Circe shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m a sorceress, milady. Transmutation is one of my many gifts … like the Malachai. But as with him, there are rules to what I do, and there is a price.”
As she’d feared. Raw dread made her stomach shrink over what fee she’d exact for it. Would it be even worse than what the Malachai had asked? “And that is?”
“I want my son back. You make Thorn release Agrios, and I’ll make sure that you stay as you are.”
Stunned, she scowled at her. That seemed eerily easy compared to the fee the others demanded. “And if he refuses?”
Circe sighed. “Then you’ll revert back to straw.”
Valynda rubbed her hands down her arms that once again tingled with goose bumps. God, how she’d missed that sensation! It was so surreal to have true feeling again, on flesh that could sense something as light as the breeze touching it. “I will make sure he agrees!”
“Good.”
Valynda glanced over to theSea Witch.It seemed strangely tranquil … almost deserted.
“There’s one more thing.”
Of course there was. Her stomach shrinking, Valynda hesitated at the odd note in her voice. Wasn’t there always one more dreaded thing? “That is?”
Circe handed her a small round bottle of something that looked like blood and herbs mixed together. It strangely reminded her of a darker version of the rum Xuri carried with him. The top was sealed tight with black wax and covered by a hexagram. A piece of twine was wound around it, with a small hagstone and bone charm tied to it. “This is the spell that binds your flesh and maintains you as you are. Keep this bottle safe and undamaged. Should anything ever happen to it, you will again be as you were and become separated from your flesh.”
Well, that wasn’t creepy at all. What was it with witches and their bottles? Sallie had his, where one had placed his soul as punishment, and now she had hers.
Still, Valynda was grateful enough not to complain. Anything to be human again.
Inclining her head, she clutched the bottle in her palm. “Thank you!”
Circe bowed her head respectfully. “You have until the next full moon to complete your task. If my son returns to me, the spell will hold. If he doesn’t, you’ll turn back to what you were.”
“Thank you, Lady Circe.”
“Don’t thank me yet. If you fail, this will be a far worse curse, for there is nothing crueler in life than having a glimpse of what you want most and then having it ripped from your hands when there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”
She was right about that. Valynda had never been one to believe in the old adage that it was far better to have known love and to have lost it than to have not known it at all. Because the truth was, you couldn’t miss what you didn’t know. And having had her life ripped apart so very viciously for no reason whatsoever, she was here to say that it was much, much better to not know than to watch as those animals who had nothing better to do than play with someone’s life tore it apart for their own selfish reasons.
“If I can’t have you, no one will. …”
Benjamin’s psychotic words still chilled her. That was what her father had consigned her to. Two men caught up in their own greed and pride, playing with her life.
And now you’re playing with the fate of the world.
That thought sobered her as she realized that she hadn’t thought of that before. Maybe that made her even worse than those men.
Terrified, she met Circe’s gaze. “You’re sure this will hold?”
“Positive. But if you cross the Malachai, he will be after you, and he makes a potent enemy.”
Life was a risk and it was one she was willing to take. Besides, this way she already had her body. Everyone else was making promises she wasn’t sure they could keep. The Malachai wasn’t known for playing well with others. He was a liar and a thief. The worst sort of scoundrel. How could she ever trust someone like him?
Not to mention, she wasn’t sure she could separate Nibo from his crook.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the tree. …
All the others had done was make unfulfilled promises to her. Circe was the first to actually give Valynda her body and show her that it was possible. Give her a feasible outcome.
Thiswas doable!
“Very well. I will do what I must.”
