Page 45 of A Crown of Tears and Treason (The Curse of Silver Secrets and Cruel Shadows #1)
Chapter
Forty-Five
EVIE
“ I ’ve read many old texts in my life, but those scrolls seem…ancient.” Leesa worried her bottom lip between her teeth as her nimble fingers twisted and teased my hair into submission, the final stage of my transformation to meet the grand Oracle.
With her help, I’d squeezed into a Blood Brotherhood-red silk dress that draped behind me in decadent rivulets. Thick bands of gold clinked on my wrist each time I moved, and the earrings hung low, whispering against my bare shoulders. Perfect training for when I wore the gleaming crown, the strands of pearls cascading against the sides of my face.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror, not quite believing it was me who sat in front of it. This creature was, dare I say it, beautiful. Her collarbone didn’t bulge out and her cheekbones had lost their gaunt look.
I stood up taller. Prouder. There was a spark in my eyes that hadn’t been there before in my reflections in the mountain creek.
Leesa had done wonders, but being in Phoenix Peak had transformed me. I looked more like the princess grandpa Constantine had raised me to be.
Inside, though…inside I was trembling. With anticipation or apprehension, I didn’t know. This Oracle’s words were powerful enough to help the advisors turn the Clan against me. I couldn’t let that happen.
“They are old.” I turned my gaze to Leesa in the mirror. “But can you help me open and decipher them?”
Zandyr and I had both decided the fewer people knew about the scrolls, the better. He’d mentioned one of his loyal Brothers, Soryn, might also be able to help us. But he and Clara were currently dealing with the fearsome Clan Council halfway across the continent and transporting the scrolls in their flimsy state was impossible.
Leesa’s thirst for history had led to her reading more old, obscure texts than all of us combined, and Goose had encountered various ancient tongues through his studies of chemistry and alchemy.
Most importantly, we could trust them. The two of them were our best shot–and I knew both would be thrilled to be working with each other.
Leesa hesitated. She opened her mouth and closed it one too many times. “I will do my best.”
“Thank you.” I sighed in relief. The scrolls had been taunting me all night; I could swear they’d been whispering threats at me.
“First we have to survive today,” Leesa said, whether to convince herself or me, I couldn’t tell. “Then we can deal with any ancient text you want.”
“It’s going to be fine,” I said, wanting to believe every word.
“The Oracle will speak the truth. But I’m concerned about what some people will do with that truth. It wouldn’t be the first time.” Her hand trembled as she picked up the ruby red hairpin. “I like it here. I don’t want to go back to the Fair Isles. The people there are cold. And mean.”
“You can’t be forced to go back.”
“Until the Dragon rests on the throne, the advisors have the power to do almost anything they want.” Leesa’s nervous gaze met mine. “May I speak plainly, Your Grace?”
“Always, Leesa.”
“My uncle was tried as a traitor for questioning the advisors’ access to the Clan vaults. It happened long before I was born, but I and all my family will bear his supposed shame for seven more generations.”
My palms fisted in my lap. “How did they get so powerful?”
Leesa nipped at her lips. “I don’t know what magic they possess. But it must be forsaken.”
Leesa suspected Banu and Valuta of using their powers for at least some of their influence, too. I shook my head, trying to dislodge the dread.
I needed my wits with me for my meeting with the Oracle.
“How did you and Goose meet?” I asked, willing the heavy air to vanish.
“In school. He was always nice and so smart.” Leesa’s doll lips twisted into the kind of smile I tried so very hard not to have around Zandyr all the time; the carefree, sweet, vulnerable one. “He didn’t care that I came from a traitor’s bloodline, and I liked that he spent more time reading than trying to impress anyone in the training ring, like our other schoolmates. Outcasts always find each other.”
I huffed a laugh. “And we’re all living in this house.”
Leesa, Goose, Adara, and me. All of us went against what the great Blood Brotherhood Clan had come to want under Banu and Valuta’s hidden rule. We might have been this Clan’s future–and it was time to find mine.
The journey to the grand Phoenix Peak temple did nothing to calm my nerves.
I didn’t know the Citadel had so many people, all of them casting curious glances my way as each held a torch to light the path. My shadow flickered against the crackling fire, the only sound that accompanied my steps.
I strode ahead, all alone.
I passed the guards; no sign of Owyn. Perhaps he was home, unpacking the generous crate he’d been sent.
Then came Zandyr’s warriors. I recognized a few of them from their return to Phoenix Peak. Some still had their arms in slings and wore gashes across their faces and the shaved sides of their heads. They’d been maimed by powerful magic if the Blood Brotherhood healers hadn’t been able to mend them.
Thousands of torches.
Thousands of people.
Where had they all been hiding?
The gates to the Capital had been opened, more prying glances crowding the perimeter, but not daring to step inside Phoenix Peak. They watched in silence as I walked and tried to look powerful and unbothered. The quake inside me needed to remain hidden.
The Capital had been lit with anticipation.
For me.
Just as a harsh breath threatened to shudder out of me, I felt a comforting wave beckoning me.
Zandyr appeared, dressed in his armor, the traditional crimson robe draped over his strong shoulders. The warrior and the future king.
He kept his face impassive as he watched me approach, like we’d planned. The last thing we needed was to give Banu and Valuta any hint there was something more between us than an arranged marriage we hadn’t wanted.
My fingers twitched to touch him. For one moment. One breath.
We exchanged an icy nod, even as warmth radiated off him.
For me.
To help me be as calm as possible as I faced the mighty Oracle who waited at the top of the temple stairs.
Her eyes–they were completely crimson. Deep, abyssal pools of red shadows that seemed to slash straight through me and weaken my knees.
I didn’t cower. I locked my muscles and ascended the stairs, Zandyr’s strong, comforting presence right beside me. My gaze didn’t stray from hers for a moment.
I had to be strong.
The Oracle held centuries in the wrinkles on her face, which seemed to radiate from the blood-red jewel attached to her forehead. It glowed, summoning me closer.
“She will try to intimidate you,” Zandyr had warned last night. “She has been born to detect weakness.”
The Oracle towered over everyone. The king and queen stood to her right, the advisors and Kaya to her left. Three steps below, a curious group of Blood Brotherhood members watched me approach, rheumy eyes sizing me up. They all wore ceremonial robes in a burnt orange shade, silver headdresses rising high in the air. Their rigid stances tried to come off as dignified and proud, but they gave off an eerie stiffness. They must have been the Senate members, come to see me for themselves, and they were frightened. Of me. A wisp of a being quaking in her own shoes. What poisoned lies had the advisors infected them with?
I spared them only a glance, enough to see a ripple of shivers coursing through their ranks, before my gaze returned to the Oracle.
She wore an impossibly white robe on her bony frame, its hem painted red, as if she’d walked through a river of blood. Her white hair had been twisted into twin braids that looked like horns and made her taller.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kaya giving me a small, reassuring smile. She’d lost weight since I’d last seen her. Not even the heavy paint on her face could hide the bags under her eyes.
Zandyr and I stopped in front of the Oracle. My head barely reached her hands, which ended in long, black nails. He bowed the Oracle’s way and stepped to the side, next to his parents, and sent one last reassuring wave my way.
A hush fell over the Capital, as if the breaths had been stolen from everyone’s lungs. The air reeked of ritual and expectations.
The back of my neck hurt from straining to look the Oracle in the eye.
“You are different than what I expected, Blue Queen,” the Oracle said in a deep, heavy voice that sounded ripped from another world. It slid over my skin, burrowing deep into my bones. “Come.”
She stretched her hands toward me. I mirrored her movements, unsure. She glided her palms over mine, leaving a crimson streak in her wake. Blood. I fought every instinct to keep from shuddering.
“I will flow through your veins,” she said and it suddenly seemed like a thousand people spoke at once. Screaming and laughing at the same time. Taunting.
Then she pressed her thumb against my forehead, leaving a similar sleekness behind.
“And I will tunnel into your mind,” she went on. “No secret you have can hide from me. Do you accept?”
I nodded.
I was ready.
Then the pain began.