Oracle's Luck: Unraveled World Book 3 Read online

  Vera ignored him, scanning the room for a new target. Maybe a girl this time. There was one sitting alone at the end of a table. That seemed promising. She tried to retrieve a platter from one of the servers, but the prince ordered the girl away.

  “You are a guest,” he reiterated. “You cannot act as a servant.”

  “What if I want to?”

  “Why would you want to? Are you planning to poison our people?”

  A few nearby alchemists looked up in alarm.

  “No, but I’m seriously considering starting a food fight,” she said. It was the only threat she could come up with off the top of her head that might upset a neat-freak.

  Everyone nearby grabbed their trays and moved, like she’d just threatened to kill anyone within a ten-foot radius. All of a sudden, Vera was getting a lot of unwanted attention. People were talking amongst themselves and pointing. There was no way she’d befriend one of them after that.

  “Why can’t you just back off?” she asked. “I’m not going to hurt anyone. I’m trying to help someone.”

  “Perhaps I can assist you.”

  “Why would you?”

  “Because then you would return to your rooms and stay there until we can get rid of you and your violent friend.”

  “You won’t want to help me,” Vera said. “I’m trying to help a servant, and none of you cares one bit about them.”

  The prince threw a sidelong look at the eavesdropping alchemists around them. “Come with me.” When Vera didn’t move, he added, “We cannot talk here.”

  Vera sighed and walked with the prince out of the dining hall and through the door nearest the kitchen. Her centaur guard looked at her then the door to the kitchen like he was trying to figure out how she’d performed that magic.

  “I will watch over our guest and return her to the tower once she has finished eating,” the prince informed the centaur.

  The soldier seemed unsure but walked away.

  “So what?” she asked when they were alone.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “What do you mean?” she asked warily.

  “I mean you are a guest in our home because a letter said that you would save us if we welcomed you. And then you sneak among us, pretend to be a servant, and cozy up to the first person you can. What are you looking for?”

  “I’m trying to find an oracle.” She decided that truth was the least dangerous. She couldn’t tell him about Missy.

  “Really? A little birdy told me that you’re trying to unlock your own alchemist powers. Which sounds crazy, but no crazier than a letter saying you will perform the impossible.”

  “Who told you that?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” The prince folded his hands behind his back. “I will help you if you explain why you want the oracles.”

  “I believe an oracle can help me save my realm. I have to change the direction of our future.”

  “That’s not how oracles work.”

  “They don’t see the future?” Vera asked.

  “Of course they see the future,” he said. “But they don’t manipulate it.”

  “You never met my foster mom. She was all about manipulating the future.”

  “She was an oracle? And she told you?”

  “No, I found out the hard way. She’s the one who sent that letter to your father—the reason you knew how and when to capture us. So, you see, oracles are not at all above manipulating the future.”

  “If she is an oracle who’s manipulating the future, the other oracles would’ve hunted her down by now. They’re all linked somehow, and they have a zero tolerance policy for messing with the timeline.”

  “Well, she’s dead, so that might make it difficult.”

  “I thought you said she sent the package.”

  “Before she died, she set up a network of people who have checklists that they are following, down to the second, to keep me on her path. If we don’t stop her, she’ll destroy my people.”

  “Why would she want to get rid of your people?”

  Vera wondered if pleading the fifth would translate. “Honestly, I don’t know why anyone would want to hurt my people.”

  “Who are your people? Because I can tell you this, I do not recognize your magic.”

  Vera couldn’t think up a good lie.

  “How about I guess,” he suggested. “I guess that you come from a realm that your foster mother is not alone in wanting to destroy. If you’d asked me yesterday to join in the forces to destroy it, I would have agreed.”

  “You’re saying that your opinion has changed?”

  “Let’s just say I’m on the fence. Which is the kindest feelings I’ve ever had toward your realm.”

  “Hey, I never said where I was from,” Vera pointed out.

  He raised a brow but didn’t argue with her.

  “Out of curiosity—still not claiming anything—what made you at least reconsider your stance?” Vera asked.

  “You.”

  “Ummm. So you like being ignored and scolded?”

  He didn’t crack a smile. Vera wasn’t sure he was capable.

  “You were supposed to spell destruction for my people, and yet you’ve saved an old woman’s life,” answered the prince. “And you were willing to prostitute yourself to one of the worst examples of my people to save my sister.”

  Vera skidded to a halt. “Your sister? And it was never going to go that far, by the way.”

  “Not officially, but yes. No one has ever claimed a relationship, but she looks just like my father. We met running these halls when we were children, and we knew. Of course, she was always getting into trouble, and I always took the blame for her.”

  “Do you know what she is?” Vera asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t turn her in, since you obviously hate my kind.”

  “Your kind?” he asked, but the gleam in his eyes said he already knew. “I always thought I could keep her from becoming like your kind. But I also thought your people were lost to evil—until you.”

  “Most of my people are just like me—pretty harmless.”

  “Then there’s the Guardian. He’s an unnatural, but nothing like the stories tell. Which was a good indication that not everything I believed about your realm is true.”

  “To be honest, unnaturals are generally just like the stories say,” Vera admitted. “He’s just…different. But how did you know who he is?”

  “I am my realm’s ambassador,” he answered. “No one else here would recognize him, though.”

  “Why didn’t you tell your father?”

  “I was going to, but all the Guardian cared about was getting a nymph to safety and protecting you. I would swear that he loves you, which in all my time as ambassador, I never would’ve thought possible. So, I watched. I halfway believed he’d die that first night, but he didn’t. And then you saved someone’s life, so I continued to keep quiet.”

  “Does everyone know that I helped an old woman up some stairs?”

  “I didn’t,” he said. “I knew that you saved someone but not how. Is that all you did?”

  “Uh, yeah.” Vera shook her head. “And now everyone is so sure that I saved her life.”

  “You did. She was meant to die on those stairs, and you stopped it from happening.”

  “Seriously?” Vera eyed him suspiciously. “How would you even know that—unless…”

  “Don’t look at me like that,” he said. “I’m no oracle.”

  “But you know someone who is,” she concluded.

  “I know that a certain group of discreet people gathered in my court to face off against the girl who altered the timeline right under their noses. Only, they learned that she hadn’t done it knowingly.”

  “I’m still not sure I can believe that I altered the timeline just by being a decent person,” Vera said. “But I need to talk to the oracles. Who are they?”

  “I cannot tell you that, because they disguised th
emselves. If you came here looking for them, you should know you have their attention.”

  “It doesn’t sound like that’s necessarily a good thing with their zero-tolerance against meddling.”

  “You’re still standing, so I wouldn’t worry too much.” The prince led her down a side hallway.

  “So I should just think twice about helping old people from here on?” Something occurred to Vera. “Are you how Missy’s stayed hidden?”

  “The servants kept her hidden as a baby, but as she got older, she made that difficult for them. The day I met her, she wasn’t supposed to be out of her room, but she’d gotten bored. I knew what she was, and I knew what was expected of me, but I couldn’t do it. I fed her a little of my magic instead.”

  “And everyone assumed she was a weak alchemist-human half-breed,” Vera guessed.

  “Exactly. I had to travel away from the palace this past week, though, and the magic I gave her before I left, burned off faster than normal.”

  “That’s why her grandmother had to do her chores.”

  “And she should’ve died.” He stopped and turned to her. “Helping Missy is not the task you have to complete before tomorrow.”

  “I had a feeling it wasn’t,” Vera said. “I didn’t figure that saving a siphon would be important enough for your people to let us live after we were accused of imminent arson.”

  “But you were still going to help her anyway,” he stated.

  Vera shrugged. “It’s the right thing to do. If I were in her shoes, I hope someone would help me if they could.”

  “You can save my sister?”

  “I think I can.”

  “But you’re not sure.”

  “No.”

  The prince nodded. “Thank you for your honesty. I hope you are successful.”

  The prince pulled a short knife from his belt. Vera jumped back, preparing to launch her magical weapons. He swiped the blade across the palm of his hand.

  “Alchemist magic lies in blood,” he said. “Let me show you.”

  “I prefer not to be sliced and diced,” Vera informed him.

  “I won’t hurt you.” He tucked the blade away. “But I do have to show you.”

  Vera was not thrilled, but she took a step forward, eyes on his bloody palm. She was not sure what she was supposed to see. As soon as she was within arm’s reach, he grabbed her forearm. Instead of leaving a bloody palm-print, the alchemist inside her woke, throbbing like a heartbeat. Her skin absorbed the prince’s blood, giving her the heebies. The alchemist in her void was warm, like a stream, but cold in a detached, analytical way. It considered her objectively, and then with no sign of affection, decided to accept her. And that was it. No bouncing around or being bashful. Just matter-of-fact. It was strangely intimidating. Even the usually exuberant demas gave the alchemist magic space. Her demon seemed to prickle, and Vera had to give it a reassuring squeeze. It’ll be okay. We’ll adjust.

  The prince released her. “My name is Cato, by the way,” he told her.

  Then Cato knocked on the door beside where they had stopped. He hadn’t been walking in a random direction after all. Missy’s grandmother answered and bowed to the prince.

  “You can help now?” she asked Vera.

  “Yes.”

  The prince said, “I will check in when I have time. People are going to wonder where I am.” To Vera, he said, “If it is possible, I will let those you seek know that you wish to speak to them.”

  “Thank you.”

  “It may not do you any good.”

  “I still appreciate it.”

  He nodded.

  Vera was ushered inside to cure a siphon. She hoped she didn’t screw anything up.

  9

  “I don’t want to go up to my tower.” Vera yawned. “It’s creepy up there.”

  Kale had been trying to convince her to go for at least an hour—ever since she’d started dozing off. “You need better sleep than you’ve been getting.”

  “Can’t. Too anxious. Why do you think Suzie wanted us to stay here for two days? What do you think is supposed to happen?”

  “It’s already happened,” said a redheaded woman as she pulled the cell door open.

  Kale tensed, but Vera placed a hand on his arm. “She’s a friend. Why are you down here, Red? Did something happen?”

  “I wanted to give you a gift, a warning, and some advice before you leave.”

  “They’re letting us leave tonight?” Vera climbed to her feet, pushing hair back from her face.

  “No, you’re going to escape,” said the woman named Red.

  Vera’s hands stilled. “Why?”

  “Because the king is going to change his mind about setting your friend free.”

  “There’s only one way you could know that,” Kale said.

  “Yes, yes, I’m an oracle,” Red replied simply.

  Vera tipped her head slightly. Kale was certain she didn’t realize she did that when looking into a person’s magic well.

  “You won’t find anything interesting there,” Red told Vera.

  “You’re human,” Vera said in confusion. “You don’t have any magic.”

  “Yes, I am the human oracle. You seem surprised.” Red’s eyes crinkled at the corners with amusement. “Didn’t you take a peek before now?”

  “Looking into another’s magic stores wakes my siphon, so I don’t do it unless I have to.”

  “But you knew what Missy was,” said Red.

  “That just happened. Like I recognized her. Or like my siphon recognized her siphon.”

  “Ahh. That makes sense.”

  “It does?” Kale thought it made none.

  “That’s how oracles recognize each other too. We are like magnets. Like repelling like.”

  “If you’re an oracle, why can’t I sense any magic inside you?” Vera asked.

  “Oracle magic does not reside inside a being like other magics. It is attracted to us, comes to let us see what we need to, and then it leaves us. Since there is no magic to sense, only an oracle knows another oracle.”

  Vera’s eyes narrowed. “You said you didn’t know who the oracles are.”

  “I said I’d never tried to find them,” corrected the oracle. “Because I’ve never needed to.”

  “Yeah, that’s…” Vera pinched her lips together. “I don’t even have the words.”

  “I hadn’t planned to speak to you, but I changed my mind. I’ve decided it is not right to let you die since you aren’t even supposed to be here. Although, the others said you deserved no less.”

  “You’re going against your fellow oracles?” That surprised him.

  “Saving you is my gift to her,” Red tipped her head at Vera. “For what she’s done for my friends. So don’t go mess everything up,” she warned Kale.

  “What about my foster-mother’s plans? Do you know how I can stop them?”

  Red shook her head. “I would tell you if I knew. Oracles don’t see all possibilities. We only see what should be. Changing even the smallest thing causes a ripple of untold consequences. Your foster mother is changing everything, and it’s not over yet. But there’s no way for us to know what will happen next or what the damage will be until it’s too late to change it.”

  “Cato said I changed something when I saved Missy’s grandmother.”

  “He overheard a conversation he was not meant to hear.” Red sighed. “I believe that saving her life was the very thing your foster mother wanted you to do here.”

  “Help a lady up the stairs?”

  “Cause the death of the human rights leader,” corrected Red.

  Vera flinched. “I would never do something like that.”

  Kale put a hand on her shoulder to steady her, hoping the oracle was wrong for Vera’s sake.

  “He was killed moments ago by a man desperate to feed his young children. That desperate man was a cabinetmaker who made coffins—in recent years, humans have not been able to afford his finer works. When he held
up a cart, he had no idea who was in it. Nor did he know what it would mean for the future of all his people, including his children. There was a fight. It was unintentional, but he killed the human rights leader, nonetheless. And then he was executed on the spot. His two children will be taken in by a neighbor, but she will not let them stay for long. She cannot afford the extra mouths.”

  “None of that is Vera’s fault,” Kale growled.

  “He was supposed to be commissioned for a coffin last night,” said the oracle. “If he had been, he would have had enough money to feed his children for a week—until the next coffin order came in. By saving a woman, whose time it was to die, Vera cost the future of countless people.”

  Vera choked on a sob. “I didn’t know any of that, though.”

  “I know, but you need to understand how a tiny change affects the larger scheme. It’s why we don’t alter anything in the course of the future.”

  “Did Suzie know that rule? She’s arranged every future so I would be here right now. Why didn’t the rest of you stop her?”

  Kale didn’t dare move or speak. Someone had hurt Vera. There weren’t marks on her, but she was breaking. Holding back his rage and desire to spill blood was taking all his effort.

  “If she could see all the futures, she was no oracle,” assured the woman.

  “Then what is she?” Vera asked.

  “I wish I knew.”

  “Can you unlock my oracle so I can try to stop her?”

  “You do not have an oracle inside you,” said Red. “It is not something passed through blood. It is a magic that is attracted to a person with no rhyme or reason.”

  “Then how can I stop what is happening?”

  “This is my advice to you: If you want to stop Suzie, which you must to save the future we are supposed to have, you need to learn what has already come to pass. You need to know what magic she used and where it came from.”

  “Who can see the past?”

  “A soul-eater,” answered Kale, finding his voice now that there was something to be done.

  “Yes,” agreed the oracle.

  “That does not sound like a good thing,” Vera said.

  “Soul-eaters harvest their magic from spirits,” explained Kale. “They can call back the spirits of those who might know who Suzie really was.”