Page 66 of The Ember and the Emerald

Pushed beyond good sense, he lunged for Jasher, who readied his weapon.

“No!” I hooked the soldier’s ankle, sending him skidding face-first into the floor before the axe could slice across his throat.

He sprang up, pivoting toward me and furious. Rage roared awake inside my chest. Heat shimmered around me. Water beaded from my pores.

Rourke bowed so fast his armor clanked. “My apologies, Oracle.”

Well, well, well. What was this? I’d gotten through to him, power answering my call before I understood how to summon it.

Jasher froze, just for a breath, his shock lit a spark low in my belly. He sheathed his weapons on his back.

“Let’s talk about this later,” Kevin said from his pocket.

The water beads retreated, but not before leaving me drunk on my surge of power. I fluffed my hair with a little too much flourish. “See that it doesn’t happen again.”

Before I could think better of it, I slid my arm through the monstra’s. We walked out, my storm still crashing beneath my skin, his chain dragging behind us.

“Do you have any idea how terrifying you look right now?” he murmured, low, intimate, admiring.

“I’m sure I appear perfectly calm and rational, because I am,” I said and gave a hmph for emphasis—even as my pulse tapped HELP in Morse Code.

Two guards waited outside with hands on sword hilts. They paled when they saw me.

“Remove the link,” I commanded. “Now.”

“Yes, Oracle.” Though trembling, the shorter one obeyed. Jasher was left only in cuffs.

We fell into step behind the guards. Rourke took up position behind us. Jasher leaned just close enough that the brush of his shoulder set my nerves alight.

“You wear your power well,” he murmured for my ears only. “As if you were born to be queen.”

My good humor soured. His words, meant as a compliment, settled wrong. I had no desire to take Elowen’s crown. Despite everything, my affection for her was growing.

Flash. I stood atop a hill, facing Elowen, wind whipping through my hair.

“You chose him. Again,” she bellowed, a fearsome sight to behold. Here, she bore no scars, only roiling rage.

This vision didn’t feel like prophecy but memory. Flames and carnage covered the ground below us, but to each other, we were the only two beings in existence.

My rage mirrored hers. “You have killed him for the last time!”

“You think you can take me out? Try!”

We ran at each other, slamming together.

A startled breath ripped free, jerking me into the present.

Jasher squeezed my hand, but I sank right back into my head, analyzing. At some point, Elowen and I had been friends. At another, because of “him,” we had become enemies.

20

GOODBYE AGAIN

Maintaining an outward appearance of calm proved difficult as Jasher and I followed the guards outside to the royal stables, a towering cathedral of crystal, its walls catching the morning light and scattering it across the grass in shimmering rainbows. Marble bridges arched over waterfalls of liquid light, turning the entire pasture into a dream.

Inside was even more unreal. Ethereal pegacorns peeked from their stalls. Their coats ranged from cloud-white to sunset pink, twilight blue, amethyst-purple and void-black. Silken manes shimmered as if brushed with stardust. Some horns glowed faintly. Others had wings that made the air sing whenever they stirred.

Chickens pecked at seeds scattered about.