“We’re here.” Ameri’s voice echoed down the tunnel.
Echoed because the tunnel was longer than I’d thought. I shuddered, and for an awful moment, bile burned up my throat.
No. I could do this. This was nothing compared to what Asinia was going through right now. I kept crawling, attempting to ignore the feel of dirt beneath my hands and knees.
Eventually, the tunnel opened into a small hollow carved out of the dirt. We were still underground, but we could stand if we bent almost in two. An old woman sat on a rickety-looking crate against one wall. Several tunnels branched from the hollow, and in the corner, another ladder led back up to what was likely another store or someone’s house. That was our best escape route if the tunnel were to collapse.
Lanos leaned against one of those ladders and nodded at me. I turned and studied the old woman. She was blind, her lips were cracked and dry, and her clothes dirty and torn. Fury poured through me at her condition.
Ameri cleared her throat, and I glanced at her. She stiffened at whatever she saw on my face. “We’ve tried,” was all she said.
I crouched in front of the woman. “My name is Prisca,” I said softly.
“Hello, Prisca.” The woman’s voice was soft, almost childlike. She smiled, and despite her cracked teeth, it was a sweet smile. “My name is Ivene.”
“Hello, Ivene.”
“You’ve come to learn about the past.”
“Yes. If you wouldn’t mind telling me.”
She reached her hands up, and I held myself still as she used them to trace my face. “You’re a beautiful woman.” She smiled, and it was sadder. “It won’t make your life any easier, you know.”
I smiled back, keeping my voice gentle. “I thought you saw the past, not the future.”
“You don’t have to be a seer to know life is kind to no woman, even those who are blessed with beauty.”
“Can’t argue with that,” Ameri said. My lips twitched. We shared a look, and for the first time, I felt her thaw a little toward me.
“Will you tell me of the king? And the hybrids?” I asked, but Ivene was already turning away, her head angled as if she was listening to someone.
“I told you not to talk to me while I am speaking to others.”
Ameri sighed but gestured for me to wait. Eventually, Ivene turned back toward me.
“The king. The king, the king, the king.” She cackled, and the sound seemed to rip through the air. “Siiiit. You should make yourselves comfortable.”
We sat at her feet, and she tipped her head back. When she spoke, her voice was different. No longer childlike, now it was deeper, as if someone else were speaking through her. I shivered.
“Get to the prince, your mother said. But you ignored her. When will you focus on your task, Prissss-caaaa?”
I opened my mouth, but she’d already turned away again, speaking gibberish. Her hands slammed to her ears. “Be quiet,” she roared.
I looked at my brother. He stared steadily back. Those who looked both forward and backward were destined to lose their minds to their gifts. Ivene was likely somewhere between ten and twenty winters older than Mama. Had she lived, this would have been her future.
Was Tibris right, and that was why she’d let herself die by that river?
Ivene was sitting back on her crate. She waited until we were all looking at her once more—I still couldn’t understand how she knew such a thing—and then she smiled that sweet smile once more. “Ask your questions.”
I had so many, I didn’t know where to start. But I focused on Asinia. “What do you know of the castle? The royal family? What’s the best way for us to get someone out of the dungeon?”
“Shhhh.” Ivene hushed whatever voice she could hear. “This is important.” She faced me again. “In order to understand the elite, you must become like them. The queen has long been lonely, afraid, weak.”
I folded my legs under me. “What do you mean?”
“Shhhh,” she said again. But whatever she could hear obviously refused to quiet, because she turned and screamed, high and long. Her face flushed red, and Tibris gave me an unhappy look.
I couldn’t just give up. If she could see the past, maybe she could see what decisions the royals had made. The security the king had in place. And potential weaknesses in that security.
“When we leave the castle, which route will give us the highest chance of survival? Where can we go?”
Ivene sighed, obviously weary. But her mouth curled into a gentle smile. “I can’t see the future.”