“The witch with the deathly magic will be there.”
His words sent a bolt of shock through me. “What?”
“The vision just appeared. It’s what I was coming to tell you. I was just so shocked that you weren’t already planning to go.”
“Why would she be there?” The witch wasn’t fae.
“I do not know. But if we go, we can apprehend her before she arrives here.”
This changed everything.
I couldn’t argue with his logic, and the appeal was too great. I could still vividly remember the devastation caused by the Court of the Northern Fae when they’d decimated one of our outlying villages. The images still haunted me.
I couldn’t let the dark witch do the same—not if I could stop her before she arrived.
“Fine. We’ll go. But we’ll bring guards.” A lot of them. I’d have them watching Sia’s back every minute of the day. If anything happened to her, I’d have their heads.
Sia
* * *
Meria led me down the stairs and onto the street. I nodded at Dain, who waited in the shadows of a doorway in a nearby alley.
“Evelyn lives in the building two doors down,” she said.
We stopped in front of a red door set in a building made of slightly darker stone than Meria’s. The stonework on the side was of flowers instead of vines, but it was just as beautiful.
“Evelyn,” Meria shouted.
“Seriously?” I asked her. “That’s how you get her attention? You’re going to wake the neighborhood.”
“It’s not like we’re on comms charm terms,” she said.
I touched the golden earring at my earlobe. Meria had given it to me, and it was a bit like a cellphone that connected directly to her through magic. We were definitely not that close with Evelyn.
“Evelyn!”
A window on the third floor opened and Evelyn’s head popped out. “Keep your pants on!”
“Can we come up?
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t let you die back on that miserable chessboard, but that doesn’t mean I want to have coffee with you.”
“How about wine?” Meria held up a bottle. I hadn’t seen her grab it, but it had been a smart move.
Evelyn gave her an appraising look. “Fine. I’m the door on the right.”
We went through the red door and climbed the stairs. The door was already open, and Evelyn stood inside. Her dark hair was pulled up in a messy knot and she wore a ridiculous large T-shirt with a cartoon bird on it. Flock You, it read.
This was how Evelyn dressed in private?
She’d always been so meticulously put together when I’d seen her before.
“What?” She looked down at her shirt. “It’s cool.”
“Yep.” I just nodded. I needed her help, so I didn’t want to piss her off. And anyway, I kind of liked the fact that Evelyn was a weirdo.
“Come on.” She gestured for us to follow her into a kitchen with a round wooden table. The ceiling was painted black, with silver constellations dotting the surface. It was gorgeous.
“Got cups?” Meria asked.
“Yeah.” She retrieved some juice glasses from a cupboard and set them down.
Meria filled the cups with the dark ruby liquid, then passed them around and raised hers, “To surviving the competition.”
We clinked.
“To losing,” Evelyn said.
She didn’t sound upset. “You okay with that?”
She nodded. “Fate said I had to compete. So I did my best. The fact that I didn’t win was meant to happen. My magic grew a bit as a result, and I got this nice apartment, so I’m happy.”
“That’s very…emotionally healthy.”
She grinned. “Yeah. I like to win, so I took it seriously. But now that it’s over, I can get on with my life. You’re the one who has to marry that stone-cold bastard.”
“He is hot, though,” Meria said.
I blew out a breath, not yet ready to talk about Lore with her.
“So, why are you here?” Evelyn asked.
“We need to see the Truth Teller. I heard you know how to get to her.”
She nodded. “She’s the one who told me I had to compete.”
“Can you take us?” I asked.
She sipped her wine. “I’m going to need more info.”
“Why?”
“Because I have to know that you really need to see her. I’m not about to annoy one of the most powerful people in the realm because you want to know what the weather’s going to be on your wedding day.”