Page 45 of The Ember and the Emerald

Ahav’s gaze returned to me, his features softening ever so slightly. “I will see to my lady, but the moment I’m able, we will have a talk.”

13

TIME OUT, TIME IN

Ian carried my backpack as he guided me through the palace, leading me ever down flights of cold, echoing stairs. I chomped at the bit to rip the bag from his grasp, to clutch it to my chest before he even thought to peek inside. If he managed to open it and confiscate those mystery rocks. Kevin. My nonsense note. I would lose everything Past Me died to send.

I swallowed a protest, tightening my grip on the hat. No need to antagonize him and lose the element of surprise.

“I don’t panic. I malfunction quietly.” Kevin’s muffled voice spilled from the pack. “Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha.”

Though Ian tossed a frown over his shoulder, he didn’t ask.

The air grew heavier with each descent, thick with an infusion of damp stone and dust. Narrow slits in the walls welcomed in meager slivers of fading sunlight, casting long, skeletal shadows that flickered with our steps. The walls, freshly painted, pressed in around us.

As we navigated the winding, labyrinthine catacombs hidden beneath the castle, everything looked new rather than centuries old. That didn’t stop the oppressive weight of a history unknown from settling on my shoulders. This was my family’s ancestral estate. Home to grandparents I’d never met. Did I have aunts, uncles, and cousins peppered throughout?

“I hope you don’t mind,” Ian said, “but I’m taking you the long route. Letting you see more of the palace while giving the captain time to settle your…beast.”

Did I appreciate the tour? Yes. Would I thank him? No. “The palace is lovely.”

“It is, isn’t it? My father oversaw the restoration of these catacombs twenty-five years ago, when Ahav’s father ruled. These hallowed halls sat in ruins for centuries. Since the time of King Morris, in fact.”

The magic words. My back went ramrod straight. “I’m intrigued. Tell me more.” Tell me everything.

He tossed a polished grin over his shoulder, confident he’d hooked me. “Let us trade stories. I have many questions, but one troubles me more than the others.” His voice dropped ever so slightly. “Have we met before, Oracle?”

Forget hearing about the renovation. I slipped into my supposed maiden slash oracle persona with more ease than expected. Or desired. “Am I so forgettable you must wonder?”

Sheepish, he said, “Excellent point. You are…quite unforgettable.”

Nice save. And really, my brain struggled to reconcile the fifty-something evil Ian of tomorrow with the early-thirties charmer of today. Especially while trying to come to grips with my new reality: an oracle who’d just met her biological father and prevented the death of her mother. I’d predicted the future.

Or relived a scene from a past incarnation?

Yeah. Probably that. And, yes, okay, without the serpens-rosa, I would’ve died. Which made me think. Had Elowen done me a favor when she’d traded me for Iris, leaving me with Gerald the trapper? Two goals, one underhanded bargain.

Ian led me around a corner. “I think, perhaps, you remind me of my first wife. She, too, was a water maiden.”

“Was?” I’d known Iris killed his second wife—or would—but not what happened to the first.

Everything about him sharpened. “Murdered by a madman right before my eyes.”

In his voice I heard a cocktail of sorrow and anguish. Though I hated everything this man becomes, I wasn’t without compassion for him now. If nothing else, I had a better understanding of why he chose the path of destruction. Did he seek revenge against the world for daring to take his beloved?

“The loss of a loved one is never easy, but those losses taken by violence cut deepest.” And what of the madman?

A thrum of torment and understanding filled the space between us. “So true,” he intoned.

“You have remarried or you will,” I stated. I didn’t like him, but that didn’t mean I wanted an innocent woman to perish either.

“I have already done so, yes. Orders from the top.”

Ahav insisted his second wed again? “Heed my warning. Guard her well or lose her. I sense…trouble.” Speaking of, two dark outlines on the wall drew my notice. A tall man and a slender woman. There, but not there.

I blinked, and they were gone, no hint of them remaining.

My heart refused to calm. I recognized their shape: the shadow woman and her strongman, who’d stood in the corner of the medical facility.