step back, but I was too slow. The seer’s entire ethereal body flowed right into mine, freezing cold.
Suddenly, my soul felt full to bursting, like energy was blasting around inside my body, inspecting every inch of me.
I gasped and reached for Grey. He gripped my arm, helping me stand upright. My head spun and my vision went fuzzy as the energy grew and grew.
Finally, it exploded out of me. I sucked at the air, my body suddenly empty and warm.
Normal.
Panting, I looked up.
The seer stood in front of me, looking the same as ever.
“A little warning next time,” I said, panting.
Grey kept me on my feet until my limbs stopped shaking. Looking at him, I asked, “Did you know that would happen?”
He shook his head.
I looked back at the seer. “What did you see?”
“Cursed Mates almost never survive. They aren’t powerful enough. But you…I think you might be.”
“How?”
“The answer is inside you. Inside your power. You doubt yourself and your ability to lead because you don’t understand what you are. But knowing your past will help you know your power.”
My ability to lead. My mind flashed to the leader’s chair I’d been unable to sit in. To Mac’s words. But how was I even qualified? “What power?” I barely understood my magic.
“The answers are in your past, but you must find them yourself. This is something I cannot see.”
“What about my past? Where in my past?” Again, I wished I’d known my mother. I couldn’t stop thinking of her lately, wishing that she’d survived so I could know her. Learn from her.
“That is for you to discover. Once you know what you are, what your true power is, you will have your answers. You will be able to save him.”
“I’m a seer.”
“No, you aren’t.”
It was right. The Seer’s Guild had never claimed me. Though I had a gift similar to a seer’s, I wasn’t actually one of them.
“Come.” The figure motioned me forward. “Let me see if there is anything inside your mind.”
“Are you going to do that thing again?” I asked.
“No. Then, I was looking at your magic. At your soul. This is different.”
I approached, my heart racing. The figure rested cold fingertips against my temple. They felt like an icy mist—there, but not. The chill seeped inside my head, seeming to float around inside my mind. Searching.
“Your memories…”
I looked at the seer, wanting it to continue. To speak more quickly. Finally, it did. “You have recently found a book. Your answers are there. Your friend will help you.”
“Seraphia?”
“No. The raven.”
“The raven?” Confusion flickered. “Eve’s raven?”
“Not Eve’s. Yours. The raven waits with Eve, drawn by her Fae energy. It is life, keeping the raven here while it waits.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will. But first, you must open the book and find your past.”
“Seraphia is working on the book.”
“And she will be successful,” the seer said. “But it will take your blood to finish the spell that will open the book. Then you must find the raven.”
“What about the raven? And I’ll just read all the answers in the book?” It definitely sounded too easy, especially given how difficult and unpredictable my magic could be. My skills were improving, but erratically.
It laughed—or at least made a sound that might have been a laugh, raspy and rough. “No, nothing so simple. But it will be a guide, helping you along the path to discovering what you are and what you can do. Once you know, you will be able to save them both.”
“Both? Grey and me?”
The seer disappeared, its form fading out into mist that once again filled the chamber. I looked at Grey, almost more confused than when I’d arrived.
He rubbed a hand over his face. “That was…not bad.”
“Not bad? I have no idea what to do.”
“No, we don’t know exactly what to do. But we have plenty of clues now. And the seer is gone. We need to leave.”
I nodded, my mind racing to catalog and memorize everything the seer had told me. Obviously, we needed to get to Seraphia immediately. And the raven…
We had to find that bird, whatever that meant.
“Can we transport?” I asked Grey, wanting to avoid the trip back through the castle.
“Not until we are outside. Silviu would never let his prey go so easily.” He turned and headed toward the stairs.
I followed, racing up behind him.
The corridors were empty as we hurried toward the exit. The bodies of the guards lay still and undisturbed, and I began to hope that we would make it out