Page 14 of Wonder (Wonderfall #3)
The Seer worked out of the back room of a tiny nightclub on the outskirts of Old Town.
I hadn’t been sure exactly what abilities King Domhnull had instructed his emissaries to give the humans, but the Wonders whispered that some of the new magic carriers were starting to make themselves known.
As soon as I’d heard rumors of a true Seer, I’d paused my search for the luchd-òl fola and looked for the Seer instead.
In Paris I’d lucked out, running into a bear shifter who’d met the Seer herself. I’d come straight here.
The Wonder at the door—a gargoyle in his human form—was less than impressed by my request to see Madame Vivienne, but a fistful of francs made him suddenly cooperative. “You’ll have to wait. She has another guest. Have a drink or two at the bar, and someone will come for you when she’s ready.”
I kept my eye roll to myself. They wanted me to spend more money.
No matter. Everyone was trying to get by.
I ordered a Sidecar, which I’d become fond of in the past few years.
I didn’t dare drink more than one though, because I needed to feed and I’d get drunk way too fast. I hated feeding from Wonders without them agreeing to it, so I only took enough to get by.
Which was stupid for someone who needed to be able to fight, but so far I hadn’t been able to convince myself to take more than I needed in any particular moment.
The bartender left me alone to watch the guy at the piano listlessly singing Hank Williams’ “Lost Highway” translated into French.
After about twenty minutes the bartender came back and pointed at a curtained alcove to one side of the stage.
I paid for my drink and left him a generous tip.
I still had some of King Domhnull’s gold and jewels left, but selling them made me more memorable than I was comfortable with.
A year or so ago I’d learned to find underground gambling rooms in large cities.
It was easy enough to mesmerize a human into playing badly.
I made sure to only prey on those who could afford it, and I’d had no trouble staying flush with cash.
Madame Vivienne was younger than I’d expected.
She wore a cream silk evening gown with a lace shawl around her shoulders.
A black silk turban with a blue gemstone in the center was wrapped around her head, and a matching gem graced the choker that mostly covered her prominent Adam’s apple.
She sat at a small table draped with more silk, and a shallow bowl of water sat in the center.
“Come in. Please sit.” Her voice was low, with an affected highbrow accent. She gestured regally at the chair opposite hers, and I sat as she examined me. Her eyebrows went up. “I have not met your kind before.”
“I am no threat to you, madame. I need your help.” I smiled reassuringly as I set my small pack on the floor beside my chair. Most of my things were back at the inn, but I preferred to keep my money and the dèideag dìon with me.
She spread her arms wide with a theatrical flair. “Show me some francs, and my visions will come.”
“Will British pounds do instead?” I offered her a ten-pound note, and her eyes lit up. Since the war, francs were worth less and less on an almost daily basis.
She plucked the money out of my fingers and tucked it into her bosom, then she laid a gloved hand, palm up, on the table.
I put my hand in hers, and she closed her eyes.
After a few seconds, her eyes darted back and forth behind her lids.
Her fingers tightened on mine, and her expression turned grim.
About two minutes later, she let go and sat back in her chair as if exhausted.
Her voice was even lower now, more dramatic.
“My vision came to me in two parts. First, your companion must follow a different path than yours.” She tilted her head down toward my pack.
“Put them into the keeping of the flying fox.” She placed her hands palm-down on the table and didn’t say anything more.
I narrowed my eyes. “That’s not how visions work.”
She lifted her head so she could look down her nose. “I’m the only Seer in France. This is how my visions work.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Before the portal closed, I was part of the Elven King’s Royal Guard. I’ve worked with Elven Seers for longer than you’ve been alive. When the magic was granted to you, it would not have been altered so.”
She sat up, relaxing and losing her dramatic affectations.
“Well, don’t tell any of my other customers.
I need the repeat business.” She reached under the table and brought out a bottle of cognac.
Then she produced two glasses. She poured for each of us, and when she lifted her glass in a toast, I copied her.
She downed half of drink in one swallow.
“I don’t know what that is in your bag, but it’s got magic like a person.
In my vision I saw you giving it to a young-ish American man.
He was a fox shifter, and you were in a bar, I think.
He mentioned he was taking a plane to New York City in the morning, and you told him your friend there would keep him and his family safe. ”
Well, that was interesting, but it didn’t help my mission. “Thank you for telling me. What was the second thing you saw?” I took a sip of cognac and waited.
She shook her head. “I didn’t get a lot of detail, but there were flashes of blood and traveling. Lots of time passed. When it stopped, you were sitting in a bed. You were smiling, and you said, ‘It’s finally over.’” She sounded the words out carefully. “Those are English words?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I hope I repeated them correctly. After you said those words, your mate hugged you.”
I hadn’t expected that. I set my glass down gently. “I’m sorry. Did you say my mate? The only ones of my kind left on Earth are those I have to kill.”
She waved a hand dismissively. “Such thinking is so limiting. The Wonders have already discovered that on Earth, mates can be anyone with magic. Your mate will be someone like me, a human who received magic from the Elves. The bond between the two of you was unmistakable. I couldn’t see his face, of course.
” She gave me a wink. “But I promise you his backside was quite shapely.”
I tried to wrap my head around this. I wasn’t opposed to having a mate who was different from me, but in the Elven dimension mates were always—always—from your own species.
Luckily, I found all sorts of people attractive.
But the idea that I could even have a mate was stupendous.
I’d given up so many dreams for my mission, I hardly dared believe it was true.
She drained her glass. “You’ll need your mate by your side before you complete whatever quest you’re on, but it’ll be a long, long time before you find him.”