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“It doesn’t feel like it,” Thicket said, eyes finding the journal once again. “This is the prophecy, isn’t it? The one you warned me about.”

The cat dipped its head.

Thicket’s heart clenched. “Did you write it? From one of the nine futures you have seen?”

The cat curled its tail neatly over its paws as it lifted its gaze to meet hers. “It was a possibility for the future seen by one of my kind, but not by me.”

“But you knew about it?”

The cat nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why warn me away?” She picked up the journal and flipped to the page her father had inscribed, tracing her finger along the indent of his words. “My sister told me I was the prophesied plague upon Vindrya. But it was her this entire time.”

It’s here…

The cat stared at her for a long, hard moment. “Are you sure about that?”

Thicket glanced back down at the text.

For decades, her ancestors had poured over these pages, trying to decipher the prophecy’s meaning. They narrowed it down to a warning that at some point, their dark history of jealousy and hatred would repeat. Her sister had been named after the very man who had started it all, murdering all of the founding nobles—except for one.

Murdoc Vogeli.

Thicket flipped the cover over.

MV.

Not her mother’s initials. The first king of her lineage.

Had this prophecy been given to Murdoc Vogeli? But why? If it was about Thicket and her sister, then why had it been given to the first king and not her father?

Exalted King beware, be warned

For this here may not last

The flowering peace, the blooming prosperity

Will all go so fast.

Everything was pointing at Lavender, the one who had broken the chain of noble rulers. Even her own father believed it.

Are you sure about that? the cat’s voice challenged.

Thicket went through each line of the prophecy. Her eyes caught on the second quatrain.

The right to rule, the right to power

That’s what we’ve guaranteed

Because you’re right, because you’re just

Now you can be free.

The lines… They matched the story of the twelve golden chalices. She remembered now what the Record Keeper had told her. It said the Numyna had granted Murdoc Vogeli his power.

Those who succeed receive a prophecy, designed to guide them down a wholesome path.

If they had given it to him specifically, then…