Page 80 of Oracles Always Win

“Yes, exactly like that,”Isaid.

“Soone of my parents was an oracle?Mymother never talked about my father, but it must have been him, right?Nowonder she was so freaked out by anything magical.”

“Isuspect your magic is more akin to a mage’s,”Isaid slowly, not looking forward to telling him my suspicions about his mother. “Amage’s child will be able to work magic but may not have the same type as their parent.Inyour case, oracles are incredibly rare.Idoubt either of your parents was an oracle, but at least one of them must have had magic.Andif your grandfather was as powerful as everyone says, it would pass to his child.Wasthat your mother?”

“Yes,” he said. “Shewas his only child, likeIwas hers.Itwas just my mom andIfor a long time.Ididn’t meet my grandfather until she passed almost a year ago.Heinvited me toWillowLake, said he wanted to get to know me.AndthenI’donly been here about a month when he died too.”

“Iam so sorry.”Istroked his back. “Havingall of those tragedies happen so close together couldn’t have been easy.”

Heswallowed and shook his head slightly.Irubbed long soothing strokes across his back.

“Itwas a year ago, you said?”Iasked after a few minutes.

“Yeah, just before my birthday.Why?”

Hisbirthday was coming up soon.Thatwas good to know.Icouldn’t wait to spoil him.Iwanted to ask him about it now, but that would have to wait.Findingout about the curse was more important.Ineeded to keep the conversation focused on that.

“Didyour mother do anything that seems strange when you think about it now?”Itwas perhaps heartless to ask him this question, with everything else going on, butIneeded to know if it really was his mother who’d cursed him.Ifit was someone else, he could have another unknown enemy out there.OneI’dneed to deal with.

Jakestilled.Hecleared his throat.Mysenses weren’t as strong asAdrian’s, but in the quiet of the room,Ididn’t need to be a wolf shifter to hear his heart racing. “Why?”

“Justa thought…”

“Shenever wanted me to meet my grandfather,” he said. “Sheeven told me he was dead.”

“Hmm…Itmust have been a surprise then to discover he was alive.”

“Youthink you know why she lied to me, don’t you?”

Ihesitated. “Doyou not have any ideas?”

“Wouldshe have been able to senseIhad magic?”

“Yes.Evenif she didn’t have much herself, she would have sensed yours.Youroracle magic is very strong.Idoubt she would have missed it.”

Hehuddled closer to me, curling into himself. “Youthink she tried to stop my magic.Youthink she’s the one who cursed me.”

Ididn’t say anything.Ijust continued to stroke his back.Becauseit wasn’t so much whatIthought; it was what he thought.Andchances were, he knew more than he was acknowledging, even to himself.Hereached for the duvet we’d kicked off during sex and pulled it around us, wrapping us in a warm cocoon.Thenhe trembled in my arms for a long while, whileItried to soothe him as bestIcould.

“Onmy birthday,” he whispered, “she’d make me a weird drink.Ittasted like dirt and grass clippings with a coppery taste that reminded me of blood.Disgusting.Shewrote down the recipe, butInever read it.Icouldn’t tell you what the ingredients are;Inever tried making it.Shesaid it was a family tradition.Shemade me promise to keep the tradition alive no matter whereIwent or ifIwas with her.Butwhen she died,Ididn’t want to remember our traditions.Itwas too difficult.SoIdidn’t make it last year…”

“Andthat’s when your visions started.”

“Somy own mother cursed me…”

“Shewas probably trying to protect you.Shemay not have understood that magic can’t be stopped.”Ipressed another kiss on his hair. “WhenIsaw the remnants of the curse, it was severely deteriorated.Evenif you’d continued to poison yourself with your mother’s potion, the curse would have unravelled sooner or later.TheEternalMagichates being contained.Insome ways, you were lucky it happened as it did.Ifthe magic had been forced to fight its way free, you might never have recovered.”

“Butwhy?”

Ihesitated.

Jakelooked up at me then. “Whatelse haven’t you told me?”

Isighed and reminded myself this conversation was long overdue. “Likeany magic, an oracle’s requires balance.Becauseyour visions are of the future, you need something to anchor you to the present.Ifyou don’t have a tether, you will get lost in your visions.Whenthat happens…”Ididn’t want to say it, butIknew he needed to know. “Whenthat happens, you will forget to live in the present.Untetheredoracles get caught in an unending cycle of having one vision after another.”Untilthey die,Ileft unsaid.

Jakeshuddered and wrapped his arms over his stomach. “Isthat what’s going on?Myvisions, as you call them, are happening more frequently.Inthe beginning,I’djust feel a little dizzy, but now…”Hiswords drifted off.

“WhenAdrianneeds to balance his magic, he eats protein.ForTeague, another from my team who you haven’t met yet, he needs an apple.Foryou, it is a little different.FromwhatIunderstand about oracles, you need a tether.”