I leaned back, my mind catching on one delicate detail. “So Jadis doesn’t agree with how her daughter rules?”
“The witches aren’t all evil,” she said. “They’ve just been poisoned, changed.” She turned, eyes flicking to me then. “Even the strongest, brightest soul can sour if the wrong venom takes root.”
The Viper hissed in the hollow of my chest. It brought an idea forth that was more brash than brains. “We should go talk to Jadis.”
Nezra scoffed, the beads woven into her hair clattering against each other as she stormed toward me. “Are you mad?”
Alright, here it goes.
“I have reason to believe Obrann and Reve are using witch-forged magic. Their rings, the power they radiate, it isn’tnatural. Reve was human, and someone turned him. I think it’s the rings he wears that sustain that power. The same with the king and with Perseus. Before I killed him, I mean.”
Such a fond memory.
The teacups rattled as Elva set one before me, perfumed steam curling between us like a veil. “Have you found something in your tome that would suggest that?” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear—then did it again, even when it stayed.
I groaned, waving at the volume abandoned in my lap. “Just more cryptic nonsense about the divinity stones.”
“Obrann believes those stones hold immense power,” Elva murmured, her tone deceptively calm as her words dripped with implication. “He nearly executed his entire palace staff for losing the sword of Ryuu.”
Nezra stiffened, her posture tight. I almost forgot, almost buried, the vision she’d shown me of the gods forging the stones. But her eyes caught mine now as she gave the smallest shake of her head. A subtle warning.
Why had she shown me that at all?
That vision hadn’t been chance, it was intentional. Knowledge buried for centuries, slipped into my hands like a secret seed waiting to flourish and spread.
Ask her,the Viper demanded.Force her to answer. You were born to carry this truth, not let it rot in your throat.
I wasn’t sure if Nezra was keeping me from danger or from destiny, but either way, pressing her now would unravel something I don’t think I was entirely ready for.
Inessa finally lowered the novel from her face, and, of course, it wasn’t the historical tome we’d assigned her. No, the gilded cover and the flushed look in her cheeks gave it away instantly.
Pixie smut. Figures.
“Well, do they?” she asked.
“Of course they do,” Nezra scoffed. “It’s why the gods lent them to the kingdoms to begin with.”
“If Isolde is aligned with Obrann,” my words trailed, “then we have a much more radical problem than we thought. If we can find Jadis, maybe we can reason with her. Show her the witches are about to end up on the wrong side of history again.”
Nezra was not fond of that idea. “Just because she doesn’t agree with her daughter doesn’t mean she’d go against her. That’s coven blood, Verena.”
“We have to try.”
“That’s a death wish.” Her hand slapped against her thigh. “You don’t just stroll into a witch’s coven and say,we’d like to form an alliance.”
The door creaked open, a gust of air following Ford as he ducked inside. “We’re making an alliance with the witch queen?”
“Ford,” I groaned, throwing my hands up. “You really are so nosy.”
“Excuse me—” He planted his hands on his hips, and—were those leather pants? Fates help me. “I was just coming to say I found something important, and instead I hear you plotting tea with some ancient crone. Which,” he jabbed a finger in the air, “I am firmly against, by the way.”
“That is not what we were saying—” Nezra began.
“Well...” I cut in.
“No,” she snapped, fast and final.
My hands flew up. “Don’t you want to see Audra?”
