LXXXII. Don't bet on it
Silence stretched between Helen and James for so long that I became nervous. Helen shifted her weight ever so slightly, and beside me, Edward tensed. I gave him a puzzled look until Helen spoke.
"We're being watched."
She barely moved her lips but I heard her as clearly as though she were shouting. Had she seen us? I tried to pull Edward back but he shook his head, motioning for me to stay down.
I opened my mouth but Helen had already struck. Her hands should have been a blur but I saw her move as though in slow motion—reaching into her sleeves, flinging two daggers in our direction, the slim blades whistling through the air—
Edward leapt out of our hiding place.
My heart nearly stopped…and then my jaw dropped. As a vampire, Edward's movements had been too swift for me to see. At human speed, however…
Edward snatched one dagger out of the air and then the next, cutting through the air with practised ease. He flicked his wrist. One dagger whistled past, missing Helen's face by inches.
While she was busy recovering, he whirled on James, who clenched his fists. Power crackled in the air around him. At the sight of Edward's face, his eyes widened. "You. You're—" he began.
Edward slammed the hilt of the dagger to the side of his head. James' eyes rolled back and he crumpled to the ground. Helen drew her sword then, her once impeccable hair slightly dishevelled, her eyes narrowed.
"Who sent you?" she demanded. "My sister? My father?"
Edward was shaking. At first I thought it was the adrenaline or exhaustion—and then I saw his face. He was angry. No, he was furious.
"If you care at all… if you…" Edward's fist tightened around the remaining dagger as he glared at James and then Helen. But then he took a deep, steadying breath and let the weapon fall. "Your father's looking for you."
The lie passed Edward's lips smoothly but Helen didn't lower her sword.
"If you go back quickly, I'll never have to say that I lost sight of you... or where you were," Edward continued.
Helen's fear of being found out was apparently greater than her suspicion because she took several steps back and then lowered her sword, reaching for her horse. Then she hesitated, glancing at James. "Are you going to hurt him?"
A muscle jumped in Edward's jaw. "That's not what I was sent here to do."
Helen's eyes flickered to Edward's clothing before she leapt onto her horse. "My father's tastes grow more questionable each day. I hope we never see each other again."
As she lashed her horse and galloped away, Edward muttered, "I wouldn't hold my breath."
I rose from our hiding place. "That was close…" I wiped the sweat from my brow. "So close…"
"Tell me about it." Edward's nostrils flared as he turned away from James. "I nearly killed this bastard. And Helen…" His lips pressed together as he took me into his arms. "If I weren't so afraid that you wouldn't be born, I'd have stopped her too. It would've been so easy to pretend I'd been sent by The Oracle…" he exhaled. "I can't believe she asked this… this waste of space to turn her."
I couldn't believe it either. "That's why I couldn't control her," I said. "Because if he turned her, he has a stronger hold over her."
"And you know what else?" Edward's expression was grim.
"What?"
"If he turned her, and we killed him, what do you think is going to happen to her?"
If James had turned her the old-fashioned way… and the old rules still applied… An Ancient's life is bound to his Muse. "No." I exhaled. "Oh fuck no."
"This mess," Edward gestured around him. "It's bigger than we thought."
"We should do something," I said.
"And change the course of history?" Edward put a hand to his head. "We're not just a hundred years in the past, Bella. We're thousands of years back. What if something we did cause a war? What if some things were never invented? What if we made humans extinct?"
"That's a tad dramatic, don't you think?"
Edward's lips twitched. "Probably."
I glanced back at James. "He recognised you," I said. "Maybe your father was involved with the Singers."
"That seems like the only explanation." Edward didn't look the least bit surprised. "Everything's so connected… it's like someone designed it."
"Didyme was The Oracle," I said, glancing at the flashing ruby under my jacket, "and this is hers. She probably made it so that we see exactly what we should."
"The Oracle unsettles me," Edward said. "I've lived for millennia and I've never seen anything like it. Alice's vision changes but Didyme's seem to stretch through thousands of years… Is fate so deeply set in stone?"
I blinked. "I'm more curious about how she became The Oracle."
"I have a feeling we'll find out soon," Edward said. "So, back to the marketplace to look for my alleged father?" He held out a hand.
"After you stole a horse in broad daylight?" I said dryly. "Sure, why not, I can't wait for them to catch us, chop off our hands and to discover that your father's an evil villain. Nothing's going to surprise me at this point."
"Don't bet on it," Edward muttered. "Every time I think my family can't get any more dysfunctional, it does."
I finished this chapter earlier but my computer didn't save it for some reason! Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it. Thanks for reading and hope to update again soon :)
