pale. “You know where she is?”
Daniel moved in, his strong arms folding over his chest. “He doesn’t. He only knows that something is about to come to pass and it’s important.”
“I have faith in my wife,” Gray reiterated before looking to Trent. “And you and I will have to find our patience.”
“But she’s alive.” Trent reached out and put a hand on Gray’s arm.
Gray nodded, but even I could see what it cost him. His head was probably screaming and there was a shit ton of ibuprofen in his future. This was how prophecy went. Gray could see the way the world would go, but he couldn’t simply explain it to us. There was something mystical that happened when a prophet was made. Gray was normal most of the time, but every now and then his eyes would change, becoming orbs of endless night, and he would speak words that seemed to come from somewhere else. If asked to explain what his twisty-turny word puzzle meant, Gray would be physically unable to say anything except to repeat the prophecy. I don’t think even he knew exactly what each word meant. Every phrase that came out of a prophet’s mouth can be taken any number of ways. It’s almost like the universe needed to be a smarty-pants. The prophet comes along, makes cryptic statements that sound super important but are also pretty wide open, history happens, and then the prophet can say “look, I called it” because the prophecy can mean any number of things.
What I’d learned was prophecies weren’t meant to be changed. Not ever. What would come to pass would come to pass, and we were somewhat helpless against it. All we could do was try to prepare for the coming storm.
Daniel looked over to Zack. “I think we should have the academics look into all of Gray’s prophecies. Hell, look into everything we have that might concern the Nex Apparatus, Devinshea, or Marcus.”
Zack nodded and strode off, seemingly happy to have something to do.
“You let her go?” Trent was on his feet. “You knew something would happen and you let her walk away this morning?”
Gray looked up at his partner. “You know that’s not how it works. I’m scared, too, Trent, but I know that she’ll find her way back from wherever she is and that she’s there for a reason. Don’t look at me like that. I can’t change things. I can’t fix them. I can only assure you that if we’re careful, we’ll survive.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Daniel said.
Gray turned to the king, his eyes seeming to laser focus in. “When the time comes, choose her, Your Highness.”
Daniel’s eyes strayed to me. “I always choose her. What is that supposed to mean?”
Gray simply sighed and shrugged. “Choose her. It’s all I can say.”
“What are we supposed to tell our son?” Trent asked.
Gray stood and put a hand on Trent’s broad shoulder. “That his mother has a job to do. We didn’t marry her because she was safe.”
Trent took a long breath. “No, we married her because she’s the baddest, most gorgeous bitch in town, and she won’t ever let us down.”
“And that is what we tell our son,” Gray concluded. “Your Highness, I need to go speak to your butler, if I might.”
He’d directed the question my way. “You need to talk to Albert?”
“I do,” Gray replied in a way that made me think this was serious for him.
Albert was watching Fen. It was probably a good thing if he kept doing it while Gray and Trent worked out how they would talk to him about the problem. “Of course. Trent can take you up. He’s got all the codes.”
The door opened and I saw Daniel stand up straighter.
“Good evening, Your Highness.” Myrddin stepped into the room. He’d changed at some point and wore all black, including a rich, velvety cape around his shoulders. He nodded my way. “Your Highness. Mr. Wilcox.” He bowed slightly. “Dark prophet. It is an honor to be in your presence. The Hell plane hasn’t had a prophet in thousands of years.”
Gray’s shoulders went rigid as though he’d detected a threat. “Merlin Satanspawn.”
Myrddin had many names.
Myrddin’s face remained pleasant, but his eyes had gone cold. “I don’t go by that name here, Mr. Sloane.”
“No, but that is what my father’s people call you,” Gray said, his voice deep. “I understand you spent much of your time since awakening on the Hell plane.”
“He recently descended in order to find a replacement ambassador,”