“You mapped out someone's life, and they died trying to avoid it,” Abel stated gently.
Astrid gave a ragged, mirthless laugh in answer, drawing both feet up onto her chair to hug her knees.
“No, they killed to avoid it. My mother introduced me to my very first client when I was seventeen years old. I was so excited, so ready to take the training wheels off and do what I knew I could for this man. I ignored all the lessons she taught me, bypassed all the rules I heard in school from my professors.
“It was easy for me to step into the river of knowledge and pick out all the answers. Too easy. I sat across from him and mapped out his whole future like I was reading it straight from a book.
“The more information I got, the more I realized what a horrible person he was. A killer for hire who would go on to do unspeakable things for an obscene amount of money. I had the power to alter his fate and save the hundreds of people he would eventually murder.
“I told him to be careful, that one of his daughters would find out things about him she shouldn't have and come to him with questions.
“I didn't tell him her discovery would lead to his arrest, and I withheld her name on a hunch. Unfortunately, the fear of discovery was enough. He had six daughters, and he managed to kill five of them before his eight-year-old son shot him in the head to protect the sixth daughter.
“Coincidentally, she was the one who would have turned her dad in. Mother brought me the newspaper article the day after it happened, and we discussed the dangers of screwing around with free will and fate.”
Not even a second later, Astrid's phone trilled. She picked it up, brushing the tears from her cheeks with a trembling hand. Astrid smiled crookedly, tipping the phone so Juliet could read the text aloud.
“'I'm glad you've finally shared your burden, Starlight. Make the first move, ask for the truth and a name. You and your family will all be fine. See you in a few months. Love, Mom.' Huh. Guess even the most famous oracle in the world is as cryptic as your everyday divination expert.”
The phone pinged again. Whatever Juliet read made her lips pinch, and her face turn pink with embarrassment. Juliet didn't share what it said, and neither did Astrid. What Astrid did say, helped.
“My mom is the most powerful oracle in the world. If she says we're going to be fine, we'll be fine. So let's decide as a group how to make the first move.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Even in the bright light of day, Uriah couldn't stand being more than a few feet away from Ivy. He held her hand, constantly having to remind himself not to hold on too tight and accidentally crush her fragile bones.
She was quiet, deep in thought, while they walked across the coven lands. The sun beat down on them; birds and insects hummed an easy rhythm despite the lions who wandered through the long grass.
The breeze made the feminine ruffles on Ivy's green sundress flutter and sent tendrils from the long tail of her braid streaming out behind her. After having spent hours coming up with a plan to make the first move against her father, she seemed calm. Too calm.
Her sandals hung from her fingertips, and with every step she took, he could feel the ground respond with a subtle vibration. He glanced behind them, watching the grass that had been dry and ready for mowing turn emerald green, lush and vibrant once again.
Part of the plan was for Ivy to use her unbound magic to broadcast her location as though she had no idea she was being hunted.
They were headed to the meadow Ivy wanted to use as the meeting place, the rest of the coven at home making preparations, mixing up potions and pouring over Callie's textbooks regarding Fae, discussing in the open how Ivy would go about binding her powers at the right place at the right time.
Rowena and Ivy hoped nothing came of it, but they couldn't rule out the Brownies taking the information back to a fairy contact, who would then relay the message to Ivy's father.
In secret, Rowena talked to a lawyer with extensive experience in making deals with Fae and got advice on how to keep Ivy from making the same mistake her mother had.
Uriah might have agreed to the plan, but the longer he had to think about it, the more he regretted it and gave serious thoughts to running. He wanted to take Ivy and get the hell out of dodge, not walk the property like they were just out on an afternoon stroll.
Ivy stopped suddenly, making adrenaline flood his system in a hot rush. He crowded her, pulling her to his chest while he scanned the area for any signs of danger.
“What? What is it?”
Four tawny heads lifted out of the grass, ducked back down, and surrounded them seconds later with fangs exposed. Uriah would never say it, but he was impressed with the lion's reaction time.
Ivy didn't have any such problems. “I love the way you just appeared out of nowhere like that, guys. You sure you don't have a little witch in there somewhere? Cause that was magical.”
The lion that was Abel managed to make a leonine sound of offense, jerking his head up, clearly demanding to know what Ivy's problem was. “Sorry, false alarm. You can, uh, return to duty.”
Abel gave Ivy a disgusted look, but with a signal to the others, the lions melted away into the long grass with barely a whisper of sound. The hiss of the wind through the grass made their movements practically invisible. Had Uriah not known what to look for, he would never have seen them.
“Sorry!” Ivy shouted after them, getting only the annoyed flip of a black tufted tail in response. To him, she apologized again. “I'm sorry. I've been looking for the courage to tell you something since we left the house, and I stopped walking because I found it.”
Uriah nodded, shaken more than he cared to admit. He hugged her tight, one hand cupping the back of her head with his lips pressed to her forehead, breathing in the scent so unique to her. Honeysuckle, citrus, and the grossly offensive scent of fear, sickly sweet in his nose. She was every bit as terrified as he was.
“I don't want to lose you, Ivy.”
Ivy dropped her shoes in favor of pushing her hands up his back to grab hold of his shoulders. “You're not going to. The most powerful oracle in the world said we're going to be fine, so we will be.”
The oracle said Astrid's family would be fine. Uriah wasn't Astrid's family, and she'd looked right at him when Juliet read the text aloud. The chill that worked its way down his spine felt like the touch of Fate.
He'd wasted so much time living in fear that his love for her would be the catalyst for her death, but it seemed the shoe might now be on the other foot. His foot.
If he had to die so Ivy could be free, Uriah wouldn't hesitate to offer himself up, but more than anything in the world, he wanted to spend decades with her. Make memories, babies, and a beautiful life in the home he'd built for them.
For the plan to work, Uriah couldn't give away his certainty that this meeting would result in his death. He had to be strong, so Ivy could get through the next few days focused on what she had to do. He couldn't let her catch on that he was preparing himself for it to be his blood yet to be spilled.
“We will be,” he repeated, savoring every moment as if it were his last. “What do you need the courage to tell me?”
Her fingers kneaded at his shoulders, uncertainty and apprehension coloring both her scent and her tone. “I didn't say anything during the war meeting, because I wasn't sure how to explain.”