She could not watch anymore.
I did.
I watched as Maura pressed her fingers deeper into the wound on her own arm until her blood flowed in a steady stream down the woman’s chest, into her mouth, until she choked on it. She writhed, but those cuffs of flame held her in place. Her burnt skin came away in shreds. The gurgling sound of blood filling her throat muffled her scream.
Finally, abruptly, it stopped.
“She is dead,” I said. Koryn surely knew, but I said it anyway. I had to at least acknowledge what had just happened.
“Then there is no reason to linger,” Koryn said. Her cheeks were wet.
There were plenty of reasons. Maura’s motive might reveal itself. The Dark God had not told Koryn any more about the supposed talisman that Maura was making, but its existence had been enough to sway her to stay in Balar Shan, so it must be powerful and important. But we might be discovered, and when it came to the witches, Koryn had the final word.
I pulled her hand away from the column where I’d held it through the entire ordeal. “We should go see if Isanara has returned.”
It was a feeble excuse. When the dragon returned, Koryn would know it. But she nodded. We slipped out through the door we’d left ajar. There was no repairing the damage she’d done to the locking mechanism. The witches would know that someone had broken in. We could only hope that they had enough enemies in this castle to spare us their attention, at least for a while.
I walked two paces behind her, ready to catch her if another wave of power hit, or if her strength gave out.
But Koryn did not look back over her shoulder.
CHAPTER 18
KORYN
I’d letthat woman die.
Garrick could have saved her. He’d offered to do it—to bring down the wrath of the fae court. Surely whatever Maura was up to, it was with the king’s approval. But… maybe not. Garrick had not felt the pull of power. Power called to power. Magic to magic. But they were separate, and it was just possible that Maura had conducted that execution right under the fae king’s nose, without his knowledge.
To murder a fae subject right at the center of fae magic, weak though it might be, seemed bold even for Maura.
I let her die.
Maura, Elodie, and Auri were all party to it. I was just as responsible as if I’d stood on my place at one of the points on that pentagram. Just like I was responsible for the one that was always unoccupied, the fifth point, the one where McKean had once stood—before I killed her to save Kyrelle.
Five completed a coven. We were as broken as the humans, and it was because of me.
Garrick had stood at my side and done what I wanted. He would have stopped it. He let it happen. But he was notcomplicit, not like I was. His only crime at that moment was trusting in me to make the right decision.
I did not deserve that kind of trust.
I stumbled back to Garrick’s room. Everyone once in a while, his hand landed on my shoulder to steer me one way or the other. I’d been too incoherent to mark the way myself. Dark God spare me, I was as useless as a child.
Damn it all.
I couldn’t even break the habit of calling on the man—the god—who was my tormentor, for help.
Garrick followed me through the door. I walked to the foot of the bed, then to the fireplace, then back again.
I’d told Garrick the truth. Even after everything that had passed between us, his betrayal, I could not bring myself to lie to him. The Dark God had not told me anything. He’d insisted I unleash my power without restraint. As if restraining it was something I could even do competently. With Tomin’s help and a singular focus, I could sometimes push back the tide of frost and ice when it started to overwhelm me. And then the Dark God asked me to give up that fragile control—to him? Not likely.
That was all Garrick had missed before walking in.
A whole lot of nothing.
How was I supposed to defeat Maura when I couldn’t even control my own power?
Maura had tortured that poor fae woman, and I’d done what? Watched? Listened? Cried? All for some greater good that I was incapable of actually conceiving?
