Page 152 of Carousel

I get her meaning. “A prophecy,” I say with a nod.

Rike’s face puckers, showing his dimples. “Ara. Your grandmother. She spent a lot of time with the Queen, didn’t she? Could she have seen something that convinced the Queen the old story – the prophecy – was in motion?”

He’s absolutely right.

I’m breathless as it comes to me. Old Mother had read the Queen’s fortune.

I’d been told she did, many times, throughout my childhood.

I’d even seen the card she had drawn for her, on Old Mother’s table, earlier today.

The Card of The Soulmates.

I say, as if just to solidify the thought – the memory – in my head, “Old Mother’s fortune predicted the prophecy would, or could, come true.”

“I’m confused. Why does any of this matter?”

“Because Old Mother’s fortune referred to me. And someone else.”

“If the fortune referred to you, why would it have been read to the Queen?”

I open my mouth to try to answer him, but Meg clears her throat.

“Rike, thank you,” she says, tugging her starched collar to lift it higher. “This has been very helpful. Ara, shall we continue this conversation elsewhere?”

I let her pull me away.

Outside the hatch, she says, still speaking in Rhavnan, “Try not to be so trusting of people.”

“Like you?”

“Yes. You should never have let me into your mind. Who knows what I’ll do with all your secrets?”

I think – I hope – she’s joking. But as she doesn’t crack a smile, it’s hard to tell.

Quietly, because there are pilots and engineers around, Meg muses, “Your track marks. I don’t see how they link to this.”

“More preparation, maybe?” I suggest. “Like my training. For the person I was to marry.”

“Possibly. But Rike is right, though. If the fortune was read to the Queen, it had something to do with her personally.” Her eyes gleam. “What do you know of the person we were discussing?”

“Next to nothing. Other than that he’s from the west.”

Meg holds my gaze. “West.”

“Yes. But he’s obviously not from Banko.”

She grabs my shoulders. “Rike just told you the Queen was travelling to Lartos. And in the spies’ quarter, we knew of large sums of money being sent there for guards and tutors.” A vast, awful smile slices her cheeks. “Drake didn’t mean he was from west of Rhavna, Ara!”

West.

Not of Rhavna.

Of the world.

My mouth parts, but nothing comes out. Except maybe part of me.

She shakes my body. “He’s her son!”