“Yes,” she said. “Do you know of them? The witches?”
Thesarkias?
“Lysi. And they are dangerous. You should never have gotten caught up with them.”
“Because of their magic?”
“Theirallegedmagic,” I corrected. “I know the female that leads them possesses none, though I cannot attest for the others.”
Her breath hitched. “But they said…”
“You believe that just because they are witches, they cannotlie?” I asked her. “There are very few on this planet whoactuallypossess a fragment of Kakkari’s powers. Like you. But believe me,sarkia, the head witch is not one of them.”
She stiffened against me. “I…I-I don’t…”
“Say what you wish. Deny what you wish. But I saw it,” I told her. And for that reason alone, she was more powerful than the entire horde of witches. She was more powerful than any being under the Dead Mountain, for that matter. “They call her theSetava Terun.The First Elder. She once lived inDothikbut she was banished from the city when she was discovered sacrificing firstborns, all in the name of theDothikkarand for his glory. Or so she claimed at the time.”
“Children?” she whispered, a shudder running through her.
“Blood magic,” I told her. “Only there was no magic about it. Only blood and her own delusions. Others heard of her. Others came to seek her out in the wild lands, where she made a small horde all her own of only females. Only females who claim to possess Kakkari’s powers. TheVorakkarstrack them whenever a horde is close to their territory but they can disappear as easily as they are found.”
In the darkness, I saw her arms were prickled with bumps, her hair rising on end.
“They want to take over Dakkar,” she whispered. “They want to make the horde kings kneel before them. They want to take your king’s throne.”
My lips curled in a humorless smile. “And they promised thevekkiriglory alongside them,lysi?”
A shuddering sigh left her, measured and tense.
“Did you meet her?” I asked, curious about one thing. My eyes fastened on her in the dark, on her cheek pressed to my chest, and I swore I felt that familiar sensation ofrightnessat seeing her there.
“Yes.”
“And did Kakkari tell you to run?” I asked.
She froze.
“If you have her magic, then you have her will,” I told her, my voice grim, even to my own ears. “I am curious of what the goddess told you. So did she tell you to run?”
A human priestess.
And she isn’t even the first, I thought, thinking of Rath Drokka’s queen.
Mina lay perfectly still against me.
“Yes.”
The word slid from her throat, lingering between us. She sounded frightened as she said it.
“Everything in me told me it was wrong,” she continued. “And I felt it again. When we captured you.”
I inclined my head, though I knew she couldn’t see me.
Then she surprised me by saying, with fierce determination in her voice, “I will get you out of here, Rowin. I spoke to yourpujerakthis morning. Before Benn brought me here.”
Thatmademestiffen. Just the fact that she called himpujeraktold me she was telling the truth.
“What did you tell him?” I asked.
