“Perhaps I could… talk to the chief witch? Ask if I could answer a few questions.”
“You can, or I will.” Ellie was brazen in her temper, and the thought of letting her too close to Walt made Prospero almost as tense as seeing her with Agnes. “Either way, I will know what you have done to my mind. I will find out my answers, and I think you are underestimating my temper if you expect that to go easily for him or you if I don’t like the answers.”
“I will talk to him.”
“Hestia is moving home, by the way. Tell him that, too.” Ellie gave her a tight smile. “I should get some of my wishes heard.”
Prospero blinked at her. “I thought you wanted Hestia to live here.”
“I do, butshewants to go home.” Ellie gave Prospero a pointed look. “People respect the wishes of those they love. Ifshewants to go home, that’s her choice. Just like if for some mad reason I wanted to go back…” She paused and frowned, and Prospero wondered if she was remembering something. Then Ellie continued, “If I wanted to go back to Ligonier, you would respect that.”
“I hear you.” Prospero added the tea and hot water to the teapot. She could not let Ellie leave, but only one of them knew that.
She wants to leave me.Prospero flinched at the thought.Even after I erased her escape from memory, she still thinks to leave me.
Ellie shook her head. “I am not interested in playing games like some child. I want to be with you, and you aremine.So either admit you want me or tell me you don’t. Life’s too short for games.”
“Life’s rather long for witches,” Prospero said, trying to avoid the question.
She silently poured the tea.
“I know you’re hiding things, but you cannot pretend that I am simply a remedial witch trying to find my place.” Ellie put her hand on Prospero’s. “Iknowwhere I belong.”
“Well, it’s not in the woods confronting my enemies.”
“All the more reason to keep me close, then.” Ellie gave her a smug smile. “She was afraid of me. Not as much as she was of you, but she didn’t want me to dislike her or dismiss her.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better,” Prospero admitted.
Ellie shrugged. “Maybe fear will make her rethink her actions.”
Prospero shook her head. “I doubt that. The New Economists want power. It’s a greed that is at odds with our way of life… and there’s no solution. We can’t just kill witches for their vices.”
“Have you suggested it?”
Prospero looked away. “In anger? Yes. It sets a dangerous precedent,though. If you are on the side ofgood,should you be the one to strike? Shouldn’t you try to appeal to their reason? To find an answer that isn’t as violent?”
“So you do nothing?”
Prospero’s inevitable answer felt weak, but she couldn’t sanction violence for something a witchmightdo. “Wetryto broker peace. We let them meet, and we hear their grievances in Congress.” Prospero sighed. She stared into her teacup as if there were solutions hidden in the tea leaves at the bottom. “I don’t have an answer.”
Ellie looked worried. “Would you like me to talk to the chief witch? Tell him about their gathering and talk to him about ideas?”
“No.” Prospero smiled. “But I would like you to remember that you were right. I was pushing you away, and that endangered you.”
Ellie nodded. “I could stay. We could have a bath and—”
“I need to speak to Walt. Right now.” Prospero stood and moved away from the table. “Urgently.”
Ellie rolled her eyes. “Coward.”
Prospero knew she wasn’ttechnicallyrunning away from Ellie, but it was a close thing. She paused outside the front door, collected her wits, and teleported to Walt’s house. His hob, Grish, whisked open the door before she could knock. “He was expecting you.”
And Prospero went into the chief witch’s home a little more confidently. She stood in the tiny kitchen. There was often something comforting about Walt’s home, but tonight it did little to ease Prospero’s worry.
Walt came out of the depths of his house with a grumbling noise. “If someone else had the stones to be chief witch, I’d be working on my knitting tonight.”
“They are plotting something,” Prospero announced without preamble.
