Page 97 of Fractured
I stepped forward, my fist raised. Fuck, I was so ready to get this over with. Soready.
And then the door opened before my fist had even touched it.
My heart stopped beating. My muscles locked tightly. Everything in the library—the whole damn palace—stopped together with me, except for the door that continued to swing open slowly, with a screeching sound that could have been trying to imitate a baby crying.
Run, run, run,my instincts said even before I saw inside. Even before I felt the magic coming at me in waves.
Even before my eyes locked with the Seer of Shadows—but it was already too late.
twenty-seven
No torchesor fae lights burned in the room that had walls—not made out of concrete or marble, but out of shadows. Even so, the entire space glowed dimly because of the threads of light that hung from the ceiling like strands of a spider’s web, gently swaying to the sides though there was no wind. They reminded me so much of that thread of Lyall’s seer, the one she’d called forth when she did the unbinding ceremony, except these went on forever.
The room wasn’t big…or maybe it wasvastand the shadows hid it away from us on purpose. In the center sat a round platform of polished grey stone. Everything in the room curved inward, drawing your gaze to that platform—and the woman standing on it.
The Seer of Shadows was barefoot, draped in a gown that shimmered between gray, black, and violet depending on how it caught the light from those threads. Her face was wrinkled, her hair grey but long, thick, darker than that of the only other seer I had ever seen. Her eyes were wide open, a blue so deep I could see it clearly from outside the door.
“Welcome, Nilah Dune,” she said, barely moving her thin lips, and it was like she pressedPlayon my body again, on the whole world.
I breathed and my legs moved without my even telling them to, and I was walking—into the room, closer to the platform. I was willingly walking into a room with shadow walls thatpromisedyou that you might not ever make it out.
At least Raja was behind me, and I caught Vair’s furry head just through the corner of my eye as he walked beside me—because I didn’t dare look away from that woman at all.
She reminded me so much of the Seelie seer. Her crepey skin, her wide eyes, her grey hair. They could have passed for sisters, I thought—and thenthisseer smiled at me.
Her teeth were half in size of what they should have been, the edges thick and dulllike they’d been filed by time and use.
“I’ve been expecting your arrival,” she said, and her voice was soft, light, perfectly clear.
“I…” My hand shook as I reached for the pocket of my cloak. “I—I was told by the Chronicler to come see you.”
“Yes,” she said with a nod, and her eyes then moved to Vair standing beside me and to Raja on the other side. “You brought company.”
“Yes, well…” I licked my lips. So fucking dry. “I’m not from here.” Which I was sure made no difference to her, but I had no clue what else to say. “I-I have the mirror.” I raised my hand and showed her. “And the Chronicler said that?—”
“I know what the Chronicler says.” The seer raised her hand. My mouth clamped shut when she took a step forward, then another.
Even though my instincts were screaming for me to runstill, I didn’t move a single inch when she stepped off the platform and came closer.
God, she moved with such grace.
She moved with sucheasethat it made no sense to me because of how old she looked. At least a hundred, yet she moved like a young woman, and her dress moved about her like there was wind blowing here that only applied to her and those threads over our heads.
When she stopped in front of me, her eyes were on the mirror, and she raised both her hands toward it, but she never touched it. She outlined the shape of it with her fingertips, but she never once touched it.
“Queen Veyra, I salute you,” she whispered, and every inch of my flesh rose in goose bumps. The magic inside me came alive—frostfire. Definitely frostfire because it was trying to tear me apart as it traveled from my chest to my arms.
“You knew her,” I said, the words almost an accusation.
“I did.” The seer lowered her hands to her sides again, but her eyes remained on the mirror. Her eyes full of tears that would spill down her cheeks if she only blinked.
“You prophesied her death.” And that was most definitely an accusation, too.
Because if she hadn’t…would the Ice Queen really be dead?
“I have prophesied many things—but that is not why you’re here, Nilah Dune.”
The fact that Iwasn’teven surprised that she knew my name was a pretty good indicator that I’d already started to get used to the ways of Verenthia, right?
