Isme looked at peace when she locked her eyes on Maddy. “I’ve waited a long time for this. I’ve extended my life beyond what anyone could imagine to be able to get to this point. It… isdifficult, and I am ready for the next great adventure. It’s time for me to rest, young one.”
Maddy leaned forward and embraced the old woman. Isme wrapped her free arm around Maddy, and the two held each other for a long moment. Sinthy began to cry again as they held one another.
Isme took Maddy’s face in her hand and looked deep into her eyes. Looking deeper than Maddy, looking all the way inside her to the young child wolf who resided within her. “My sweet Lilly. You no longer need to be afraid of those who hurt you and your family. Remember who your mother and father were. Remember their strength. Remember their love. Remember how proud they would be of you now.” Maddy’s own eyes filled with tears as she probably thought of her own adoptive and birth parents and all they’d sacrificed for her to still be where she was. “I am so happy you found your way back to me after all these years.” Isme’s eyes seemed to refocus, and she was again looking at Maddy rather than the soul that shared her body. “Maddy, you are stronger than you know. It’s time to show these royals that history will not repeat itself.” Without another word, she slipped the vial into Maddy’s hand and sank back into the chair. Sinthy dropped to her knees and embraced the old woman, who lifted a hand and patted the younger witch twice. Then she took one final deep breath, closed her eyes, and breathed out one final time.
Sinthy, still sobbing, took Isme’s hand. “You can rest now, Mother. The job is done.”
96
MADDY
We let Sinthy sit with Isme for a while. I was too emotionally exhausted to do more than sit there, listening to the woman cry for the second mother she’d lost. Nico put an arm around my shoulders, and I stared down at the vial in my palm. It felt small and fragile. Nothing about it seemed important. How could the entire world be going crazy over such a small and insignificant thing? A tiny bit of glass, some blood from a long-dead man, and a little cork and wax. Nothing more. Even then, as small as it was, I could almost feel the power within it surging and desperate to get out.
Sinthy stood finally and turned to us, wiping her eyes again. “I’m… umm… I got her resting place ready a couple of days before I met you. Once the magic barrier was broken, she knew her time was short. I’m going to take her to lay to rest.”
“Where will you take her?” I asked, my lips almost numb.
“To her home. Her first home. Where she was born.”
“Is that far?” Nico asked.
Sinthy shrugged. “Nowhere is far for us. She was born in a tiny village on the outskirts of what is now Talgarth in Wales. It’s much different now, but the place her parents had lived is nowpart of a nature reserve. She’ll be able to rest peacefully. I’ll be back in an hour or so.”
I nodded. “That’s fine. Take your time. Are you sure you want to go alone? We’d… I mean… we could go along. Make things easier for you?”
Sinthy waved away the offer. “No, no. I think it’ll be nice to sit with her alone for a bit once I get her—” She choked back a sob. “Um, once she’s laid to rest. Please, make yourselves at home while I’m gone. There’s food in the kitchen and a third bedroom if you want a nap before the return trip.”
Without another word, Sinthy knelt, embraced Isme’s body, and vanished. There was an audible pop, almost like a baby thunderclap, as the air rushed back into the spot where the two had been a moment before. I stood and walked from the room, not sure what to do with myself. I found the other bedroom and collapsed onto the bed.
Nico joined me a moment later, sitting beside me. The springs creaked as he leaned over on an elbow and brushed a stray strand of hair from my face. “How are you feeling?”
I chuckled humorlessly. “I literally have no idea. Pretty overwhelmed, I guess.” The vial, still in my hand, seemed to weigh a ton. “What about you? Now you have your own witch. How does that feel?”
He laughed. A real laugh. It made me feel better when I heard it. “I wasn’t expecting it, I’ll say that for sure. Not something you think is going to happen when you’re teleporting across the world, right? Sort of came out of left field. I was so wound up in the story that it caught me off guard.”
The story. That was the big elephant in the room. I ran a hand through my hair and tucked the vial into my pocket. “It’s tragic, isn’t it?”
Nico smiled ruefully. “It’s definitely not what I’d heard. The written accounts, the oral traditions, the stories—the royals twisted it all. The real story is… devastating.”
I agreed. The story of Edemas, Helena, Lillian, and the other children was the stuff of Shakespearean tragedies. Hearing it from someone who’d actually been there was even more disturbing and heart-wrenching. Inside, my wolf was calmer and more content than I could remember her ever being. It was almost like hearing the story had finally let her relax, knowing the truth was finally out. I also suspected that Isme’s last words to her had a similar calming effect.
“Are you hungry?” Nico asked.
I didn’t want to be, the atmosphere in the little house reminded me of a funeral, but my stomach growled and betrayed my best intentions. Nico must have heard it too. He grinned. “I’ll go see what there is in the kitchen.”
I rose from the bed to follow him. As I walked, I pulled the vial back out of my pocket. I stood in the doorway of the kitchen as Nico rummaged through the fridge. I held the vial up and shook it. “Nico, do you really think this little bit of blood is enough to create a poison to kill every shifter? It seems crazy, right?”
Nico turned, holding containers of sandwich meat and cheese, to look at the vial. He set the items on the counter and walked over to take a closer look. Sighing, he shook his head. “Maybe. Who knows what they can do with modern medical equipment and labs? Look what they did with your blood. Creating that poison or whatever to force us to shift. If that blood is truly that powerful, then maybe it will be.”
I shook the vial again. “There’s maybe a tablespoon of this stuff. I can’t see how all the awful things that have happened are worth this.”
“I know. It’s a little tragic. The need and desire for power is pretty crazy. Speaking of power, have you decided what you’re going to do with that thing yet?” he asked, nodding toward the vial.
I’d thought I’d known. I’d been fully ready to down the blood the moment I had it in my hand and rain destruction down on the royals, but after the story and what Isme had said, I was questioning myself. Maybe she was right, and I did need to think twice before drinking it. Or maybe I should slam the damn thing into the ground right now. There was more to think about. I tucked the vial back into my pocket. “Not yet. Still working that out in my head.”
Nico grinned at me and went back to making us sandwiches. We ate in near silence, unsure of what to say. The rooms held the memories of its recently deceased resident, and the quiet that fell over us seemed more like a show of respect than an act of fear. Once we finished our simple meal, we explored the house while we waited.
Most of the home looked like a typical house, but there were strange quirks and items that made me double-take. A shelf in the kitchen held small spice jars, but instead of the typical garlic, pepper, or chili powder, the jars were labeled with things like Horehound, Solomon’s Seal, and Myrrh.
