Page 36 of The Raven Queen

“Please, just call me Del,” I said for the thousandth time.

A sweet smile curved Ada’s lips. “I could no sooner call a fish a bird,” she replied.

I huffed out a breathy laugh. Ada was just as strong-willed as Garath. How had I ended up surrounded by such stubborn people?

“Would you like me to bring Liam to you when he wakes?” Ada asked.

I nodded. “I’ll be in Mother’s—inthestudy,” I informed her. “Liam can take his breakfast in there with me.”

I wanted to keep him close. We may have ensured everyone within the castle’s walls was loyal, but threats could still sneak in from outside, as Fin had proved. Until we had secured peace, I planned on keeping Liam nearby at all times.

“As you wish,” Ada said, bowing her head.

I reached out, grasping her arm. “Thank you.”

With a flash of a smile, I released her, turned away, and headed back to the corridor, where Garath and the four guards waited. Garath, Macy, and Saira followed me up the hallways to a set of stairs that carried us down to the floor below, then through another corridor to the double doors leading to Mother’s study.

I paused at the doors, waited as Garath unlocked and opened them, then crossed the threshold, hurrying toward the desk at the far end of the room. Garath remained behind to seal the two of us in while Macy and Saira took up posts out in the corridor.

Sitting in the armchair, I retrieved the little leather-bound book I had replaced in its concealed pocket inside the top desk drawer the previous morning. I set the index of prophecies on the desk and opened the cover. I had already carefully searched through the book and used a torn slip of paper to mark each page that, according to its heading, included the current year—295 AE—in its relevant date range. I had marked seventeen pages. That was as far as I had made it in my research before being called away to attend to more urgent matters.

The first page I had marked was labeledSeven Kingdoms, 289-297 AEand had a list of eight prophecies indexed below the heading, all from different Oracles, according to the initials.

Pointer finger tapping on the open page, I raised my head and scanned the walls of packed bookshelves surrounding me. Mother and I had become much closer over the past decade, but her study remained a relatively mysterious place to me. I didn’t even know how she organized her books. This was hardly the type of thing I ever would have thought to skim from her mind during our weekly empathic exchanges.

Was a section of the study devoted to the Oracles’ books of foretellings? I hoped so because tens of thousands of books lined the walls, and it would take me days to sort through them all.

I didn’t have days to spare on something thatmighthelp with the coming war when an invasion by the Sierra Kingdom wasdefinitelyon the horizon. We had already received word of King Eduart’s troops mobilizing within our borders. He had long been dead set on controlling our ports, and now that Alastor was dead, Eduart had lost his foothold in the trade arena. Soon, he would attempt to invade Corvo City. It wasn’t a question ofifbut ofwhen.

I needed to be out rallying the people who were already so beaten down by the wasting sickness. I needed to be at Hills’s side, directing our military preparations and bolstering the city’s defenses. I needed to be readying for the coronation, reaching out to our allies, and doing a million other things besides locking myself away in Mother’s study.

But I had delegated those tasks to Hills, buying myself a little more time to follow a trail my gut told me was relevant to the current situation, even if no hard evidence corroborated my hunch. Time was precious, and I was wasting it sitting at the desk, second-guessing myself.

I stood and approached the bookcase bordering the left side of the window overlooking the bay. A quick skim revealed that these shelves were filled with books of history, the top few devoted to ancient tomes from the time before the Turn, the bottom filled with books recording more recent events, and the lowest shelf filled with blank books of various bindings and sizes. I grabbed a thin notebook bound with a soft, black leather cover to record my findings—assuming I had any—then moved on.

The next bookcase to the left contained biographies and memoirs. The next, books on political philosophy and military strategy. As I moved away from the window and toward the door, I left nonfiction behind, finding myself facing shelves filled with all manner of fiction titles, from mystery to fantasy to romance and every genre in between.

The opposite side of the room continued my journey through the extensive collection of fiction books. Had these been Mother’s, or had one of her predecessors enjoyed escaping into imaginary worlds and fictional lives? Later, when the kingdom wasn’t under the threat of an imminent invasion, I would come back to explore these shelves. Mother was gone, but I looked forward to getting to know her better through her books.

About halfway down the wall of bookcases on the right side of the room, the collection switched back to nonfiction, with books on mythology and religion, followed by a bookcase devoted to texts focused on science and technology. I searched bookcase after bookcase without coming across a single book of foretellings, and I was already thinking about where else Mother might have stashed the relevant books as I approached the last bookcase, the one bordering the right side of the window behind the desk.

And there they were, arranged in alphabetical order by the Oracles’ first names.

I laughed, my shoulders relaxing as the knot of anxiety loosened in my gut. This may not have been a colossal waste of time, after all.

I had pulled what I believed to be all the relevant books for the first page I had marked in the prophecy index and was just settling into the armchair at the desk when someone knocked on the door. I looked up as Garath opened the door and let Liam and Ada into the study, followed by Neris and Tamal, two of the kitchen workers, who each carried a tray of food.

Liam ran across the room and around the desk, throwing himself into my arms. His lanky body trembled, and I held him close, rocking him gently as I rubbed his back. No matter how hard I tried to stay out of his head, it was impossible for my empathic gifts not to pick up on some of his feelings when his emotions were so raw and intense. Two of the most significant people in his life—one loved and one hated—had died on the same day. He was reeling, his mind instinctively preparing for more loss.

Despite Ada’s many reassurances that I hadn’t come to his chambers the previous night, as I had promised, because I had been exhausted and had fallen asleep in my own bed, Liam had feared he would never see me again. That I, too, would vanish from his life, and he would be alone.

My heart ached to tell him about Fin, to let him know he still had a father, but I wasn’t sure if Finwantedto be known. Garath and I had discussed visiting Fin’s inn before nightfall. I made a mental note to prioritize talking about Liam and figuring out exactly what kind of relationship Fin wanted with his son—if he wanted any relationship at all.

Neris, plump and middle aged, set her tray down on the corner of the desk, lifting the teapot to fill a mug for me. I nodded my thanks over Liam’s hair, and she turned away to head back to the door, where Tamal awaited her.

I loosened my arms and pulled away, cradling Liam’s face in my hands. The last remnants of baby fat still filled out his cheeks, but I could already see him changing as adolescence crept closer. My little boy was growing up so fast. I felt as though I would go to sleep one night soon, and when I woke, he would be grown. He wouldn’t need me any longer, not as he did now, and thenIwould be the one who was alone.

I cleared my throat, blinking back the threat of tears and forcing a shaky smile.

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