Page 25 of Inked in Emeralds (Inkbound #3)

B y the time we got back to the palace, I was dead on my feet. It had been a whirlwind of a day, and I still hadn’t given myself time to process that the man who’d raised me was The Wizard of Oz. Kind of.

Never mind all that Nora had added to the mix.

And then there was that little moment at the end there where she’d called Billy back…

I winced, recalling the expression on the ranger’s face when she’d walked out.

Something important had been discussed, but damned if I was going to be the one to ask what it was. How many times had I snooped, sneaked, picked, or prodded to find information only to wish I never found it out in the first place?

So many.

If I came up with one more thing to worry about, I was pretty sure my head was going to explode. All I wanted right now was to head straight for my bedroom, face plant onto the mattress, have a good come apart, and crash out for the night.

I paused to give sweet Bonnie a scratch on her head when she fluttered down to the table, and then faced the others with a stiff smile. “I’m exhausted and going to hit the sack. See everyone in the morning!” I turned on my heel to go, tears already prickling my eyes.

Walk fast, dummy.

Only I wound up walking right into Billy, who had used her preternatural stealth to get around me in a flash. I let out a grunt as she shoulder-checked me and I bounced off, stumbling back a couple feet.

“Not so fast, Princess,” she drawled, her brogue deeper than I’d ever heard it as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You, me, Tall Dark and Cranky, and the ox here are going to play a little game before you go night night.”

“A-a game?” I stuttered, the blood draining from my face at the dead serious look on her face.

“Yup. See, when we first met, I told you all I was a private person, which is true. In turn, I allowed you all to be private, too. Fair is fair. But now, things have taken a turn, and the time for secrets is done. So we’re going to play a game,” she repeated.

“I’m calling it Truth or Consequences . It’s where you all start giving me some truth, or I start dishing out some consequences.

” She raised her brows and glanced at each of us in turn. “Who wants to go first?”

Five minutes later, the four of us sat cross-legged around the low table, the silence thick and uncomfortable. The common room’s plush couches stood unused a few feet behind us.

Billy had pulled a worn deck of playing cards from her bag and was now shuffling with a skill that bordered on hypnotic. The cards moved through her fingers with an ease that had me wondering if dice wasn’t the only game she was especially skilled at.

I was about to ask her, but something in her stormy expression kept me silent.

“Here’s the rules.” Billy broke the silence without looking up from her cards. “High card asks low card a question. Low card answers truthfully, or else.”

“Or else what?” Hook asked, raising an eyebrow.

Billy’s gaze flicked to him. “Or else we are going to have a problem.”

The tension ratcheted up one more notch, and I was about to enter the fray and try to diffuse the situation when Hook shrugged.

“Fair enough.”

I glanced over at Duncan, who’d been staring down at the table. He lifted his head now, clearly reluctant, but he met Billy’s stare.

“Are there limits on questions?” Duncan asked. “Subjects that are off the table?”

Billy cocked her head, eyes flinty. “Something to hide, Ox?”

He shrugged. “Nope. But I’m not the only one here, and I don’t want anyone forced to share things they don’t feel comfortable sharing.”

“And I don’t want to die on the battlefield next to a bunch of people with secret agendas,” she shot back.

“This is going to be a shitty few minutes, but it’s a necessary evil if we want a chance in hell of getting Harmony through these trials so we can face Almira.

” She set her jaw, stubborn like a mule.

“I’ve come this far, but I can’t wholeheartedly pledge my bow to someone whose purpose doesn’t line up with mine. ”

Hard to argue with that.

“We could just lie, though.”

I shot my elbow out and it caught Duncan in the side.

“What? We could…”

“You’re absolutely right,” she said, her smile downright terrifying. “But you’ve seen me shoot an arrow, and I’m a better lie detector than I am a shot. Do what you will with that information.”

She riffled the cards one final time and then fanned them out face-down on the table.

“Grab a card.”

Hook didn’t hesitate. He reached out and pulled one free, flipping it up to show the group. The jack of hearts. He flicked it onto the table in front of him without a word.

Duncan picked next, drawing a nine of clubs.

My turn. My heart sped up just a little as I slid my hand across the smooth surface of the cards, third eye wide open for some clue as to which to pick but coming up blank. I grabbed one at random and turned over the three of spades.

Shit.

Billy went last, ending up with the King of diamonds.

“Looks like the princess is up first.” Billy’s expression softened for a second as she met my gaze before snapping back to all-business again.

I braced myself, expecting her to come out swinging, and she didn’t disappoint.

“Nora Broomall knew your mother better than most. She said Marin was the most powerful witch she’d ever known, and the greatest clairvoyant.

” Billy rested her elbows on the table, her gaze boring straight through me.

“Tell me something, Harmony. When you asked me to join you, did you already know your mother had read your tea leaves countless different ways, countless different times? And that, no matter how she turned the cup, no matter what path she tried to clear for you, every future ended the same?”

My vision went hazy, and I swayed in place. I was no clairvoyant, but I knew what came next, and the words hit like physical blows.

“It ends with Almira as the victor, and all of us dead.” Her eyes blazed as she looked at the guys and then back to me. “Did you know we’d lost this fight a thousand times before it even started?”

“She didn’t know.” Hook’s tone brooked no argument, and Duncan nodded in agreement.

“There’s no way she knew that.”

But Billy turned back to me and waited.

I had to stop thinking about what that revelation meant for me…for us. It would only send me spiraling. Instead, I had to deal with the problem at hand. Billy didn’t trust me, and I could hardly blame her, but I needed to fix it.

So I launched into the story I probably should’ve told when we first met.

About Molly and Heinrich, and The Speaker.

About the storybook and finding the first Whisper of my magic in Alabaster.

About Pan and Tink and Noru the Croc. I even explained about The Wizard of Oz, and how he was a dead ringer for my foster father.

When I was done, I reached out and grabbed hold of her forearm.

“The most important thing I need you to know is…I wouldn’t have put people I care about through all of that. I wouldn’t have knowingly dragged you all into a battle we were destined to lose.” I shook my head. “Never.”

She seemed to process that for a second before leaning back.

“I believe you. For what it’s worth, that wasn’t all your mother told Nora.

She also said that destiny is like a river.

Ever changing. One, tiny thing—the turn not taken, a kindness to a stranger, or a last second pivot—could alter it all. ”

It was a small comfort, and I looked around the table at the others. “We’ve all seen what we’re up against. If we go in thinking we have no hope?—”

Hook snorted. “I never go into a battle thinking that.”

“I don’t need any promises or guarantees,” Billy tacked on. “My concern was going into battle with a leader who lied to me. I know what the risks are, and I’m willing to take them.”

“Same,” Duncan added, tossing his card back into the pile as Bonnie lit onto his shoulder and nuzzled against his neck.

“Next round.”

The room fell quiet as Billy gathered the cards again, shuffling them once more, the silence broken only by the click of the deck. She fanned them back out and we each drew again.

It was hard to concentrate after the news she’d dropped on me, but Billy was still on a mission, and the rest of us were along for the ride whether we wanted to be or not.

King of clubs for me, five of diamonds for Dunc, and another jack for Hook. Billy let out a triumphant whoop as she held out the ace of spades.

“Looks like my lucky day! So give it to me straight, Ox. What gives with all the—” she broke off and flexed, making the veins in her neck pop, “and the eyes and all.”

Duncan settled back, using hands to brace himself. “In Alabaster, where Harmony and I met and her journey began, people who have magic are called Whispers. My Whisper is that I can harness anger and other emotions and channel them into physical strengths.”

“But it hurts, yeah?”

He tipped his head in acknowledgement. “Let’s say it doesn’t tickle and leave it at that.”

“Fair enough. I guess all I need to know is that it won’t affect your judgement when we’re in battle. So far, that’s seemed to be true. I’d fight by your side any day, Ox.”

I let out the breath that had been stuck in my chest since this whole thing started. It was actually going better than I expected.

Then it was Hook’s turn as he drew an eight.

As luck would have it, Billy pulled high card again.

“I’m guessing you’re a Whisper too, then?” Hook was about to answer but she held up a staying hand. “Nope. Hold on. That’s not the question I want to ask.”

She scratched at her chin, deep in thought, then she let her gaze travel over the tattoos barely visible above his shirt collar. The clock on the mantel ticked, loud in the silence, but she wouldn’t be rushed.

When she finally spoke, her words were slow, deliberate, and sucked every molecule of air from the room.

“Why are you so sad?”