“Witch,” he whispered.
That word was the last warning I got before my world spun completely out of control.
Isanara.
She understood my request. She hissed and snapped her jaws, creating an immediate opening for us. I shoved my wide body through it, not caring how many lithe fae I elbowed out of the way in my desperation to see with my own eyes.
The crush of bodies had disguised the scent of blood.
The last time Maura had painted the pentagram, she used ash. But there was no mistaking the coppery tang or deep burgundy color of the lines inscribed atop the orange bricks of the presence chamber.
My body went rigid. “What is this?”
Maura did not stop her ministrations. She walked the lines of the pentagram, chanting as she did.
“Syleris.”
There was no answer.
The fear I’d felt—still felt—was a warning. My power had tried to get me to pay closer attention. But I’d been distracted by the talismans. Maura had more than one treachery in play… and I did not understand this one at all.
Stay back, I ordered Isanara.
While you risk your life? Not likely.
“Garrick, keep her back,” I said, shaking my hand loose of Isanara’s tail.
As if he could!
He looked equally dubious at the prospect. But even though he darted a glance at my familiar, most of his attention was on me. “Be careful, Koryn.”
He did not try to stop me. That show of trust helped me push past the fear. If I got myself killed, the Lifebind would take him, too, and there would be no one left to protect his mother. We would not make it to the Unknown Gate. It was more responsibility than I’d ever wanted. But I loved Garrick, and I wanted every part of him.
At least Alize would still have a chance at lifting the curse if something happened to Garrick and me.
Elodie stepped free of the crowd on the opposite side of the pentagram and took a place at one of its points.
I made sure to keep my feet well away from the bloody line painted on the floor.
My power thrashed, but I forced it back so I could speak. “What are you doing?”
The whispers of the crowd faded away, leaving behind only the chanting. Elodie had joined in with Maura. The words werein the old language of the witches, but it was not a spell I had ever taken part in. Still, it felt familiar.
Maura reached into a pocket of her cloak and sprinkled ashes inside the pentagon formed by the intersection of the five straight lines of the pentagram.
“Take your place, Koryn,” she said without looking up.
It was not just the words that were familiar. The entire setup was the same as…
The same as it had been when Maura murdered the fae woman by drowning her in blood.
No one was in the middle of the pentagram. Yet.
But there were people everywhere. Potential victims who did not realize what was coming. Maura and Elodie’s chanting only got louder.
Power was everywhere. Mine, Maura’s, the talismans. It was impossible to distinguish. Maura wouldn’t know we had the talismans. Even she could not sort through this much power effectively enough to pick them out. Not while she was actively casting a spell.
And then there was Auri. She’d been right behind us. My fragile sense of family was shredded apart as she slipped from the crowd and took a place on the second point of the pentagram.
