The final chest was the hardest to open, its formidable lock waiting for some key centuries lost. I used the point of my knife to wiggle around inside the mechanism more in curiosity than hope, and was rewarded with a crunching and the lid separating. The chest walls had been lined in camphor wood, each item carefully folded and separated by cloth, astonishingly well preserved. Clothes I barely knew the name for, slashed doublets, wool hose and silk garters, all splattered in a dark, flaking stain like rust.
With trembling fingers I touched the stain; red, almost black with age. Blood.
I slammed the trunk shut and sat at a distance from where they were all lined up like a series of gravestones, each one a life run out.
b
Raised voices came from the study when I returned from looking through the trunks. I opened the door and found the Witch and Wolf at each other’s throat before the fireplace. Wolf was red faced and the Witch was dangerously still, a cold look I had come to fear.
‘Mina. Go away.’ The Witch dismissed me without looking.
‘No. Stay.’ Wolf rounded on me, all her stiff politeness stripped away. ‘This started with you.’
I frowned. ‘What started with me?’ I looked to the Witch but she provided no answer.
‘Wolf, enough. You have said your piece, now leave.’
‘And how many more times will I have to say it?’ She grasped the Witch’s elbow, drew her close in a gesture of intimacy that surprised me, though it shouldn’t have. Wolf had been the Witch’s only confidant for more years than I knew. ‘You are pushing yourself to the brink, spinning like this. There is only so much longer that this charade can continue. You must do it now. Please.’
The Witch’s eyes flicked to me, then away. My presence was making her deeply uncomfortable. ‘No. This is my responsibility. I’ll manage it as I please.’
‘This isn’t about youmanagingthings,’ spat Wolf. ‘This girl has addled your mind and I do not understand it.’
‘Then perhaps it is not for you to understand!’ The Witch’s voice rose to a crescendo. ‘You overstep.’
‘I amfrightenedfor you. I cannot sit silently and watch you hurt yourself like this. I care too much to allow it.’
I stepped forward, one hand raised in supplication. ‘Will someone tell me what’s wrong? If this is my fault—’
‘It is not,’ snapped the Witch. ‘Keep out of this.’
Before I could say anything else, Wolf spoke again.
‘I’m finished.’
‘Good, then leave us and stop throwing a tantrum in my study.’
‘No. I am finished withthis.’ She shot me a furious look. ‘Either you do it, or I leave.’
The Witch paled, but held her ground, tilted her chin in a sneer. ‘Don’t bluff. You’re not clever enough for that.’
‘It’s her or me.’ Wolf was too calm.
‘I won’t be forced by some facile ultimatum.’
Wolf looked truly pained as she waited for the Witch to bend. But it did not come, as we all knew it wouldn’t, and Wolf left the Witch triumphant and alone by the cold grate.
Once the door was closed, the Witch shook herself off like a bird smoothing its feathers, and took her place behind her desk. I followed her.
‘What happened? What have I done?’
‘Nothing.’
I took the Witch’s chin in my hand, tilted her face to look at me. ‘That argument was about me. Wolf is threatening to leave because ofme. I know what she means to you. Tell me what I can do to make it right.’
A look of fear crossed her eyes and I faltered, fingers lifting from her skin. Then her mask snapped back in place and she sneered and said, ‘She won’t leave.’
I tried to shake off my disquiet. ‘She seemed quite serious.’
