Vaasa laid eyes on the high witch of Veragi and thought her entire body would sink to the floor. It took every crumb of willpower she had to keep her face neutral. Still, she scanned Melisina’s silvery-blond hair, her stunning green eyes, the laugh lines around her eyes and chin.Melisina.She was here.
Sachia held a stack of multicolored fabrics over one arm and a seamstress’s satchel in the other. Behind her, a guard carried a spool of purple fabric. They were flanked by multiple guards, Vaasa realized, who all seemed to be looking at Roman for permission.
“Heiress,” the pirate said, sketching a bow. “I thought you were coming to the shop this morning. I came to see if you were sick.” Sachia illustrated her facade perfectly in a utilitarian dress with an iron-and-leather belt. Expensive, still looking the part of a merchant’s daughter, yet not just for fashion. Her red hair was plaited over one shoulder, and her mossy eyes danced with mischief.
Clever witch.
Vaasa smiled wide, gaze floating to Roman, who watched their interaction closely. “No, I’m not sick. I just overslept, I’m sorry.”
“I wasn’t aware you had summoned an outside seamstress,” Roman said. “Do you not prefer the fortress attendants?”
Sachia glowered at him so brilliantly that Vaasa had to hold back a laugh. “Perhaps if they were as talented as my family, this line of discussion would be worthwhile.”
Roman crinkled his brow. “Who is your father?”
Sachia put her hand on her hip. “Havel Jaroš. Who is your father?”
Roman flicked his gaze to Vaasa, perhaps looking for a way out of the conversation he had gotten himself into. Vaasa pretended to stifle a laugh, then let that small chuckle out, trying to seem like she and Sachia were more familiar than they were. That this entire arrangement was harmless. “I met Sachia the other evening and fell in love with her family’s work. We made these plans days ago, but it must have slipped my mind. Forgive me?”
Roman ran his tongue over his front teeth, but at her amicable words, he conceded a respectful dip of his head. “Heiress.” He turned to dismiss the group of guards waiting behind Sachia.
Vaasa ushered Sachia and Melisina into the entertaining room, and Sachia gazed around, wide-eyed. When Vaasa shut the door, she let out a small breath.
Melisina opened her arms, and Vaasa threw herself into them.
“My girl,” Melisina whispered in Icrurian, her voice wrapping around Vaasa and squeezing as tightly as her arms.
Something in Vaasa gaped open, a wound that this place delivered over and over and over. Melisina was here, in the same place Vaasa’s mother had died, showing her more affection than any member of Vaasa’s family ever had. Tears welled in Vaasa’s eyes, and she fought the urge to sob. “This is dangerous,” she whispered back, the use of Icrurian a stark relief in her day.
“What’s a little danger in the grand scheme of things?”
Vaasa pulled back and stared at Reid’s mother. “I cannot tell you how happy I am to see you.”
Melisina placed her hands on Vaasa’s cheeks. The cool touch of Veragi magic brushed Vaasa’s skin. “We are going to bring you home. To bring you both home.”
Home.The word settled in Vaasa’s chest, her heart a map, a pin splitting through parchment right where Mireh was. Marking it forever with a title that the very ground she now stood on had never earned. Home: A place. A feeling. A people.
“I’m going to see her tonight,” Vaasa said. “I have a way into the prison. She’s cared for and uninjured, at least. That much I know.”
“You must be careful. Things don’t feel the same. Something is brewing,” Melisina said.
Vaasa didn’t know how Melisina could sense something like that, but if she had learned anything during her time in Icruria, it was to trust the instinct of her high witch.
“What’s down here?” Sachia asked, meandering toward Vaasa’s mother’s hallway, and Vaasa’s heart rate spiked.
She stepped forward. “Don’t.”
Sachia raised an eyebrow.
Melisina placed a hand on Vaasa’s shoulder, and Vaasa looked over at her. The high witch’s eyes dipped to Vaasa’s hands, and she gasped. “You have your magic?”
Vaasa looked down and cursed, immediately snapping the magic back within herself.
Melisina pulled back, staring at her in awe. “How have you become so adept at that?”
Heart thundering in her chest, Vaasa looked around as if an attendant would be there any moment, but they were alone, as safe as they could possibly be. “I have so much to tell you,” Vaasa whispered.
Melisina walked to the couch where Vaasa had been sleeping and sat down, hands on her knees. “Do tell.”
