Page 49 of I Ran Away to Evil #3

You Have Been Warned

Julian

A Few Minutes Ago

“Your god speaks in riddles just as well as my goddess!” Alice scoffed. She leaned back in her chair, unimpressed. “But since you’ve so kindly shared yours, I’ll read you mine.”

Alice focused on a pop-up window no one else could see. Her eyes flickered, searching through her notification tab ability log until she found Fate’s prophecy.

“What mortals toil to the coiling thread.

Why weave the same when knots form in the line.

The loom feeds a snag in Fate looming.

So seek first those of second death.

Find tears in time before time unravels.

The weave undone. To walk away. To stay.

Embrace death by the first fallen leaf.

Tie ends or end in Void.”

Her voice didn’t have the weight of a literal god, but her charisma passive perk was a good mortal comparison. Julian had to repeat the words over with a clear mind, without Alice’s personal inflections.

“Do you see?” The guild mistress refocused, shooting Rowen a scathing look. “ You are a tear in the weave. There was no timeline in which you were meant to survive, and you being here might destroy us all. So think about that while you go live your Happily Ever After— however long it lasts.”

The fox kept a smile on their face, but their hands were clenched. “I see how you interpret this, but between the two, I would say Shadow is clearer. So I will think on it while I go about living my life, and I will not let you continue terrorizing the continent with your fears of ‘what if.’”

“You know I’m right,” said the celestial, her blue eyes flashing to the magical wall.

“And so do they. What happens when things start to go wrong? Will they turn on you if the system fails them? Shadow just said that Shadow won’t doom the world.

He does not speak for all. What if Fate forsakes us?

Everyone will know then that you chose yourself over the world. ”

“Enough,” Their Royal Highness snapped, their aura fluctuating behind their fake smile.

Julian pitied Rowen, seeing the words having an effect on the old fox.

The idea that his own family and friends would be put at risk did play across his mind, but Julian refused to pander to the guild mistress before a second opinion.

Something about Alice just felt … chaotic .

Where Gerda had all the answers and a careful plan, Alice did not.

Julian knew he wasn’t being entirely fair.

There were reports that the Blackfog had managed to accomplish many things in the past. But no matter how he saw it, Julian would trust Gerda before Alice any day.

Besides, if Alice had her way, then his sister-in-law might not live very long.

Chloe was a part of his family now, and that meant protecting her just as much as Julia.

The celestial shrugged. “You have been warned.”

“Then I guess it’s my turn to warn you .” Rowen’s voice dropped ominously as the smile slipped from their face. “Mine and my own are no longer going to play a role in your plans.” The fox shot Julian a look and asked, “You are keeping Guild Mistress Alice until the first leaf falls?”

She cut him off before Julian could answer.

“He’s keeping me until I escape.” She glanced around her, scrutinizing the mithril enchanted room. “I give it three days.”

“Her fate will be decided by the council,” Julian told Rowen. To Alice, he raised an eyebrow in challenge. “You couldn’t escape the sanctuary; do you think that Fate will help free you now?”

“Who needs a goddess to escape this ?” Alice countered. “You know I’m the highest-level Spy class on the continent? Even these won’t slow me down.”

She lifted the Veralyn’s Enchanted Restraint Manacles on her wrists. They were still secure. The keys were in Julian’s storage, and he checked to make sure they were there.

His small desire to release her was also still there, which was why he hadn’t handed over the key to anyone else. No sense tempting fate with someone less guarded.

“I’ve only answered your questions because I’m being nice .” The celestial huffed. “And I was hoping you would see things clearly.”

Rowen considered, then smiled again—a very pointy-toothed grin. “Why don’t we ask Miss Gerda what she thinks on the prophecy, and if you will escape?”

Guild Mistress Alice sucked in a breath at the troll’s name, her face twisting into an ugly fit of rage. “Let that monster try to stop me.”

“She’s bested you before,” Rowen pointed out, digging into the wound.

“I can summon her,” Julian agreed. He really wanted to hear her opinion on Fate’s message.

Who better to ponder over a riddle than a bridge troll?

“While you do that”—Rowen took a seat at the table, their eyes glinting with playfulness and a hint of something darker—“I’ll start my own interrogation. I’d love to hear more about your time in Peldeep, Guild Mistress.”

Suddenly, the pressure in the room amplified.

Rowen released their full aura, and it suppressed Julian so forcefully that he had to fight to breathe.

“Have fun,” Julian barely managed to say before nodding to Visha and exiting the room.

His general appeared unphased, though Julian felt bad about leaving her to guard inside while Rowen was showing off their strength.

The pressure lifted off Julian’s shoulders when he closed the door behind him, but his heartbeat still pounded against his chest.

The viewing area from the other side of the magical wall was teeming with conversation, more so than he’d anticipated. Usually, interrogations were a close study, as it wouldn’t do to miss anything.

Not so today.

“I’ve already sent someone for Gerda,” Witch Agatha said. She pointed at Master Thomas, who looked ready to light someone on fire. “Now, tell that one to calm down.”

Julian already had reservations about Master Thomas joining the viewing room due to his potential personal connection with the celestial, but he’d invited all council members and couldn’t turn one away.

Julian just made sure that others were there with Master Thomas; as powerful as the young man was, he was no match for Agatha or Lorthar, let alone both.

“Is no one else worried about what that celestial just said?” Master Thomas fumed, obviously continuing a conversation that Julian had walked in on. “I’m not saying we should knife Rowen in the back, but look at Peldeep law. We could urge Rowen to step down and act as if they’re dead. Or abdicate—”

“Or what?” Wizard Lorthar waved away the young mage’s concerns. “You want us to go after everyone on the Blackfog list and continue where they left off?”

“If the Continental Council ordered everyone on that list to stand down until fall, we could potentially prevent whatever disaster the Keeper of Fate is foretelling,” Master Thomas urged, “ without her foolish desire for bloodshed.”

“You would follow the direction of a chosen who lost their way? One so utterly untrustworthy and murderous?” Witch Agatha tsked. “Mages, bah, always overthinking things.”

Wizard Lorthar chided, “Agatha, that was uncalled for. You know Thomas is speaking from a place of concern.”

“He can speak at the council,” she retorted. The meeting was in two days, the afternoon after the Masquerade, and perfectly timed to add her sentence to the agenda.

“I can speak whenever I please. And I will bring this to the council meeting,” Master Thomas huffed, clearly insulted and struggling to remain respectful to the older magic users.

Julian turned back to the interrogation hall to see Rowen in the middle of their questioning. The fox slammed a fist on the table, looming over the calm, collected Alice. Their voice was a cutting whisper.

“I have let your people live in my realm, and for this? You have forsaken them.”

“They are the hands and feet of Fate, and you know that I know you’ve hired Blackfog services in the past.” The celestial turned, her eyes sweeping over everyone in the viewing room. Julian could’ve almost sworn she’d caught his eyes. “You all have.”

Witch Agatha tensed while Wizard Lorthar sighed, impressed. “She’s really very good at that.”

There was a soft knock at the door.