“My queen,” Veronica says, panting slightly as she slows to a stop.“I’ve readied the boat to leave immediately. If we go now, we’ll be there by nightfall tomorrow.” The Flatlands are in the south, it’ll simply take crossing the Asur Sea to get there.
Gwen nods at Veronica, then turns back to Astrid. “I love you, my miracle girl.” She kisses Astrid’s forehead, grasps Jessa’s shoulder, then follows Veronica back toward the castle.
“Thousands dead, Astrid.” Jessa’s voice shakes, as she turns to Astrid. “Thousands. Entire families wiped out.” Like her family was.
Astrid cups Jessa’s cheek. “We’re going back to the castle, and we’re going to get you a sugary tea. You’re going to do as I say for once, not the other way around—do you understand?” Jessa nods mutely. “I’m sorry, Jess.”
Quincy keens, leaning into his witch’s side. Jessa threads her fingers through his fur, and shakes her head. “We failed them. Those poor, poor people.”
Yes, those poor people. Though it’s not Jessa who has failed them. It’s Astrid. The very people relying on her. This, this is why she needs to win, needs to find out what’s going on with the Heart, needs to stop whatever the Vatrans are doing to its power. This is why she needs to do something,anythingto help. For thousands of people, though, her help is too late. And if Skylar comes back with a dragon from that island? Then Astrid won’t be able to help anyone at all.
She takes her tincture from her belt and drinks more deeply than usual, as if it might somehow undo this tragedy. Peering around, she realizes the prince is still by the temple with his parents and the rest of the Vatrans, but he’s watching Gwen’s retreating back. He catches Astrid’s gaze and cocks his head in question. But Astrid doesn’t care, disgusted with herself for lusting after the son of the man who has done this, disgusted that she feels sorry for herself when her own people are dying. She forces herself to harden, breaking eye contact with the prince, and takes Jessa’s arm.
“No more death, Jess.”
Her friend grips her back, takes a deep, steadying breath. “No more death.”
Neither of them needs to add that there will have to be one more death. And it could well be Astrid’s.
22Skylar
Skylar only sees the cat, black as the night, because she’s expecting him. Astrid was right—Bastet really is perfect for slinking through the shadows. He taps a paw against her window, and Skylar opens it as wide as she can.
THE COVEN IS QUIET, Bastet announces. She’s seen him speaking out loud to other people before—but it’s still weird.
“I take it that means it’s safe to go.”
Bastet ignores her, waiting for her to reach through the small gap in the window and take the potion tied around his neck.
She opens the vial, sniffs it. She looks from the window to the potion, then to Bastet. “Do I just… pour it on?”
CORRECT.
The cracks around the window smoke as she does so—and she hears a distinctive click. She’s impressed despite herself.
The hot night air caresses her skin as she slips outside. Given she’s being locked in her room at night, this is the only way out. She vaguely hopes that Simone doesn’t get in trouble as she begins to climb down the castle wall, using the crevices between the stone blocks to find purchase. The rest of them she doesn’t care about, but Simone… If she really didn’t choose to be here, that means she’s as trapped as Skylar, forced to work for the very people who captured her in the first place. Forced to work for the people who have kept an Exhauster imprisoned, somewhere in this castle, for Arach knows how long.
She thinks of him, draining the life from the assassin yesterday, and can’t quite control the nausea that swirls. She’s always known what an Exhauster could do, but seeing it like that… No doubt itmakes the king feel more powerful still, keeping the only Exhauster left alive chained right here in the castle—showing the rest of the country that he alone can control someone who was deemed by his ancestors as too dangerous to let live.
Astrid is waiting at the bottom of the wall, navy hair tied back in a ponytail. She glances up the way Skylar just came as Bastet curls around her ankles, having beaten Skylar down. “Good thing you’re not afraid of heights.”
Skylar only smirks as Astrid unstoppers another vial. “Masking Mist,” she explains. “It means we won’t be seen.”
“Got a potion for everything, don’t you?”
She tries not to think about what those potions could do to her when they are locked in that cage together. If she has a dragon, maybe she’ll be okay. Potions won’t penetrate the scales, and as long as she can stay airborne—or behind the dragon—then she might just make it out alive. But if not…
One step at a time, Lar Lar.
Right. Step one—find Cam.
They are silent as they move through the night, back into the castle and toward the king’s office. Skylar has to hand it to her, the little witch knows how to tread lightly. Astrid instructs Bastet to keep watch at the end of the corridor. Then they come to a stop outside the door to the office.
“This is where I got stuck last time,” Skylar says—slightly redundantly.
“I can deactivate the wards and unlock the door easily enough. But the door needs to be touched by the king himself in order to open.” Astrid pauses meaningfully. “Or someone with his blood.”
Skylar taps her fingers against her thigh. “How, exactly, do you know so much about Daddy Despot’s office, Little Witch?”
