“You have a book filled with the names of the dead,” Estevan said flatly. “Which you killed, I suppose, during the last witch purge.”
“Every single man and woman who has wronged us,Vanya. They’re all dead now, and I remain! What a joyous day!” Leyevna returned her book to its shelf. Her hand lingered on the fireplace mantel. “I will not mourn Torqedan. He was a mighty adversary deserving of my begrudging respect, but I will not lie: I desired his death most of all. A shame I didn’t end up killing him; I came so close to it back then. The war is long over, but the land remembers, and I … I remember too.” Her hand clenched the fabric of her dress over her stomach.
Semras’s breath shuddered out of her. Callum had found the perfect scapegoat for his crime. Had Estevan not been her son, he’d have never doubted Warwitch Leyevna’s culpability.
“I shouldn’t have remembered the war,” the warwitch muttered, looking around with a glazed gaze, following the ghosts of her memories. “It is late, and … and I am tired. I’ll be upstairs, with a good Freran brandy, I believe. You both stay here for the night. The hour is far too late to leave now.Vanya, you remember where your old room is? Make use of it.”
Leyevna left them alone. A heavy, defeated silence filled the room.
Semras glanced at Estevan, not knowing what to say or how to approach him. The wound between them had expunged all its poison after their fight. It remained fresh, but it could start healing now, given time and nurturing.
But it wouldn’t even have that luxury if a war broke out between the Inquisition and the Covens. That dreadfulpossibility was now creeping closer than ever to reality. Which side would he fight for: his father’s or his mother’s?
How grim a choice he’d soon have to face, she thought.
“… I’m sorry,” Semras breathed.
Estevan lifted his head and stared blankly ahead. “I should have known coming here was a fool’s hope. Of course, Cael planned it all to the last detail. He must have stolen that damn letter too. And now we have nothing … except a receipt with a deadly amount of prickly comfrey leading directly to my mother and the list of men she wanted dead. Even if she wrote a testimony about the dosage she prescribed, no one would believe it when she bought this much comfrey. All the proof I meant to find to absolve her is only making her look more guilty.” His eyes wandered to the butterfly walls. “I had no idea she hated him that much … Master Torqedan asked me if I knew a witch who could make him some pagan medicine, and I … I—Void take me, I should never have reconnected them.”
Semras shuffled in her seat. “I meant about the poison. Um,mypoison that … that poisoned you,” she said, hands fumbling on her lap. “I-I really am sorry. I was so sure you were … Ah, it doesn’t matter. You’re talking about the murder. I shouldn’t bring personal matters—”
“No! No, I … I appreciate it,” Estevan replied hurriedly. His lips twisted into the shadow of a smile. “Do we call it even, then? Us, I mean?”
A pleasant, warm shiver ran down her spine.‘Us,’he’d said.
“I poisoned you with wolfsbane. I spied on you at least … two, three times?” she asked, counting on her fingers. “And I bit your lip bloody, but I think you liked that.”
Estevan grinned slowly. “Back when we first met, I acted like the arrogant bastard you expected me to be. I shackled and imprisoned you. I almost executed you when I thought you hadturned Bleak.” He mused for a second. “Are we counting each occurrence of spying as separate offences, or …?”
“Just one. I deserve it because you actuallyarearrogant, not just acting like it.”
“Fair.” He hummed. “… You kissed me.”
A sparkle of mischief brightened her eyes. “Two times to Themas’ three,” she said, repressing a grin.
Estevan stared at her in alarm. “Three times? When? Did he get poisoned too, or did only I get the special treatment?”
She chuckled at his miffed tone. “Don’t look at me like that. I slept in your arms twice.”
“Twice,” he nodded, then stopped and narrowed his eyes. “To Maldoza’s …?”
The witch rolled her eyes and grinned. “Zero.” She’d have punched the smug smirk off his face if it hadn’t lit his eyes with such warmth.
One thing still lurked in the back of her mind, but she dared not speak it. Not yet. This … whatever they were bargaining for, felt too fragile still.
It haunted Estevan too. “And you saved my life,” he breathed, eyes inscrutable.
She had, yes—bymarryinghim, but Semras wasn’t ready to confront it out loud. “You saved my life too. From the wolves.”
He chuckled derisively at himself. “It does not count; it was mutual. Where are we at with the tally?”
Her face dropped. “I don’t know. It won’t matter if we don’t stop your brother.”
“No, I guess it will not.” The inquisitor passed his hand over his face. “What a mess …”
“One thing at a time, Inquisitor Velten.” Semras smiled, trying to lift the mood. “I survived your mother’s wrath by some miracle. We may yet have another one.”
He chuckled. “She was not angry. You would have known if she was; it is a fearsome mood to behold.” His gaze slid to the staircase. “There is a reason my father remains safely within the city walls of Castereina. Mother was not happy when he let me become an inquisitor.”
