Little Witch?I whisper into the bond.
Her stillness gnaws on my sanity.
“Is it me, or is Ksenia wearing your necklace?” Sofiya suddenly asks.
“It’s a useless bauble now,” I say.
She frowns. “Are we sure?”
“It graced Bohdan’s neck, and look what became of him.” I gesture to the grisly doorstop.
As she scrutinizes him, she fluffs her soiled skirt, draping it back over her legs. “They sent Timo Jr. with a squadron of assholes after my father. Luckily, Ekaterina equipped my parents with perimeter detectors and powerful weapons. All this to say, your Voshnan devotees have been reduced to orca feed, Ksenia.”
She flutters the emerald fur trim of her floor-length cape.
“Oh, and do you know what Timo Jr. used his last breath for? He used it to tell my parents I was dead. An abominable rat until the end, that one. That whole family, really. If they haven’t been eradicated, I’d like to assist in their permanent removal.”
“You’re looking at the rest of them.” I motion to their carbonized vestiges.
“What about the wives?” she asks.
A deep sigh stretches my lungs. “A problem for another day.”
“Lach offered to give me a ride to my parents’ once he’s done canvasing the tunnel and you’re all home safe.” The slight indent in her scarred cheek dips as she smiles. “They’ll probably assume a Shabbin has given someone else my face when they see me riding in on a Crow.”
“How come you were in the capital in the first place?” I ask.
“Because of your bargain.”
My brow pleats.
“The one where I need to report to you all that concerns your family. I learned that Ksenia”—disgust crimps her features—“was having an affair with Bohdan.”
“I wasn’t,” Ksenia lisps. “I was only using him. I never slept with him. I would never have done that to Lev.”
Aodhan mustn’t fall for her spectacle of decency because he growls, “You scored your sister’s palms. Youchainedyour brother.”
“I pierced Iz’s palms with a copper blade so that Bohdi wasn’t tempted to use an iron sword. As for Konstantin, he wore his necklace…” She glances down at the blood-lacquered chain strung around her neck like a relaxed noose. “I knew he’d heal.”
“You had me shot in the fucking head, Ksen!”
“My command was to knock you out. I didn’t realize they’d do it with a bullet.”
“Is it me, or does it smell like bullshit?” Aodhan leans toward Ksenia and exaggerates a sniff. “Yeah—definitely bullshit.”
She grits what’s left of her teeth. “He was wearing his necklace.”
“Which you planned to steal…” My tone borders on boredom despite the fact that my magic simmers beneath my skin, eager to grind down more than the enamel in her mouth.
Her chin tips at a defiant angle. “Afteryou healed.”
“How noble,” Aodhan sneers. “I’d clap if my injured mate weren’t passed out in my arms, attempting to mend from your compassion, Ksen.”
“What aboutmydeath?” Mestyla’s trembling fists drum against her deeply soiled white frock.
Though Alyona dwells in the daggered shape of her features, and her father in the striking fullness of her lips, the girl carries a candor that neither genitor ever possessed. In truth, she reminds me most of Izolda.
Ksenia’s lids flinch. “You’re alive again, Mesty, and more powerful than ever.”
