Henric was surprised to hear voices coming from the library below when he opened the study’s door. Listening closely, they sounded like girls laughing, and when he came to the balcony below he saw his sisters and Megan gathered around a table below.

  “Hello?” Henric called out.

  There was a gasp and then silence. The girls looked around for a moment before Megan noticed him up on the balcony.

  “Henric,” she said. “It’s just you. We thought everyone was asleep.”

  Alizia and Adelin both let out a sigh of relief.

  “Just me?” Henric laughed as he made his way down the spiral staircase to the library’s lower level. As he came around the center post, he could see Megan blush. “I’m the highest authority for a hundred miles or more in any direction. You wish I was still just me.”

  “Oh stop it,” said Alizia. “You’ve been my little brother longer than you’ve been duke, so you’re still my little brother.”

  “Until I’ve been duke longer than I’ve been your brother huh?” he asked, stroking at an imaginarily bearded chin as if in thought.

  “Don’t struggle too hard Henric,” said Adelin. “I’ll be older than you by the time you figure it out.”

  The girls laughed. Henric mussed up his little sister’s golden hair as he sat down at the table beside with them.

  “Is Mathev still around?” he asked, setting Zakaran’s journal face down on the table, not realizing until now he’d been carrying it.

  “No he went home, drunk,” Adelin said. “What are you still doing up?”

  “Reading,” said Henric. “Samael is leaving tomorrow. Zak’s pretty mad about it, but it’s for the best.”

  “What?” asked Alizia. “So suddenly?”

  “You know how Sam is,” Henric said. “He hardly even thinks of himself when he gets wrapped up in something. I was going to go to sleep, but now I worry if I do I’ll miss him.”

  “Well Megan is telling our fortunes,” Adelin said. “She was just doing mine before you so rudely interrupted us.”

  On the table in front of them were three small cards face down, all painted with an intricate design. Henric supposed cards might be a good distraction. He didn’t spend enough time with his sisters as it was.

  “You’re a fortune teller now?” Henric asked Megan, arching an eyebrow.

  “It’s just something I picked in the capitol.” She picked up a neat stack of extra cards set off to the side, and locked gazes with Adelin. “Are you sure you want to know? Knowledge of the future can be a dangerous thing.”

  The younger girl rolled her big blue eyes. “It’s only tomorrow Megan quit being so dramatic.”

  “What do all these cards mean?” Henric asked. Two were face up, and they were set aside from seven others that were set out in a row in front of Adelin.

  “Just be quiet and watch,” Adelin hissed.

  “The fortunes are already on the table,” said Megan. “These first two are just to tell us if the news is good or bad, in case we decide we’re better off not looking.”

  “Flip them!” Adelin said.

  Megan turned over the first card. The girls gasped at the red bird, but Henric couldn’t fathom why. He couldn’t imagine a chicken meaning anything significant, but the girls seemed excited. Megan flipped the third card to show a black flower, leaving only the middle card unflipped. Adelin’s smile vanished.

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  “What happened?” asked Henric. “Bad news?”

  “Might be,” said Alizia. “Red is good news, black for bad. This could go either way, or be both.”

  “So the symbols don’t mean anything?” he asked. “Just the colors?”

  “Only in the first two,” his big sister said.

  Megan had a concerned look, staring at the black card. “Lizi had that card too,” she said when she noticed Henric looking. “That doesn’t happen often. I thought I shuffled better than that.”

  “I had it in the first flip Megan,” said Alizia. “You shuffled fine, it’s not like I had a red hen in my fortune.”

  “True...” said Megan. “How about it little lady, do you still want to know what tomorrow has for you?”

  Adelin bobbed her golden head. “Do it.”

  The four of them held their breaths as Megan flipped the center card. A red eye.

  “A truth will be revealed to you,” said Megan. “But it may be bittersweet.”

  Adelin sighed. “A truth? I hate fortunes, they’re too vague.”

  “I like mine,” said Alizia.

  The little sister turned on the big. “That’s because yours said you’re going to find love tomorrow.”

  Aliza blushed.

  “How about you Henric?” asked Megan, shuffling the deck again. “It’s either that or they’re going to ask me for their next week and years. I’m starting to regret even mentioning I’d learned.”

  “Sure,” Henric shrugged. “How’d you learn anyway?”

  “Enisa taught me,” she said, splitting the stack.

  “Who’s Enisa?” asked Henric.

  Alizia gasped. Henric was supposed to know who that was. “Enisa Lanxier. You’ve met her.”

  “Right, the duke’s daughter.” It had been years ago. She was an older girl, closer to Samael’s age and had laughed at Henric. “So how far ahead can you predict?”

  “I can foretell your next day, your next week, and your next year,” said Megan locking bright brown eyes with him. “What will it be?”

  “Year.”

  Megan’s nod set her brown curls bobbing. “The rules are a little different for the Year. The first two cards have to match, one red and one black. That’s the only way we know the fortune is real, otherwise we’re just flipping cards.” She set out two cards, face down on opposite ends of the table, and then set four more in a neat row in front of Henric. “Turn over the Two.”

  The first was a black heart, the second a red. Henric’s heart beat fast in his chest. Did he really care what some cards said?

  “So we’re in business,” said Megan. His sisters watched in silent anticipation as Megan laid out four more cards and then turned them face up. “Black circle, red sword, red hound, black square. I’d hoped that wouldn’t be the case.”

  “What?” he asked.

  “Your fortune was already on the table when I laid these cards,” said Megan. “They’re just supposed to warn us if the news is good or bad, in case you decide you don’t want to know.”

  Henric nodded. “I want to know.”

  She flipped the other four cards to reveal a red eye, a black warrior, a red flame, and a black flower. Megan gasped. “Again?”

  “The flower?”

  “Mm.”

  “Well,” said Adelin. “What does it mean?”

  “This Winter, Henric is going to learn a truth, but he will not like it,” Megan said. “But not before winning a terrible victory in the Fall. The Summer has red flames, a time of passion.”

  “And what is the black flower?” asked Alizia. “What does it mean?”

  “Death.” The word blurted from Henric’s lips, though he hadn’t even thought to say them.

  “Yes,” said Megan. “How did you know?”

  He thought to the mark on his left arm, covered by his sleeve, and thought about his father and grandfather. The same mark from the front of the book face down on the table. What kind of Aldrimar was he if he couldn’t recognize Death? “A lucky guess.”

  There was that stench again.

  “It’s true Henric,” said Megan. “Except I don’t think you understand. If it came up like this, it means Death isn’t done with you yet.”

  “No, of course not,” Henric said. “I didn’t think it was.”