My stomach plunged into icy depths. Mouth agape, I asked, “She’s in Aldar?”
Just a nod. And my world collapsed. My thoughts tied up in messy knots, I rambled. “So, this Priestess crossed the divide? I thought only the Wild Hunt could do that.”
But Maggie just said, “I can’t answer that question.”
Whathowwhen?
Frazer reached out and gripped my shoulder. As if he could keep me from falling apart that way.
No chance.
My head rolled forward, slumping into my open palms. A weight pressed down on my shoulders.
“There’s something else.” Maggie rubbed her eyes.
Adrianna huffed irritably.
I wanted to snap and bite and cry and rage. Enough with the life-altering revelations already.
Maggie’s gaze pinned each of us in turn. “The gods—and their courts—brought your pack together for a reason.”
She left us with that for a moment.
The thread vibrated, quivering. Frazer’s hand jerked from my shoulder. He was dazed. Spooked even.
Adrianna’s wings quivered a little. “What does that mean?”
Maggie continued, gesturing around the table. “You’ve all sensed it. Your pack is bonding. Becoming a unit. A family. So I can’t say it any plainer—work together. Guard each other’s backs. It’s how you’ll survive the coming years.”
Adrianna blinked. And again. At least she didn’t seem angry, just baffled.
Liora folded her arms atop the table, staring down into a cup of untouched tea. “You don’t mean as Iko soldiers, do you?”
She looked vulnerable. As if bracing herself.
Maggie gave her a look. Almost pitying. “The trials are important, but what comes afterward … Becoming a soldier in someone else’s war is not Serena’s future. Since you are all joined by fate, I doubt that it is any of yours, either.” She splayed a hand over the bones. “My visions have been growing bloodier, more violent, for a while now. Change is coming. A war to end all wars. And going off this reading—it looks like your pack will be right at the center of those battles.”
Cai held up his palm, cutting her off. “Wait, wait. Who the fuck are we going to war with?”
“D’you really not know?” Maggie’s eyebrow rose in disbelief.
Adrianna was the first to mumble, “Morgan?”
Maggie shuddered a touch. “This is bigger than her. But yes, she’s certainly part of it.”
“Why haven’t you told the Rivers Court all this?” Adrianna leaned in, demanding.
Maggie’s amber eye glowed, and her silver eye spun as she retorted, “I told them months ago.”
A muscle tweaked in Adrianna’s cheek as she sagged back into her chair. Like she was diminishing, fading.
Frazer gave me an alarmed sidelong glance. “What’s Serena’s role in all that?”
Maggie sighed. It was heavy, resigned. “There are limits, even to my sight—”
“Not good enough,” Frazer snapped and jerked his chin at the mirror. “Try.”
Rude. Abrupt. But I couldn’t help agreeing with him, so I stayed silent.
The witch hesitated and then looked again at the black glass. A waterfall of onyx braids fell to shadow her face as she squinted. As if trying to see something from a distance.
An angry humming started under my skin. It was desperate to be freed. To run away. A cool, loving hand reached out, sweeping through my mind, calming the surging and swelling of emotion. You can handle this, darling. You were born to it.
Auntie, I—
Feel like you’re shattering into a thousand pieces? That will pass.
The weight crushing my chest eased, just a little.
Maggie’s voice cracked and changed. Growing hoarser, deeper. “You are Light. The Darkness will be an ally and an enemy. You’ll travel far—farther than anyone before you. The burden of what you are, what you will become, won’t be easy. The cost will be high …”
A blade waited over my head, ready to fall.
“But your kin, your pack, and your mate will help you bear this burden.”
I couldn’t stop myself. “Mate?”
“That’s possible—with a human?” Frazer asked, his voice sharp, cutting.
Maggie blinked. And smiled. It was weak; she looked haggard. “If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t have become kin.”
“The mating bond is different. It’s more.” Adrianna ended abruptly.
A useless explanation.
Frazer snarled, showing his teeth.
Adrianna just raised an imperious eyebrow. “Don’t start. You know it’s different.” She faced me. “You only get one mate. One. You don’t choose it—you don’t say words. It just happens. And the bond is rare: unique. A fae can go millennia without meeting their intended.”
“Sounds nice.” Cai grinned across at her.
Adrianna clucked her tongue. “You don’t get it. Our kind treasure that bond above all others because it nearly always produces faelings. For a fae to find that connection with a human … Well, you know Morgan’s policies on marriage and inter-breeding. What d’you think she’d do to a mated pair?”
Yep. My heart just stopped.
Cai shrugged. “I still think it sounds nice.”
Liora groaned a little. And Frazer had become a statue. But somehow it cracked the ice encasing me. I could’ve kissed Cai. A whisper of a laugh rumbled in my chest. “Agreed.”
Adrianna shook her head in annoyance but didn’t say a word.
Summoning my courage, I addressed Maggie. “D’you know who he is? Who my mate is?”
That word—mate—encased my heart in an iron grip and squeezed.
Maggie groaned as she pressed her palms into her eyes, massaging. “Your future’s difficult. Tangled and blurred, and something—or someone—doesn’t want me looking into it.” She lowered her hands, her attention fixing on my chest, on the necklace, on Auntie. “But the mating bond has a soft spot in all fae hearts. Take my hand.”
Maggie put her palm out flat across the table toward me.
I didn’t hesitate; I reached out for her. Maggie’s warm hand enveloped mine, and she stared into the mirror’s depths, breathing deep. One, two, three heartbeats was all it took before she was rasping, “He is far from you. His heart and soul are dying. Shrouded in dark. You are the eye, the center, while he is the storm that rages.”
Maggie jerked her hand from mine and dropped the black mirror. Slumping back, her eyes fluttered. Then, her nose started to bleed. Violent curses were heard all around the table as Cai rushed to her, placing his hand on her forearm.
“I’m fine. Don’t fuss.” Maggie pulled away from him.
Liora’s voice was soothing. “Let him help you. We’re trained by the healing coven.”
“I’m aware,” she said, wiping the trickle of red away with a sleeve. “But your training wasn’t completed, was it?”
Cai straightened, hands stiff by his sides.
“No,” Liora answered for him. She sounded sad.
I made a note. Perhaps, when my world stopped spinning, I’d ask about it. But right now, my hands were trembling.
Storms and dark and death.
Having a mate wasn’t so romantic after all.
Maggie stood, bracing her hands against the table with a breath and a pause. Her back ramrod straight, she did a sweep of our faces. “I have one last task to perform before we can be done with this day. To scry for this witch and give you her location. But to do that—Serena, I’ll need a drop of your blood to make it work.”
Everyone talked at once.
Liora said, “Are you strong enough for that? We could wait until morning.”
Frazer growled. “Why d’you need her blood?”
Cai added, “I’ve never heard of a scrying needing someone’s blood before.”
Maggie sighed as if biting down on a retort. She turned to Adrianna, avoiding the questions. “The tea will be stone cold, and I find myself in need of a restorative brew. Could you boil more water?”
Adrianna just nodded, uncharacteristically silent. She set to work clearing the cups and teapot from the table.
Frazer cracked and demanded, “Why blood?”
There was nothing reproachful or calculated in the look Maggie gave him, just cold fatigue. “Because this Priestess isn’t a normal witch. Her wards are so potent that I can’t find her the traditional way. But stripping Serena’s magic would’ve left a connection, an open channel between them. I can use that to locate her.”