“We are stewards of the Seven Gods and the Seven Gates. We do not interfere with what happens beyond the temple walls,” Varian said.
“Liar,” I breathed, even as relief slid down my spine. Tomin was safe. The priestess would keep him safe. But after all she had done, to stand down now… “You lying hypocrite. You intervened before, more than once. Why, if it was just to let it come to this? Unless you are in league with…”
Varian had remarked on Isanara when she first saw her, but she had not been surprised. Had she been in communication with Maura all along? Had this all been some twisted plot to get hold of a dragon?
It seemed too far-fetched. How could any of them have known that a mythical creature whose species had deserted Velora centuries ago would magically reappear and choose an outcast witch as her familiar? The pieces just did not fit.
Maura clucked her tongue, the sound dripping with the condescending disapproval that had haunted my nightmares. “I do not consort with humans,” she said.
But she was standing among a troupe of fae.
Three males and two females, plus Alize. Alize, who was not restrained. Alize, the fae female bitch who stood with her arms crossed, a scowl on her face, and deception in her cursed fae heart.
A tall male moved to stand beside Maura. Like the others, he was clothed in layers of rich silk and velvet embroidered with golden thread. But the pretty clothes could not disguise his hardened warrior’s body or the distinctive breadth of his shoulders.
An elegant fae female stood at his side. Though I did not recognize her, the diadem atop her head was seared into my memory.
My stomach turned violently. I grabbed for Garrick’s hand. I was going to be sick.
“It is unnatural to separate a witch from her familiar. Return her to me, now,” I ground out, pressing my other hand to my chest, trying to do something to relieve the growing ache. Every minute I was separated from Isanara, the pain grew.
The fae male ignored my demand, addressing Maura. “This is the witch you promised me?”
Maura’s lips twitched, her nearly white skin shimmering in the gray light, before she inclined her head a fraction of an inch. “Indeed, Your Majesty.”
Maura had not just entangled herself with the fae—but the fae king. The same greedy, self-serving monster who’d allowedhis people to run rampant across the continent, to grasp at power until they angered the gods and brought down their wrath on all of Velora.
I had to get Isanara back. I had to get away from whatever this was unfolding around me. I squeezed Garrick’s hand, desperate to communicate with him.
“You even managed to find my runaway daughter in the process,” the king said. But he was no longer looking at Maura. He’d shifted his attention, his look of displeasure, to the golden female leaning against the stone wall.
“I knew,” I breathed. “You lied to us about the faerie ring. You… he trusted you.”
It was all happening too fast. I’d let Alize get too close. I should have trusted my instincts about her. I should not have let Garrick make excuses for her.
But Alize was shaking her head, and she looked… she looked sorry for me.
None of it made sense. But the weight in my chest was getting so heavy I could hardly breathe. I splayed the hand that did not hold Garrick wide, letting power flow from me, releasing the pressure building inside of me, trying to maintain some sort of control as the world around me spun faster and faster.
Maura laughed, the deep sound echoing off of the walls that pressed in on us from either side. “You stupid, foolish girl. You’ve always been so caught up in your own feelings that you can hardly see what is happening around you. Here you are, so busy clinging to that dead heart that you have chosen the wrong fae to blame.”
But I’d only met one fae—just Alize.
The fae king had helped Maura mute my bond with Isanara, and he had more than my hate for that. But I still did not know why he’d aligned himself with Maura, and I’d never seen the male before now. The only other fae I’d encountered…
…was half-human.
When the infant in Alize’s memory had transformed, his eyes had struck me. I’d been too caught up to realize why they seemed so familiar. Stupid or foolish or both, because I had been looking into those eyes every day for the last two months.
When the Memory Gate had thrust us into reliving my encounter with the two men outside of the tavern in Canmar, I’d been confused. The entire memory had seemed off—because it was not my memory at all. It was Garrick’s.
I jerked away from him, but there was nowhere for me to go.
Varian and her acolytes blocked the way back to the temple, watching as she’d instructed. Two other acolytes restrained Tomin. The wall of ice I’d erected still stood.
In front of me, witches and fae intermingled in an unnatural mixture that turned my stomach. We were enemies, not allies.
At my side stood the man for whom I’d been willing to sacrifice everything—my coven, and thereby my own life.
