but none more than you.”

The others fall silent, suddenly none of them looking me in my eye. It’s been this way since I was returned from Mavis—a jab in my direction, then silence.

Fury boils in my gut. “Worry about the people, then.That’syour job,” I hiss, but it’s not enough.

“We can’t afford to have your hands tainted with such dark forces! You are the future queen—”

“Then you will listen when I tell you to stand out of my way, or suffer the consequences, captain.”

The room is tense with apprehensive silence, the air crackling with anticipated violence, like the brief second before the blare of the war horn or the moment before the wave crashes into white, frothy sea foam.

Blaine rises and Amír’s hand inches towards her holster. The former captain takes two sure steps forward, stopping about a pace away from where I remain seated. I raise my chin in defiance and he pauses only a breath.

Then he bows deeply at the waist, his nose nearly touching my knees. “A su sonji, Mei Reinha,” he all but spits out.

As you wish, my queen.A mockery of the loyalty it is supposed to pledge.

The Vari man straightens, a purely murderous look painted across his handsome face, before he stalks from the room. Torin swears and follows behind him quietly. The others soon follow, dispersing to their own destinations while I am left seated in the room, rage simmering low in my veins. Somewhere outside these walls, a door slams.

My fingers fiddle with the ring around my neck. The sapphire bites against my palm as I squeeze it. Ruby gave me this ring because she understood. She knows Tanja’s death was my fault, and that only I can fix it. She can’t hate me only because Tanja loved me. But Tanja was far lovelier than I can ever be, and I no longer care how much I must sully my soul to avenge hers. Ruby knows this. Even this damn ring knows it.

The Oracle is the only answer. Ophelus and Lucius are constantly one step ahead, and something about the rebellion leader nags at my consciousness. I’ve seen his face before, years younger, though equally hardened with hate. He’s in on his own schemes—he has his own plans, even if they are set late down the road. He’s a snake, the lot of them.

Blood dots the blue gem as I release my grip.

“No, no no no,” I whimper, wiping the blood off the jewel. No reminders. No blood. No—

The blue is clear and clean again when it falls against my neck, shining just as brightly as it did when it hung around her neck, then on her finger. My own face reflects back, a hundred refractions of my own broken stare.

I have to do this. I have to.

Rowan steps back into the room a few moments later, the murmuring voices in the hallway ceasing at once. As if they were never there.

“Hey,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper. His clothes are rumpled and his hands stained crimson, gold, and silver. The metallics catch the light and I fixate on it to ignore the iron scent that covers the citrus to which I am accustomed. “You’ve been in here for a while.”

“Hmm?”

Have I? I glance out the window and notice the dying sun. It was noon when we all gathered. That was hours ago. Now twilight streaks across the sky, painting it in bold tones as the sun claims one last victory over the horizon.

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