“Some wounds live beneath the surface.” Clinton brings his teacup to his lips and blows on the steam. “I can’t read your mind, but I know you. I await the day your judgmental heuristics fail you.”
“I’ll be dead by then.” Veda’s dark humor neutralizes Clinton’s amusement.
“Peter told me about the spider lilies. Not every omen means you harm. Sometimes they can be helpful warnings.” Clinton turns off the radio and folds his mobility cane. “This fear you feel will change, in stages, and only when you reach beyond what you know.”
Veda tenses. “Is that something you’ve Seen?”
“Yes and no.”
It’s dangerous and illegal to speak a clear truth, but Seers and their doublespeak grate her unlike anything else.
“You are worried about the Sanguis Curse awakening before you learn whose blood is in that cyst. I know there have been attempts to drain and extract the curse, but cursed blood does not spill like normal blood.” He tilts his head, and a thoughtfulhmmescapes. “Idowonder if anyone has considered that blood curses are man-made and parasitic in nature. They flee once the host stops benefiting them.”
“You know Khadijah and Peter. They haven’t left a stone unturned. I’ve been on every anticurse cocktail and potion known to man. They’ve attacked it with spells, cleansed my blood and energy, and used every connection to get a consult with the leading curse breaker only for them to tell me that all the research on my curse is privately owned and they don’t share. Nothing works.”
“Failure does not mean defeat.” Clinton turns up the radio. More incoherent rage-baiting about protecting the masses from Seers. Veda cringes at the hate language.
“Why do you listen to this?” she asks.
“We are no longer cut off from magic, displaced and ripped from our families, but bigotry still thrives.”
“Trust me, I know. Peter enrolled a bigot’s grandson in school. The things she said, the way she dismissed Seers is—”
“Not uncommon.”
“Doesn’t it make you angry?”
“I won’t give anyone the satisfaction of becoming the danger they think we are.”
Fear brings out the worst in humanity.
“Your tea is cold,” Clinton tells her.
“I prefer it cold and—”
“Bitter,” he finishes, shaking his head slightly. “Not for taste but self-preservation.”
“It’s the best detection for poison.”
“An outdated evolutionary warning.” Clinton reaches for his cup and brings it to his lips. “The perfect poison is not strong or messy, it is quick and clean.”
Veda listens to the low hum of bees in the nearby apiary and accepts the mint candy he offers.
“It’s quiet,” he says after a moment.
“You know as well as I do saying the q-word invites chaos.”
He turns to her, his voice sharp as the wind. “I cannot say much, butfissures bloom bloodred, and a trickster wears the face of a friend. Roots hold truths and lies. Take hold. There is one way out. What lies in the dark will come to light.”
Veda’s blood turns to ice. Clinton’s visions are usually hints of feelings, vague until they draw closer to fruition. Although perplexing, this is the clearest riddle he’s given so far. He relaxes in his seat, and they sit together, watching the ever-changing world in flux.
“There was another victim a couple of months ago,” Veda says softly. “A woman in London. Gabriel said her body was found near her house, splayed open, blood everywhere, surrounded by spider lilies. Like the other victims.”
“You still remember the first. You carry him when you should not.”
But she must. His blood stains her hands, never to be washed clean. Even the healing waters can’t drown the memories that torment her sleep. She remembers finding Healer Lawson, his body carved, arms spread, glowing spider lilies blooming from blood-soaked hospital floors, turning to ash at her touch. His attacker’s rapidly shifting face, the moment they noticed her frozen in place. The surge of raw magic that fractured her memory.They don’t know what’s coming,Healer Lawson had gasped as the light left his eyes. Two days later, when his killer came for her at home, Veda understood. Healer Lawson’s warning had been for her, too.
“Do you know why we meet like this, when you are most anxious?” Clinton asks.
