She seemed to note Ena’s hesitation, because she walked over slowly to the bed to place the clothes down, like she didn’t want to spook her.
“I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s nice to finally meet you,” she said, her warm smile returning.
“Ty told you about me?” Ena asked cautiously. What exactly had she heard?
“No, not Ty. He didn’t like to talk much about you, understandably. But Steig told me,” Lara began. “The infamous witch who broke Ty’s heart.”
Ena didn’t quite know how to respond to that. Should she defend herself? It hadn’t been her fault, after all. Lara never gave her the chance, though.
“I must admit, I’ve never met a witch before,” the woman continued.
Ena was shocked to hear this. “Not even on missions?” Ena asked, failing to keep her surprised tone to a minimum. But now that she mentioned it, Ena noticed she didn’t have any visibleonatatattoos like Ty, Steig, and Turner did. Did that meanshe was one of the mid-level daemons that Ty mentioned who worked in the forge and mines instead?
“I don’t go on missions. My Power is not fit for it, according to my father,” Lara said, giving her a tight-lipped smile.
“Your father is Cole?!” Ena asked, her eyebrows jumping up. She had no idea Steig was Cole’s son-in-law, although now all that talk earlier about him needing to report to Cole made a lot more sense.
“Don’t hold it against me,” Lara said. “I know he’s a bastard. But we can’t choose who our parents are.”
Ena smiled a little at that. At least she agreed he was a bastard. “Well, I won’t hold it against you, as long as you don’t hold my being a witch against me. We’re not all you’ve been told,” Ena replied.
“Likewise, though I’m betting you already knew that or you wouldn’t be here,” Lara said, sizing her up. “Here—” She reached down into the pile of clothes on the bed, picking out a pair of the same light cotton pants that she was wearing, a dark-blue man’s-style shirt, and a leather bodice vest that laced in the front. “Try these on,” she said, handing them to Ena. “I’m a bit taller than you, but it’s the best we can do until we can get more for you. Trysh is about to finish another batch of fabric and can make you a few things soon.”
“Thanks,” Ena said sincerely. Even though she wasn’t used to wearing pants, this was infinitely better than putting her dirty dress back on. “How did you know I needed clothes? Did Steig send you?”
“Iblis, no,” Lara said, shaking her head and smiling widely. “He’s still recovering from our reunion and spending some time with the kids. Ty came to see me on his way to the mines, asked me if I could help you out.”
“Oh,” Ena said, trying to sound okay. Ty was at the mines? She knew he likely had many responsibilities here, and things tocatch up on now that he was back, but her heart sank a bit to hear that he wasn’t coming back right away.
“Iblis, you two got it bad for each other, huh?” Lara laughed, a beautiful, lilting thing that lifted Ena’s spirits just by hearing it. “He gave me the same forlorn look when he stopped by and asked me to come to you on his behalf. But don’t worry, he said to bring you over for dinner too. He’ll meet us there soon enough.”
Dinner? With Lara and her family? That sounded…strangely nice. Ena didn’t realize how off-putting it would be to only know three people in the entire Underworld, and two of them only cursorily. Lara didn’t seem too bad, and if Ena was going to be here for a while researching the amulet and posing as a witch-slave, it might be nice to make some more connections beyond Ty, especially if he was going to be busy a lot.
“Thanks, that sounds nice,” Ena replied, giving her a warm smile. “I’ll go get dressed.”
Ena dipped back into the bathroom, quickly taking off Ty’s shirt and stepping into the clothes Lara had given her. The pants were form-fitting and very comfortable, but definitely too long. She had to roll them up several times at the bottom. The shirt was also a bit long, so she tucked it in and rolled up the sleeves, but the vest-style bodice fit well, and accentuated her figure nicely. Ty didn’t have a full-length mirror in his bathroom, but from what she could see in the small vanity one, she thought she looked pretty good. Different, but good.
She emerged from the bathroom to find Lara hanging up the rest of the clothes she’d brought in Ty’s armoire. She supposed that meant she would be staying here. She hadn’t asked Ty explicitly about that, but she was relieved. She didn’t want to be anywhere else but with him.
Lara turned around to look at her, taking in her new outfit. “It suits you,” she said, smiling warmly.
“Thanks,” Ena replied, smiling back.
“Come on, I’ll take you to our chambers. Fair warning—I don’t know what Steig told you about us, but we have four kids, ages two, four, six, and eight, so it definitely will be chaotic. I hope you’re okay with that.” Lara looked at her, gauging her reaction as she went to open the door.
“Not a problem,” Ena replied sincerely. She didn’t have a vast amount of experience with children—she was the youngest sibling in her home, so she didn’t have any extended up close and personal knowledge of them. But there were always kids running around her Coven’s village. All adults usually had a hand in keeping an eye on them and helping them if need be, so she was at least aware of the madness that often ensued when multiple children were around.
“Good. Besides, if they get too crazy for you, I can always use my Power on them,” she said, smiling widely. Was that a joke?
She found herself intensely curious about what Lara’s Power was, but before she had a chance to ask, Lara ushered her into the passageway outside Ty’s door, and she found herself following this new daemon deeper into the Underworld.
Chapter Nine
Ena
EnafollowedLarathroughthe dimly lit, twisting passageways of the Underworld. They took a right, then a left, then another right, and by the time they reached another large set of double doors, Ena’s head was spinning trying to keep track of how they’d gotten there. It all looked the same—the same blue darkrock lanterns, the same dark-gray stone walls. She hoped she’d be mostly escorted around by one of the daemons she knew, because there was a very good chance she would get lost on her own.
Lara pushed open the double doors they’d stopped at, leading them into a large, homely chamber that was even more spacious than Ty’s.
