“I was taken by them,” Ena explained. “They forced me to come here with them and told me they would not release me until I helped them…steal something.”
“Ah, yes. The amulet. It seems they succeeded in that. While your…friend—Ty, was it?—was captured, the other two got away. Do you know why they were after it?”
“No,” Ena answered truthfully. She still did not know what they hoped to accomplish. But her vision had left her with so many questions, and she knew she needed to be cautious with what she revealed to this woman.
“You know, we were lucky you were with them, actually. Without your involvement, the seer in our Coven would not have been able to foresee the attack. Of course, they were not able to warn us about everything, but they saw enough that when my husband arrived home from his travels to find us lying on the floor, they knew where to find you in the woods.”
Hearing that description of events, Ena was struck with a deep pang of guilt. She didn’t trust these witches, but she still had not wanted to do what she did. Even if she could still recall the pleasurable feeling of power that had enthralled her, it had come with consequences.
She cleared her throat lightly and tried to let the sincerity of her next words come through. “Syrelle, I deeply regret what I did to you and your family. I was hoping that the use of my Gift would remove the necessity for bloodshed and violence while the daemons searched for the amulet. I only agreed to it because…because they said they’d let me go. But I know it must have been terrifying for you and those girls. For that, I am truly sorry.”
“I believe you,” Syrelle said gently. “My Knowing tells me that you are being sincere.”
Ena flinched slightly. Of course she was using her Knowing on her. They were from enemy Covens, and she’d come here with nefarious purposes. But it still grated on Ena’s sense of propriety to know another witch was violating her privacy that way. She hoped she couldn’t discern her feelings for Ty—that would only complicate matters—but she feared that that was exactly what was happening here.
“Now,” Syrelle said, standing up as if to leave before Ena could say anything else. “I’ll have someone bring you some water and food. There’s a chamber pot beneath the bed if you need to relieve yourself. I’m sorry to say you’ll have to remain in here until the members of your Coven arrive, for security’s sake, but I’ll leave the candles.”
Ena nodded in resignation. Syrelle moved to the door, and Ena knew it wasn’t smart, that asking likely revealed too much, but she needed to know. “And…the daemon? Does he still live?” she said quietly.
Syrelle gave her a pitying look. “For now,” she said. “But he took something powerful from us and wounded several of ourpeople in the process. The Coven is debating what to do with him. I don’t think he’ll live long.”
Relief filled her to hear he was still alive, but was quickly snuffed out at the prospect that, soon, he might not be. What could she say to sway her that Ty should live? Would anything she said matter?
“He’s half witch, you know,” Ena blurted out. She hoped he would forgive her for telling them this. He might have had his own plans to escape and needed his Gift to remain a secret, but maybe if she could show them that he wasn’t all bad, if she could communicate that somehow, they would be more lenient.
Syrelle looked at her knowingly. “Oh, we know. It’s one of the only reasons he still lives,” she said.
They already knew? Had Ty told them? Why would he have done that?
“If I may be so bold,” Syrelle added, a cautioning look on her face. “There have been witches before you, some from this very Coven, who have been led down a dark path by daemonic intervention. It can be natural to…pity them, but it never ends well. You’d do well to let go of whatever sympathy you may have for him, before it festers and grows.”
With that, Syrelle closed her in once more. Ena leaned back on the bed, her mind whirling.
He was alive. For now, at least. And Heran and Greya were coming for her. They’d be able to sort it out. Syrelle had seemed like she believed Ena, and hopefully didn’t blame her for everything that had happened. They might be able to get her out of this.
But Ty…how would he get out of this? Did Syrelle and the other members of the Occidens Coven know about the amulet and what it was for? Did they know why he’d taken it? And what was that about other witches from their Coven being led downa dark path? She’d never heard another witch express pity for daemons before. Did Syrelle know something she did not?
Ena couldn’t shake the feeling that there was way more going on than she knew. The witches she’d seen in her vision had done something extraordinary with the amulet, something that had felt wrong. And Ty had mentioned that getting the amulet was not Iblis’s will. Then Steig had said that whatever they wanted to do with it would help daemons… That could mean anything, of course, and was not necessarily good for mortals or witches.
But everything she’d seen and learned since the daemons had taken her made her realize that maybe not everything she had been told about them was true. And maybe, just maybe, Ty didn’t deserve to die for this.
Or maybe she just didn’t want to let him go.
She knew it was wrong on so many levels to feel this way, but even after everything, she still cared for him. And she knew it was foolish, and naïve, and something she’d thought had died in her long ago, but a small, desperate part of her wanted to trust him.
She needed to talk to Heran and get more information about the amulet. Maybe then she’d be able to help Ty. Maybe if she could prove that taking the amulet had not been in service of Iblis, they’d let him live. He’d clearly already told them he was half witch, and that revelation had swayed some to his side. But why would he have done that? It didn’t seem like him to reveal that information willingly.
Unless…maybe he hadn’t told them. Was it possible they knew his mother? Was that what Syrelle meant by witches from Occidens walking a dark path? Ty had never said what Coven she was from. Did he even know?
If that was true, if his mother was an Occidens witch and they somehow recognized him, then clearly some members of the Coven were hesitant to put him to death because of that. Andmaybe, if Ena could figure out what he wanted with the amulet, it would be enough for them to let him go.
In her heart of hearts, she knew that was a fool’s hope. Half-Occidens witch or not, he was still a daemon; there was very little chance the Coven would allow him to live, especially not after what he’d done. But it was the only hope she had right now. She was not ready to face the possibility of losing him. So she would cling to this hope like it was the only buoyant thing in the Endless Ocean, and pray to Gaia it kept them both afloat.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Dayswentbyandshe was going out of her mind. With nothing to occupy her in the small, dark room, she had little to do but sleep.
So she slept, and dreamt of Ty. She dreamt of the two of them together, writhing together in pleasure and in pain. She dreamt of the vision she’d had, and the violence of it intertwined with her memories of the bandits in the woods.
