Page 23 of Oracle of Ruin

“I suppose you haven’t heard…” She trails off, picking at an invisible speck of dirt under her nails. “Lucius killed his father and assumed the throne of Tesslari. I suppose I should have said king and emperor—my mistake.”

Lucius murdered his father? Lucius is now emperor. We are no longer just fighting my father and a blind prince’s monsters. We are facing the whole of the Tesslarian army.

“Why would he—”

“He and Rowan are quite similar, you know,” she interrupts. “Ask me how. You know you want to know.”

“How?” my throat traitorously croaks.

“Men only want one thing, Vera.” Her crimson-stained lips tilt upwards in a wicked smile.

Heat stains my cheeks and I feel the urge rising to protect his honor, despite it being at my own expense. “Rowan and I haven’t had sex. He’d never pressure me or be with me for that,” I burst out.

Laei, please strike me down.

“Power, Verosa. I’m talking about power.” She rises and stalks forward, her strides graceful and feline. “Sex is just an extension of that power. You can give it or they can take it, but either way, it gives them something over you. But sex isn’t nearly a fraction of what power you hold. Owning you makes him the deadliest man alive.”

“He doesn’t own me.”

“Sure, but what else could he need you for? Sentiment? Love?” She laughs, a cruel and sadistic thing. “Aren’t you two only tied together by a deal that allows him to use you for his own revenge?”

“I used him too.” I could have said anything else to redeem this situation. That was months ago, and things are different now. Anything other than the words that leave my mouth.

“How healthy,” she croons.

I blow a stray hair from my face. My eyebrows knit together into a scowl as my glare settles on the woman before me. “And what of you? Why doyouneed me?”

“You’re the only one who can save us, Verosa. I’m here to hone you into the weapon you were born to be.”

“And before the world fell apart?”

“Men aren’t the only ones who want power. Power is protection. I wasn’t lying when I said having you makes one the most untouchable person alive.” Mavis clicks her tongue, feigning disinterest. “At least I have been honest about my intentions from the start.”

“I’m not a weapon.”

Mavis crouches down to my level, her gaze searching my own with scrutinizing intensity. “No,” she finally concludes with a wicked grin. “You are a woman.”

“What?”

“An angry woman. That is as good as a weapon. You’re using it as a shield right now. Isn’t that stifling? Why don’t you just let go? I can teach you how.”

“I have my powers. I don’t need dark magic. I’m not willing to pay that price,” I bite back.

“And just how much, I wonder, would you be willing to pay to have your friend back?”

My throat constricts and I pause before the words leave my lips in a whisper. “I’d give anything.”

This seems to be the answer Mavis wants because she smiles, her canines glinting in the light. She picks up the severed thumb and presses it into my palm. “Didn’t your father promise to bring back the emperor’s mother with dark magic? I wonder if that magic could be used for your sweet Tanja.” Her hot breath caresses the outer shell of my ear, and a chill creeps up my spine.

I could bring her back.

In my dream, Lucius said that the spell did not work, that something had gone wrong. But I have what he doesn’t—me.

I wrap my fingers around the bloodied base where the bone of the finger used to connect to the knuckle. The stiff edges scratch my skin and squish disgustingly. I bite back bile and focus on calling for my powers, only I reach further into my soul. I reach for those dark moments—Blaine screaming as he awoke, that night in the snow, Rowan leaving. Tanja’s throat being slit.

Drip.

Blood slides from my palm where my fingernails have dug into my skin, the severed thumb no longer in my hand. It has been replaced with a dark flame that swirls and licks towards my blood. Each time it kisses my wound, a shiver of ecstasy rolls through my body so potent that my eyes roll back into my head. The shallow wound soon closes, but the flame remains.

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