“Oracles born of flesh and bone. Prophecies created from blood and sunlight. Vicious claws dig at poisoned roots, unburying the savage king. Wretched beasts rise on flightless wings, reaching for their brutal queen. The moon and sun, the courts unite, sifting ashes from the sand, awakening he who forever sleeps. Death and sorrow, love and rebirth. They wait for you.”
My younger self says them over and over, her small voice growing louder and more firm with each syllable until she’s screaming them at me. The little girl, the child I once was, screams and cries the words as the world goes up in blurry flames around her until everything suddenly stops.
“They wait for you.”
We stare at each other as the silence stretches between us, an eerie silence only broken by her words.
“They’re waiting.”
“Who?” I try to ask but there is no sound, nothing at all except…grief.
The most guttural cry I have ever heard accompanies the feeling as soon as it registers and while I begin looking around for the source, my younger self starts bawling as she quickly backs away.
And as she disappears into the wreckage of my dream—my nightmare—that grief stricken wail grows louder, the flames and carnage echo each pained cry, and the images in my mind intensify until cool fingers are on my cheeks and I’m staring into beautiful black eyes.
“Jesus fucking fuck, Zephyr,” Wraith sighs through his obvious panic. “I’ve been calling your bloody name for—”
“You need to tell them about what I’ve seen,” I almost gasp as I blink away the fog, my gaze moving around the room to note Lorna is still here and unharmed. Not that she should be, I know why she did what she did and it was full of good intentions, but my mate doesn’t always think so clearly.
Which is exactly why he shakes his head and guides me over to a waiting chair. “You will sit and collect yourself, then we shall leave. I keep putting you in these godawful situations, ones where you seemingly end up living through some sort of new trauma, and I’m fucking done do that to you.” My mate sits me down then begins barking orders but I reach for his hand and make him stop.
“You have to tell them, baby.” Wraith pauses and looks at me curiously, his worry subsiding some as he listens. “Not the how, but thewhat. They need to know what little I’ve seen and you need to tell them now.”
“Zephyr, my love… I am fearful for you,” my mate whispers as he crouches in front of me. His hands move to my knees, his fingers curl against my thighs, and he takes an uneven breath. “Ever since—ever since we mated, we…Ikeep putting you in these situations. I keep risking you and your safety when there is no reason for it. None that aren’t selfish, I’m afraid.”
I give him a small smile as I cup his cheeks. “You are the best thing to ever happen to me, and since we mated, everything has gone according to fate. I’m exactly who I’m supposed to be, living my life with the one I was made to be with.” Leaving forward, I press my forehead against his, close my eyes and whisper, “It is because of you that I see things more clearly now, and you are the one who has made me brave enough to do something about it.”
“Zephyr…”
“You have to tell them, baby.” My eyes flip open and instantly lock on my mate’s. “There’s a traitor in this room and we have to smoke them out.”
28
The Things I Have Seen
ZEPHYR
“You had no memory of meeting Lorna prior to seeing her last night?”
I shake my head as I watch Wraith lift my hand from his chest and turn it over so he can see the design on my palm. “Not at all, and I don’t think I would have remembered if I had been awake when she came to see me here.”
“I tend to agree with that.” He begins tracing the pattern, following the circle with his finger before moving to the center then out again. “When I spoke with her, Lorna didn’t indicate that she knew you and after seeing her last night, I’m thinking she may not have recalled the interaction either. Not immediately, anyway.”
My mate is spot on.
Neither of us can actually confirm it but when he called the healer to tend to me after my contact with Atticus knocked me out, I think Lorna was under the impression I was like any other female. Mate to the High Elder Successor, but nothing special. And I’m not saying I’m special, not really, but I am different and I think by the end of the exam Lorna knew that.
Which is when she started digging through her records and discovered she was the one my parents called the first time my gifts manifested clearly.
Lorna has been a staple of our community, a loyal Purist and devout follower in service to my wicked prince and his cause for centuries so it makes sense she saw me as a child. And since it’s rare for vampires to need regular medical attention—or in my case, seek it out when it’s needed—that was the one and only time we’d crossed paths before last night.
“She said it wasn’t until she found the record of her visit to that house.” I scoot a little closer to my mate, still watching the way he touches my design with an almost reverent caress. “Then suddenly everything came flossing back and she knew she needed to see me again.”
“The Purist meeting being the perfect opportunity since Lorna always attends.”
“Exactly.”
Wraith hums as he sets my hand over his heart and covers it with his. “She’s lucky I trust her, otherwise I would have killed her for what happened to you.”
