“What about the witch?”
“She was old. I’m not great with ages but probably somewhere between seventy and ninety. I only got a glimpse of her when I walked in the apartment, and when she first looked at me in the basement. M-most of the time I was too scared to even look at her. It felt like she was a cat, and I was a terrified mouse hoping not to draw her attention.”
“How did you stay alive?”
She attempted a smile, but it fell from her mouth. “I’m one of the best warders in my coven. When I woke up in the basement, I raised a ward and she couldn’t get through.” Tears rolled down her cheeks and she wiped at them.
“She didn’t care. We all knew it was only a matter of time before I had no power left and my ward would fall. It would happen before I starved to death, and she’d still be able to use me for her next spell. A sacrifice was a sacrifice. You guys saved my life.”
Kyla smiled at her. “It sounds like you saved your own.”
I let out a long breath. Riona was alive, but we weren’t finished. We needed to find why someone had created a Spell of Three, and what they were planning to do with it– before they created anarchy in Durham.
* * *
Danica
Evie was waiting for me in Samael’s medical center when I arrived. The demon had an actual surgical theatre in his tower. I was no longer surprised. For now, we’d wait in one of the smaller medical rooms until they were ready for Evie. Butterflies fought to the death in my stomach at the thought.
My sister sat on a hospital bed and swung her legs. “How did it go with Riona?”
I filled her in and she gaped at me. “A Spell of Three… it’s illegal to even buy most of the ingredients.”
“Well, the sacrifice is also illegal, and that didn’t seem to bother them any. They used a gnome.”
“Who do you think it is?”
“I don’t know. All Riona knew was that it was a black witch, but she was so traumatized, all she remembers is her eyes. The witch was waiting until she dropped her ward so she could sacrifice her for a spell.”
“You’re worried it’s Hannah.”
I glanced away. “I’m really fucking hoping it’s not. Anyway. How are you feeling?”
Evie blew out a shaky breath. “Terrified,” she admitted. “But… resolved. I won’t live with this hanging over my head. Or my neck,” she smiled. “I’m in good hands. Your demon won’t let anything happen to me if he can help it. He loves you too much.”
“I want to be in there.”
She shook her head. “They’re cutting me open, Dani. You don’t need to see that.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
We both looked up as the door opened and Samael and Eldan walked in. The light fae healer smiled at us. “It’s time.”
My pulse was so loud I could hear it in my ears, but I attempted a reassuring smile.
“It’ll be out before you know it,” I said.
Evie nodded. “As soon as you know I’m not going to die, you need to get back to your investigations. You need to find the black witch with the Spell of Three, and we need to know who betrayed the coven before they try again.”
I was silent for a long moment and she narrowed her eyes at me. “I mean it. No sitting by my bedside waiting for me to wake up. Get to work, Dani.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. But if you die, I’m going to be really pissed off.”
She grinned. “Same.”
I wrapped my arms around her and held just a little too tightly, for just a little too long. Evie squeezed me back and then took a deep breath.
