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“That sounds agnostic. That’s the word, right? You’re waiting for proof?”

“Hardly. You have met Death herself many times. Would you pray to her? I know the power exists, but to worship her would be . . . strange.”

Adam had to concede the point.

He approached a series of stone tablets, their surface carved with pictograms and crude letters. In the mortal world, they would have been behind glass, but elves trusted themselves not to touch anything so old. Their museums, if they had them, probably didn’t even need warning signs.

“What are these?”

“What do you know of prophecy, Adam?”

“It’s a kind of Sight. It sees far into the future, so it’s not as reliable. Time bends, my Aunt Sue used to say.”

His own recent dreams were proof.

“She was not wrong. Every moment can reshuffle the deck, as it were. That said, some things, some moments, are inevitable.”

Adam did not like the feeling creeping up the back of his neck. He did not like the prickle at the edge of his heart, against the ache of the warlock wound, because his dreams seemed to align with that as well. Lately they pointed to a future he did not want but did not know how to stop without a worse result. It was like trying to fix a loaf of half-baked bread.

One tablet showed a figure with a wolf’s head. Around him were gathered a lot of stick figures in poses indicating worship.

“You saw him.” It was not a question.

Adam nodded.

“It is time for total truth between us, Adam.”

Adam didn’t mean to laugh, but he couldn’t hold it in.

“You’ve kept things from me from the very beginning. I trust you, but only so far. I came to speak to you today to make certain I was wrong to doubt you, but it was you, wasn’t it, who erased the books?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Silver hesitated.

“You said it was time for total truth. So show me how far out on that limb I can climb before it breaks.”

Silver exhaled.

“There are figures like the Wolf in many human myths.” Silver led Adam to another carving. In it the Wolf sat upon a throne. At his feet lay many broken swords.

“In this prophecy he ends the court, the world, the order we have imposed.”

“You’ve been worried about this?”

“Yes. If the Between opens, if the Empress is freed, and the Wolf is granted his wish, then we end.”

“It can’t happen, Silver.”

“I don’t intend to let it. That is why I had to protect you, had to hide what was possible from everyone, from my people, until I could find a way to close the Between.”

Adam’s heart ached.

Damn it, this was the price of secrets. They were often mistakes.

“No, you don’t understand. There is no Wolf. He can’t get his wish.”