Page 118 of The Oracle of Dusk

“The bounty of Viridis is overly generous. I must decline your offer.”

“Nonsense. It is what you deserve. You are welcome to stay in the royal palace,” she said, nodding to the slack-jawed paladin who was only just recovering from his shock, “once the investigation concludes.”

So that she could be Flora’s pet oracle. She’d be lucky not to be wearing Orithyia’s torture device every day for the rest of her short life.

“I cannot accept your offer, Your Majesty. I have come here with a greater purpose. If the High Priestess will allow me to hold the mind’s eye stone, I will show you what it is I seek.”

Let them see Drakon and tremble. Let them know what was coming so that they would put aside their machinations for a single hour. Long enough for her to get back to the temple of Justice while they wallowed in their dread. Long enough so she could find a place to hide and lick her wounds.

Theron would be wed to the princess. Seeing it really had been as gutting as she’d feared. And she’d be expected to participate, to watch him carry the princess over the temple’s threshold and swear a vow of marriage in front of the whole city.

“High Priestess, if you would be so good as to allow Aurora a chance to explain why she rebuffs my generosity?” Flora said, her smile tight.

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Orithyia replied, a censorious look in her gaze.

Aurora ignored it. Orithyia had forgone her chance to help. It was time to take matters into her own hands. Aurora took the stone from Orithyia and closed her eyes, forcing herself to relive the horrors of Drakon’s pursuit once more. The crimson skies, the choking ash, the lightning streaking across the sky to show a great serpent riding on a bank of dark clouds, raining molten boulders and purple fire down from above while monstrosities blanketed the ground below. She relived his taunts, his curses, the madness in his glowing yellow eyes as he promised pain and destruction. She relived it as Drakon obliterated every paladin and guard, until only Phaedra and her paladin remained.

Aurora opened her eyes. The apocalyptic scene ended. Silence held the courtroom in thrall.

“I hunt Drakon, bringer of the cycle of calamity. Together with the avatar of Justice, I will slay him. This is why I must refuse your offers, Queen Flora. If you’ll excuse me, I would be grateful to retire to the temple of Justice in the meantime.”

Perhaps it had been unwise to reveal her part, her fate. The Orithyia from her time had warned that dualists and heretics devoted solely to the sinister goddesses would see her as a grave threat. But she didn’t care. Not right now, when her heart was shattered and bleeding.

“You are excused,” Flora replied, her voice hollow.

“Triad bless the bounty of Viridis.” Aurora bowed, turned on her heel, and walked as swiftly as decorum allowed, the paladin trailing after her.

She was grateful her minder had left her in the mire of her own thoughts. It wouldn’t last long. There would be questions about Drakon. Some would be easy to answer. Others would require her listeners to take a leap of faith. It was one thing to be an oracle, another to have come from a far-flung future.

Hyllus greeted her at the doors of the temple. She hadn’t even realised she was wet and shivering until he wrapped her in a warm, dry towel, his eyes roving over her, looking for injury.

“What happened?”

“I wish to be alone.”

She wanted a chance to cry without a witness. To be angry without judgment. To wallow in sorrow without someone else’s pity.

“When you’re ready, I will listen,” Hyllus said, squeezing her shoulder in sympathy.

Even that was too much to bear. Aurora stormed off. The people of the temple gave her a wide berth, their gazes averted. With the driving rain, the only place she could be truly alone was in the courtyard, where even the connected halls were to be avoided. Aurora turned her face towards the sky and bit her lip as hot tears cascaded down her face.

She’d been the greatest fool, to have let him into her heart. Aurora hated him. And she hated the princess even more. Why should she be the one to have him when Aurora could not? She took the drenched towel from around her shoulders and threw it to the ground in rage. It wasn’t fair. None of it. She’d lost everyone she’d ever loved, lost everything she’d ever known, sent to this miserable time in history. Now she would have a front-row seat, forced to watch as the man she’d wanted most in her life married another.

Aurora screamed, howling in rage. It hurt. It hurt too much to bear. She was the greatest fool in Trisia. She’d known all along he wasn’t for her. Thunder cracked and rumbled overhead. She flinched. Unable to put Orithyia’s switch from her mind, she shivered. She closed her eyes, sobbing as she fell to her knees. It was a mess—her heart, her mind, her future—everything.

Weak. Stupid. Failure.

“Aurora!”

She opened her eyes.

Theron.

Not him. Not now.

Would Fate never cease torturing her?

“Aurora, you’ll make yourself sick standing out here.” He helped her to her feet, her acolyte’s robe plastered to her form. “Triad’s tits, you’re cold as ice. Come. There’s something I must warn you about.”

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