“Are you proposing an alliance, alchemist?”
“Do try to have some patience, priestess.” The alchemist strode down the garden path, spangled robes billowing in the night air. “Everything in due time.”
Everything in due time.Marie couldn’t help but mull over the alchemist’s cryptic words as she made her way to the carriage that would take her from the city and back to the wilderness. By the time she reached the bayou house, Marie found Sanite outside amongst the whispering dark of the trees. She was facing the sky, crowned in the white flare of moonlight. And that was a good thing, for she did not see the bloodstains slashed across Marie’s ruined gown, her matted hair, the red handprint across her cheek.
As Marie approached, the older woman’s fingers curled around her gnarled walking stick, her displeasure clear. “You took long enough.”
“I had to be sure. I needed time to observe him.”
“And? What does Jon the Conjurer want?”
What you dare not do. What none of us have ever done.“He doesn’t want the throne, Sanite. His ambitions lie far past that.” Marie hesitated. “He wants war.”
“And you, Marie? Tell me, after observing Jon’s power, what exactly is it that you want, my dear child?”
A test. This was a test.She could not tell Sanite that she wanted Jon’s magic for her own, because it was forbidden—hewas forbidden. “I do not know what happened to Jacques. No one does. But I know what he wanted, for me and my magic. He wanted it to be for something more.” Marie hesitated. “Like Jon.”
“You are tempting the devil. You don’t want Jon’s war. You simply want the magic he could give you. And I warned you repeatedly, little girl, about the magic you seek. Veil magic is expressly forbidden. Even to one such asI.”
“But it ispossible,” Marie said. She couldn’t smother the note of hope in her voice, a piece of tinder caught aflame now that she’d dared speak the words aloud.
“Many things are possible with the help of a man like Jon. But there are costs.”
“And I will gladly pay them.”
Marie did not bother hiding her ambitions from Sanite any longer. What did it matter? Sanite was dying. Her death was imminent, and soon Marie’s reign would be upon them all. This they both knew. They were beyond lies and games now.
Though her eyes were failing her now, Sanite Dede had the gift of vision. What she lacked in the art of channeling or pure might, she made up for with her talents as a seer. It was this talent, Marie supposed, that made her such an exceptional queen. To see her enemies’ moves well before they’d conjured them up, to peer into the realm of possibilities and see the shape of things not yet formed. That was power.
Sanite Dede turned to face Marie at last. Her eyes were completely white, glowing with all the sovereignty of the Quarter Queen. Fear flared in Marie’s belly. Because Sanite was seeing her with the eyes of a true seer. When she spoke again, Marie knew that these were the words ofprophecy.
“You will look, Marie Laveau…” The light from Sanite’s eyes faded, and Marie startled to see they were full of unshed tears for her. “…and you will never find.”
Chapter Thirteen
Ree
Someone tapped at the window as Ree ran a damp cloth over her mother’s feverish brow. Her heart leapt, nervous that yet another intruder had discovered her mother’s secret. But it was only Aram, who’d brought a sprig of lemon balm tucked into his beak. Ree pried the glass up, and Aram flew in, landing on Ree’s shoulder, where he liked to perch after his travels.
“Silly bird,” she cooed, stroking the soft feathers along his neck. He turned his head, proudly showing off the bright green herb. He was always bringing her gifts, but this she knew was for Marie. Lemon balm could be used to bring down fevers. They sold bags of it at the apothecary from time to time.
But not even Aram’s arrival could brighten her mood. How could it, when so much else blighted her mind? Henryk’s arrival in the city; circling for answers she didn’t have; and then the matter of Silas, cryptic and toying, who somehow knew about Marie’s condition, which, with one look at the sickly sheen on her skin, had only grown worse in the span of one night.
Sosie was curled at the foot of Marie’s bed, watching Ree with piercing eyes as she worked over her mother. She knew the snake didn’t trust her. That was fine. She never had. But ever since Mariehad fallen into her sleep, the two of them had struck an uneasy alliance of sorts.
Nan entered the chamber, armed with a pitcher of cold water and fresh linen to replace what Ree had used. “Has there been no change?” she asked quietly, refilling the wooden bowl with water. Aram fluttered over, politely dropped in the sprig of lemon balm, then flew back to Ree.
“She’s worse somehow,” said Ree. “Whatever she’s experiencing…it’s taking a toll on her.”
“How long can she go on like this?”
Ree’s heart beat in a jittery rhythm. She did not want to think of the worst, of what might become of her mother in a few days’ time, what might become ofherwhen she was gone. “I am…not sure. But it cannot be much longer.”
A few days. A few days was all she had to save her mother.
“Ree, forgive me, but we need to turn our minds to what comes next.” Nan’s voice drifted, and Ree knew where this conversation was heading—into dangerous territory. “The Voodoos cannot be without a queen. The others are getting nervous. First, news of a Harbinger spreads, and now Marie has not been sighted. We need to think—”
“Youneedto stop,” Ree snapped. “Not another fucking word, Nan. Fetch more water, and this time be quicker about it.”
