‘Always hungry?’ Lowri asks, scrunching her nose, her mind catching on those words. Nova has never drained her of magic completely, but they are bonded. Now that Nova is cut off from her, has been left behind, she cannot feed at all on Lowri’s excess of magic …
The grimalkin yawns, jumping off her lap to wander to the fireside.It’s why there are no familiars in our world. No witches for them to bond with.
Lowri’s eyes dart to Eli’s. ‘Where is Nova?’
‘She’s with Brielle. Hunting for wraiths to form a new coven,’ Eli says quietly.
‘Skies …’ Lowri breathes as it suddenly hits her what Nova has planned. Wraiths are formed by too much magic, a lack of control as it vibrates, explodes out ofa witch’s skin and bones. They are walking calamities of magic – volatile and destructive. But perhaps to a familiar they are something else entirely. A food source, and a big one. It dawns on her why Nova chose her, why she rarely wants to be apart from her. But now she’s on a quest in their world, looking for something to sate her hunger in Lowri’s absence. She swallows, searching Eli’s eyes, seeing the knowledge drop like a stone inside him too. ‘She’s gone with Brielle to feed.’
Eli pushes back his hair, features troubled, as Ethlet walks in. She pauses, eyeing Gracious then Lowri, a frown forming. ‘What …?’
Lowri clears her throat, staring pointedly at Gracious. ‘There is something this grimalkin needs to share with you about his kind.’
As Lowri walks the streets of Fallow with Eli the next morning, she feels different. No longer entirely burned-out, but not quite herself yet either.Too much shadow, Gracious told her.It’s overpowering the light in your blood. You need time. You need to regenerate.
‘Could Nova have healed you?’ Eli asks.
‘No, I don’t think so. Familiars are not the same as grimalkin. I’ve never come across a creature that can do what Gracious can. Give magic like that, after absorbing it like a sponge.’
‘But because there is not enough light magic in this world …’
‘Shadow was all he had to share,’ Lowri finishes.‘But if you hadn’t brought me here I would have died. I would have burned out. That your father had the creature that could heal a witch …’
Eli reaches for Lowri’s fingertips and squeezes them. ‘No more talk of you dying. You know you’re my favourite cousin.’
‘What about Caden?’ Lowri asks in mock shock.
Eli grins, some of his old swagger returning. ‘He’s my favourite almost-brother.’
They step round a woman and a small child wearing shoes with little pink cat faces and continue into a gated garden. As they walk the gravelled paths, crunching past an array of grey and black flowers and trees, Lowri considers Ethlet’s words: that Isaiah believed this world just needed a source of light magic strong enough to restart it. ‘So now that I’m not about to collapse every few minutes, should we discuss why we’re really here?’
Eli sighs. ‘My father. His work. His knowledge of this place.’
‘Just so.’
‘But now we know about the Rexilium brothers, and who they are in our world, it changes everything.’
‘We still need to find out more about them, though. We can’t just rush back, we need to understand their motives, their weaknesses. Then return, ready to expose them, to take them out.’
Eli pauses, crouching down to examine a black rose. ‘I walked in a walled garden like this one in Highborn when I brought Mira to the coven. She gave such a hugepiece of herself then.’ He draws in a breath. ‘I miss her like I miss half my soul. The thought of her in danger, of her believing she is safe when really—’
‘We will return to her,’ Lowri says, placing a hand on his arm. ‘She will be safe again. We all will. But we need answers first. We cannot help those we love without the information that Fallow can offer. I know you miss her.’
He nods, releasing the rose, and they resume their walk. ‘When did you become so wise?’
She puts her arm through his. ‘When I realised my cousin and my brother really, truly listened to me.’
‘Time to pay a visit to this Society Ethlet spoke of, then?’
‘Yes,’ Lowri agrees. ‘It’s time to see where your father developed his work. We’ll ask Ethlet to request an audience, but …’
‘Yes?’
‘How do I phrase this?’ She sighs. ‘You should keep searching your father’s study. Keep looking through any notes he left behind. This Society do not appear to have helped Ethlet, and they have not undone the fog. Knowing how ancient organisations work in our world, well …’
‘I should keep my wits about me?’
‘We do not know everything about this world yet. This Society may welcome us. But we have to be prepared in case they don’t.’
