Free The Prophecy (Daughters of the People Series Book 1) by Lucy Varna Page B

the assassin. “Why have you come?”
    “I bring a
warning, Rebecca of the Blade. Your enemy approaches and is aided from within.
Strengthen your gates and arm the People, for the time draws near.”
    “The time for
what?”
    The Woman
pointed again to the photo. Rebecca placed it carefully onto her desk and
spread her trembling hands flat against its surface.
    The Woman
stepped forward, one step, then two, until she was barely an arm’s length away.
Cold chills broke out along Rebecca’s skin.
    “Is the child
well?”
    Rebecca searched
her mind frantically for a moment before memory caught. “She’s doing very
well.”
    “You named her
for her father.”
    A breathy laugh
sputtered out of Rebecca. “I could hardly name her for her mother.”
    The Woman nodded.
“You have done well by her. For this, you have my gratitude.”
    The sentiment
was so unexpected, it caught Rebecca by surprise. Not knowing what else to say,
she settled for, “Thank you.”
    “Her task
approaches. She must complete it without hesitation. The fate of the People
depends upon it.”
    “I’ll warn her.”
    “No.” The word
snapped through the air between them, hard and flat and terse. “She must do
this on her own. I have foreseen it.”
    “As you wish.”
    “As the Lady
Goddess wishes,” the Woman corrected.
    “Of course.”
    The Woman’s
expressionless eyes bore into hers. Rebecca found herself drawn into them. She
leaned forward and, as quickly as a striking cobra, the Woman snatched
Rebecca’s hand into a painful grip, squeezing hard enough to draw an
involuntary gasp from Rebecca. Blackness swam in front of her eyes. Gradually,
a scene appeared, of seven women sitting around a campfire, laughing. They were
replaced by the chaos of battle, the screams of the dying. A woman holding
another who’d been mortally wounded, then pain and more death before the
campfire scene returned. One by one, the women faded into shadow. The Woman let
go and Rebecca collapsed against her desk, her breaths panting audibly out of
her lungs, her vision swimming.
    “The One who
Sleeps. Is she well?”
    Rebecca drew
herself up by sheer dint of will. “I’m sorry. What?”
    “I believe you
call her the Oracle.”
    “Oh, yes. Of
course.” Rebecca inhaled a deep, stuttering breath. “She still sleeps.”
    “Protect her,
Rebecca of the Blade. She may yet be your salvation, or perhaps your doom. This
I have yet to foresee.”
    Rebecca nodded
and swallowed the questions crowding into the back of her mouth. She closed her
eyes and rubbed them, trying to clear her vision.
    Find the
traitor, child ,
a voice whispered in her mind.
    Rebecca glanced
up, certain she’d imagined the soft words. The Woman with No Face was gone. A
breeze stirred through an open window, wafting the summer night into Rebecca’s
office.
    She looked down,
expecting to find the photo of the armband, but it was gone. In its place was a
small, thin piece of homemade paper containing a rough charcoal drawing of an
upside down triangle with a half circle dropping from the top line.
     

Chapter Five
     
    The roof’s
graveled surface bit into Dani’s skin through the tough leather pants she’d
chosen for that night’s recon. She shifted and wished for the dozenth time that
she’d chosen a better surveillance position.
    Of course, then
she wouldn’t have been able to observe the muscled spectacle in front of her.
Correction, the shirtless muscled spectacle. Definitely a two hubba
sight, maybe even three. She pondered it for a minute and decided to split the
difference, placing Shirtless Wonder at a solid two point five on the Hubba
Meter.
    She’d seen a
three point fiver once, but she didn’t like to think about him. He’d gotten her
all hot and bothered, and then, bad boy that he was, she’d had to give him the
smack down, totally ruining it for her. A grown man pleading for mercy was not
a turn on, especially when she hadn’t even shown him her A game.
    “Oh,