Sighing, he leaned back. “We engineer the scenario, not the specific visions. This test was meant to be psychological in nature. You saw the things that you fear the most, not things that will necessarily come true. Being confronted with one’s worst nightmares is both a way of testing your mental fortitude and seeing where your heart lies. If one of your fears is David dying—”

“Not just him dying,” I broke in. “Me killing him.”

Alexander inclined his head slightly. “Even so. If that’s one of your fears, that seems to prove that you are the woman for this job.”

For a moment, I saw something flicker in Alexander’s eyes, but he looked back at his desk again before I could tell what it had been.

And then he said, “I know you care about the Oracle, Miss Price, but the more you deny what he truly is, the more hurt you’ll be in the end. It will be easier if you accept it now.”

His voice was tight, and he didn’t lift his head to look at me, but there was a note in his voice that almost sounded like sympathy.

Curious, I sat forward a little bit. “What was the last Oracle like?”

Alexander sniffed and dropped his pen in a little brass cup that held about five more pens. It clinked against the side as he said, “She was obedient and functional and performed her duties as was required.”

That was it, but I saw that flicker again, and how white his knuckles were as he laced his fingers on top of his desk.

“Did you know her?” I asked. “I mean, obviously you did, but, like, the actual her? Or was she always all Oracled up?”

Alexander kept his gaze on me, but I had the feeling he was almost looking through me. “Like most Oracles, there was a period early on where she was more human than Oracle, and, yes, I did know her during that time.”

I’d been so focused on keeping David away from the Ephors that I’d never spent much time wondering how they worked. They were the bad guys, and that had seemed like the only important thing to know. But now I wanted to know a lot more. “Where did y’all keep her?” I asked. “And when did you become an Ephor? Do you apply for it like a job? And that guy tonight, the one who talked to me. Was he an Ephor?” He cut me off with a brisk shake of his head.