Revealed in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights #9)(31)

“She is very old,” Romulus answered. “And she has done a lot of mind-altering substances. She—”

“That’s not why,” the Red Prophet interrupted, her gaze drifting toward the ceiling. She stuck out her tongue and placed a little white square onto it. “Your mother is why. She is a very exacting woman, and she likes to have her way. I am something she cannot control, not even with her magic. I remind her of it, often, which is why she keeps me…apart.”

Charity tried to keep from stiffening. Though her dad wouldn’t admit it, he was having a lot of anxiety about what would happen with Grandmama’s situation. The First had kept her people hidden away for years. She’d divided them, essentially forcing those who didn’t want to remain idle to leave. She’d torn Romulus from Charity’s mom in the Brink, and created a hostile situation for the visiting shifters. She had a lot to answer for, but she was also family. She was the matriarch of their people, and had been for a long time. Calling her down would be a terrible burden on them all.

“Can I have a little quiet, please?” Karen asked.

“You don’t need quiet—you need to stop being so stubborn,” the Red Prophet replied. “You have a block for a head.”

“Says the drug addict.”

“I am not an addict. I am a crackhead.”

Karen blinked a few times, then minutely shook her head. “We’re not going to get along, you and I.”

“Correct. I look forward to our arguments. It’ll create all the energy we could possibly need.” The Red Prophet looked behind her, at a spot on the wall. She nodded.

“Right but…you’re here now, and Grandmama isn’t,” Charity said to the Red Prophet. “There’s no need for any kind of ruse.”

“True. Old habits, as they say. Though…these Brink mind alternants seem to promote exaggerated behavior. It’s best just to go along with it, I think.”

“Only a hack needs drugs to use her Sight,” Karen murmured, placing the cards as the crystal ball cleared for one solid moment. Energy rolled over Charity’s skin. From Romulus’s shiver, he clearly felt it too.

The Red Prophet jumped down from the table. “I will go and enter—”

“You need to go to the Flush,” Karen told Charity and Romulus, “that’s true enough.”

The Red Prophet hissed, straightened up, and faced Karen. “We must record our findings in private, so we can reflect on them before we speak with the others. That is how it is done. Then we must—”

“We have a job to do,” Karen spat back, “and that job does not entail making everyone wait while you dream up more dramatics.” With a closed-down expression, she looked at Romulus. “When you get to the Flush—”

“No. That is not to be revealed,” the Red Prophet said, and climbed back onto the table.

“I know very well what is, and is not, to be revealed, thank you very much. Or didn’t you know that I foresaw Charity’s journey into the Flush?”

“You are too rash, but even still, we make an excellent, powerful team,” the Red Prophet said, now smiling. “We are the best in the world when we work together. We will hate it immensely.”

“Good God,” Karen said. “Anyway, Romulus, you must take care of your business in the Flush, then make your journey to the elves as planned. That much is very clear. With you, to both of those destinations, must travel the Triangle of Power.”

“Yes. I Saw that, as well,” the Red Prophet said, and Charity noticed her sudden gravity. “The Triangle of Power is very important to this journey. But what is it?”

Karen straightened up just a little, her chin lifting. She clearly liked knowing something the Red Prophet didn’t. “I Saw this in the past, as well. It’s not a new grouping.” She looked at Darius, then Emery.

“Reagan, Penny, and I,” Emery said, dipping his hands into his jeans pockets.

“They were the driving forces behind the victory against the Mages’ Guild,” Roger added.

“Yes, the three of them working together are incredibly powerful,” Darius said. “But they are not leaders, per se. The ladies are…largely unpredictable.”

Emery chuckled. “Reagan or Penny, when working alone, are unpredictable. Together they’re in another league. They’re a natural disaster. They can’t even be led, never mind doing the leading. They have to be corralled, at best.”

Charity noticed Roger nodding. Charity wished she’d been there for the mages’ battle to see all this in action.

“This is why they must stay with the fae,” Karen said. “He and Charity, with their people, will guide the powerful trio. They will stabilize their might. It is essential.”

“You will need your wits about you, boy,” the Red Prophet said to Romulus, and it wasn’t often someone talked to him like that and called him a boy. Charity was pretty sure the Red Prophet didn’t notice. “You have been sheltered for a long time, and the world is not as you’ve imagined it. Working with the shifters will be your greatest strength. Hold on to that asset. Trust in the Alpha Shifter’s morality, but do not always trust in what you see. Or feel.”

Karen shot Darius a grave look. “You will have to leave your people behind. For a while, at least. The Pyramid of Power is important, but so is the team you’ve created with Reagan. She will need her most loyal supporters by her side to start this journey—to keep her on the right path. It is necessary. You can…corral her like no other.” Charity stifled a grin. She didn’t know Karen well, but it was clear the woman knew how to control a space, and using the right language in times like these was clearly important in that, especially with a vampire. “You must start this journey with her if you hope to end it with her. But then what you dread will come to pass. When it comes time to visit the elves, you will need to let her go, come what may. She will take more risks and charge into the unknown, as is her strength. You will strategize and plan. Manipulate and enlighten, sometimes with lies, sometimes with truths, always with an agenda. You need to be the reason people should never trust vampires. Only if you are in your element, and Reagan is in hers, will your pieces of the puzzle work toward the greater good. And they must.”