“Weles, this isn’t possible,” Nyja whispers above me, and I know, I agree, but it’s happening, and it’s all I care about.
When Jaga’s hold on me slackens, I pull away, my lips hovering above hers, her frantic breaths mingling with mine.
“You’re fine,” I promise, reassuring myself more than her. “Yes? See? All is good. You’re here.”
She closes her eyes and shakes her head, her face crumpling in misery.
“So stupid,” she whispers through a sob. “I thought I could… But it wasn’t… Still so weak…”
She cries, and I gather her in my arms, taking in the trembling in her limbs, the rapid, shaky breaths, the fast, frantic heartbeat. She’s here, she’s alive, she can speak.
I don’t understand what happened.
“Where did you go?” I ask, shaking right with her. “You weren’t in your body, and you weren’t in the Well of Souls. Where were you, Jaga? Please, this can never happen again.”
She doesn’t reply, her sobs quieting even as tears flow down her cheeks. Nyja kneels by my side and puts her warm hand on my shoulder.
“You’ll figure it out,” she says quietly. “We defeated Perun. That’s what counts. He must have snuck the upierzycas in during the soul threshing. I let through a nawka that felt odd, but I thought nothing of it. There were so many.”
I nod, swallowing a growl of fury. I’m so angry with myself. “I felt that, too,” I admit, my heart heavy with guilt. “But I ignored it. Like you—I was overwhelmed. It was clearly their goal. Nyja, when did they grow so clever?”
She scoffs. “When you let the whole of Slawa know that there is a way to defeat Perun,” she says bitterly. “They never tried hard before, Weles. Perun was happy with you trapped here and never felt truly threatened before. He does now. What’s worse, he knows she’s with you—not with Woland. He’ll focus everything on us. And after what he saw today…”
She breaks off, and I close my eyes, loathing myself so deeply, my anger burns me from within.
“He’ll do anything to hunt down Jaga after what she did.”
Jaga sighs, gripping the fabric of my shirt in her fist. “I did wrong. I was… so arrogant. I never thought it would just… run out.”
“What, love?” I ask. “What ran out?”
But she shakes her head, pressing her face into my chest. I sigh and hold her closer, exchanging a heavy look with Nyja over Jaga’s head.
With so many clues, I have no choice but to work it out.
Chapter eleven
Bite
The next two weeks pass fast. I’m busy strengthening our defenses with Nyja, combing through every level of Nawie in person to make sure nothing else snuck through. We prepare new protocols for soul threshing to make sure we won’t fall for the same trick again.
I go out as Woland, desperately rallying up another rebel attack to keep Perun’s forces occupied. My brother still doesn’t know Woland is me, which is the only silver lining in that entire situation. I make it a point not to wander Nawie’s halls as the devil anymore, even for Jaga’s sake.
It doesn’t matter, anyway. She ignores me, but there’s a new frantic energy to her. When I check on her in rare free moments, she usually paces my throne room. Sometimes, she sleeps. I catch her a few times muttering to herself, but when I send my shadows closer to eavesdrop, she always stops, her watchful eyes finding my spies in the dark.
She glows. There is a reddish halo around her head and wrists, scattered and uneven, but when I try to study it, she slams her barriers down, shutting me out.
At least she’s not apathetic and indifferent anymore.
When everything I can possibly do is done, and I drag myself back into my throne room after an unsuccessful rebel attack that at least let me slaughter some dragons, I find Jaga sitting at a table with Wiosna. They talk in hushed voices but fall silent as soon as I appear.
I pretend to ignore them and strain my ears, just catching Wiosna’s harsh whisper.
“He’s the only one who’ll know. You have to ask him.”
Jaga shakes her head, and I turn, offering the old whisperer a smile. “I see you’ve made a feast. It smells delicious.”
Indeed, the table is laid with simple fare that I recognize from my trips into the mortal world. There’s dark, heavy bread, fresh butter with green parsley, roast vegetables, and some kind of meat stew. Fresh berries with honey sit in tiny bowls.
