I rest my hands on my hips. “Mari, please go rest. You’ve done far more than enough tonight. I’ll take care of this.”
The young woman nods and vanishes up the stairs. Once she’s gone, I level my gaze on Finn.
“Half of Malgros could be looking for us. You can’t go roaming about wherever you please, especially not before I have a chance to speak with the captain. You don’t even know how to get into the main part of the city from here.”
He takes a step closer, stretching his spine, an attempt to meet my eyes. “First of all, I’m not ignorant. Harmon said he would take me. He has friends who own a tavern and inn. They’ll give me a room for the few days we’re here, no questions asked, and Harmon will relay any important news. Secondly, no one is looking for me. If they have a mark on anyone, it’s you.”
I narrow my eyes. “You’re doing all of this because Raina doesn’t want to sleep with you?”
The moment I speak the words, I feel like a hypocrite. Much as I want to pretend that I could live with her decision if she chose to be with Finn, deep down I know I couldn’t. I’d be an utter asshole to this boy for taking what feels like mine.
“No,” he spits. “It’s because I can’t deal with knowing she’s sleeping with you. I’m trying to protect myself from doing something stupid where you’re concerned. But also, don’t think you can make me stay here, because you can’t. You have no power over me.”
I raise a brow. “I assure you that I can make you stay here, and I have more power over you than you can imagine. But if you want to leave, then get the fuck out. Know this though. If you bring harm to this house or anyone in it, I will not hesitate to make you pay.”
“And if you bring harm to Raina, I will not hesitate to make certain that the Witch Collector finally dies.” He walks around me and heads to the door. “Keep her safe, you son of a bitch.”
“No fucking worries.”
For the briefest second, I consider stopping him. It’s what Raina would want. But when I turn around, and he glares at me, I can’t make myself ask him to stay.
Instead, I watch him slip out the door.
“Gods, this is worse than I thought.”
“Yes,” I reply, crossing my arms over my chest as I sit on the edge of Zahira’s desk, having divulged every detail of the last nearly two months, along with the truth about me—my past as Un Drallag and my caging of Neri. Things I never shared.
Zahira gets up from her seat near the fire and begins pacing across her fine rug. Other than the new green velvet chairs where she and Yaz have been perched for the last hour, the room looks much the same as the last time I was here. The space is filled with eclectic furniture and hand-carved bookshelves lined with perfectly ordered magickal instruction texts, an entire row of old captain’s logs, and a collection of Yaz’s botany tomes. Intermingled with the books is a veritable jungle of vining plants, and above the hearth is the old helm from Zahira’s sailing days. I’ve rarely felt at home anywhere, but I feel it here.
“Obviously, the prince has the Watch looking for you,” Zahira says. “Or the traitors within the Watch, anyway.”
“And more sentries will arrive at our gates for patrol duty tomorrow morning,” Yaz adds. “I’m not sure how we can hide the fact that nearly a dozen people with no approved passage papers are staying here.”
“Nephele can build a small shielding construct around the property,” I say. “I’ll help her so that it isn’t too tiring to maintain. She’s skilled in vast magick and has built far more complex constructions.”
“That won’t be noticeable to a witch’s eye?” Zahira asks. “Like wards?”
“No, not unless they know what to look for, and few understand vast magick. The house will appear normal under any protections we use here. With the construct, we could be standing in the vestibule shouting to the tops of our lungs, and they’d never see or hear us. We’ll just need to use the beach to get into town to avoid the sentries seeing us come and go.”
“Very doable,” Zahira says, pausing her pacing. “Wonder how Nephele is so skilled in vast magick?”
“I taught her. For eight years.”
Zahira gestures to her wall of books. “Most any magick can be learned, yes, but it took you seventeen years if I recall? From age ten to age twenty-seven? Eight years seems… fast.”
I scrub a finger over my chin. “As I said, their mother had more power than we realized. I didn’t get time to study it, but that power clearly lives inside Raina and Nephele.”
“Well, good thing,” Zahira replies. “Because you need all the magick you can surround yourself with right now. In fact, if you haven’t had time to help Raina master harnessing your shared power through the rune, you should do that while you’re here. Imagine if there were secretly two of you. Two cataclysmic weapons instead of one. As long as the prince doesn’t find out.”
“He can’t see her,” I explain. “I have her mind thoroughly protected, so exploring the sharing of our power isn’t a bad idea. Though I’m not sure what kind of training that will entail.”
“Start small,” she offers. “No blasting sea stacks and cliffs to oblivion. Start with harnessing light like you mentioned, and any other small tricks you carry up your sleeve.”
I smile at that statement of the obvious, but my smile falters. “I just hope I’m granted time. I try not to think about it, but it’s becoming harder each day. That I could just stop breathing. That I could leave Rai—” I pause to correct myself “—leave everyone to deal with the prince alone.”
Her eyes soften. “I don’t think you need to fear death via Colden’s demise as much as you need to fear being used by the prince. There’s no way Colden hasn’t informed him how you two are connected. If he loses one, he loses both. And you are a great asset to a prince who needs other people’s magick to thrive.”
I take a deep breath and blow it out. “Indeed. That’s all I’ve thought about these last few weeks.”
