“Milo?” I whispered, unsure how much could be heard through the wooden door.
She just shook her head, holding her finger to her lips. “Later.”
A mix of confusion and dread churned in my gut.
Her eyes narrowed on my irises, my fears confirming themselves. But instead of shock, or surprise, Collum just dipped her chin.
“You knew,” I whispered, tears of betrayal gathering behind my eyes as I wondered if any part of my life hadn’t been a lie.
“Not for certain.” She brushed a sweaty strand of hair from my forehead. “But I do now.”
My thoughts turned to the black book, hidden inside the wall of what had come to feel like a prison. “We have to leave.” I grimaced as the words passed my lips. Time must have passed, as I could feel every painful breath as it tore its way through my lungs, but she didn’t immediately respond.
She shook her head. “No. I tried to keep you out of this. It didn’t work.” She pinched her eyes shut in the way I knew meant she was fighting her own tears. “It’s too late now. We have to stay here.”
I didn’t like what she was insinuating. And I didn’t like that I didn’t know any more than I had when we started this conversation.
“But—” I tried to use my hand to motion to my injury, but I just ended up wincing instead, my arm barely shifting. My eyelids began to sink, darkening my view of the room and my cousin. “Are you even my cousin?” The words were weighted, heavy on my tongue.
Collum didn’t answer.
I awoke to shouting, finding not only Markus and Syrus in my room, but two additional guards as well. The two additional guards held Collum between them as Sryus and Markus moved to lift me.
I didn’t have any protests left. None.
I was carried, like a sack of grain, between the two men, as Collum was dragged behind us. She struggled the whole way, yelling, shouting, and she even managed to bite the hand of one of the men carrying her. She was my demure cousin no more.
“Excellent.” Count Adis’s voice was the same as it had always been. Deep, gruff—a promise of pain in the way he held his lips pressed into a thin line the moment we entered the room.
Markus and Syrus dumped me on the floor near where Adis’s shoes tapped an impatient rhythm. Then, they crossed the room, relieving the other two guards of holding Collum. Although I still felt pain as I watched them force her to her knees, the green book pressed into her hands, I also felt dismay, remembering how her silence had spoken the truth the night before.
I wasn’t related to Collum.
Though we had been raised together, and she had cared for both Milo and I, there were secrets, ones she had yet to reveal, on how she had come to stay with us.
“Read.” Count Adis’s voice snapped me from my spiral of anger. But instead of hearing Collum’s even voice reading the words of the book, she started arguing.
“I can’t, your honor.”
“Can’t? Or won’t?” He crossed the room in two large steps to peer down at Collum’s lightly freckled face. She didn’t flinch.
“Can’t.” Her voice was resolute, and I knew she would fool Count Adis with it, but she couldn’t fool me. I knew the way her nose wrinkled when she lied. “I was not taught alongside my cousin. I know a small bit, but my studies were incomplete.”
“Hm.” Count Adis stood to his full height, his hand coming to brush his beard. He turned to peer at me, where I lay on my back, my hands gripping my side. I bit the corner of my lip. His attention flicked to the two men standing behind Collum. “Return them to their room. My Reader has seven days to teach his useless cousin how to read the witch language. Otherwise, she dies.”
“Yes, sir,” they agreed simultaneously.
“In the meantime, raid every known coven and every formally known coven home in Ralheim. I want every book brought to me—every last one.” His Adam’s apple bobbed, his wrist twitching in a way that made me flinch.
“And if we find any Seid, sir?”
Adis’s gaze flicked between Collum and I. “You won’t. All known Seid in Ralheim were put to death during the purge.”
“But, sir, we found this one?—”
“Did I stutter?” His voice was nearly a shout as he spun to glare at Markus.
“N-no, sir.” Markus was practically quivering, reminding me that he was just as scared of Adis as I was, something that attaining magic hadn’t changed.
