Not that anyone blames her. Agents miss stuff all the time. But I know Cressida blames herself. I mean, wasn’t that what drove her to try to catch The Witch? The need to make up for what she allowed to happen?
I never make mistakes.
“Join us in Ring 2 for the Market Boar Division,” the loudspeaker squawks.
Calm down. She was just being hyperbolic.
Of course she was. I know that.
But the pieces of the puzzle are spread out before me, and it suddenly seems like they’re starting to fit together.
What if…what if she hadn’t made a mistake the day her mentor died? What if that was what she wanted to happen?
Something bumps my knee, and I look down to see Petunia looking up at me, his little piggy brows drawn together. I realizeWayne is over by the fencing around the show ring, jumping up and down and calling my name.
Oh, right. The pig show. We’re on.
As I walk Petunia into the ring with the other boars and handlers, my inner voice starts talking to me again. Only this time, it has a new voice.
Trust your gut.
I fix my gaze on the judge the way Wayne has taught me to.
Grayson dated Cressida, and he insists he’s a good judge of character. But…
Maintaining that level of shielding spell for long periods of time would be incredibly draining.
She was obsessed with catching The Witch. It just ate up her energy.
Maybe it wasn’t catching The Witch that drained Cressida. It was keeping Grayson from finding out that shewasThe Witch.
And this whole thing. A pig show with no important people in attendance?
But there was one very important person—important to Cressida, that is. Her ex-boyfriend. The guy who broke things off because she couldn’t give enough to their relationship.
Someone she thought she might marry.
Trust your gut.
And while my brain is screaming, “Nope, you’re an idiot, none of that can possibly be true,” my gut keeps repeating, “Cressida Caine is The Witch.”
It’s Cressida. That’s who I’m looking for.
I’m still staring at the judge, the realization that I don’t actually need to worry about winning the pig show because I’m not actually Sally slowly dawning on me, when I see a flash of emerald green.
Yes. That’s her.
The Witch is here. And she’s about to strike.
CHAPTER 20
Cressida—or at least the flash of emerald green I’m pretty sure is Cressida—is just outside the fencing of the show ring, standing behind a clump of onlookers. I catch a glimpse of an elbow, and I realize she’s preparing a spell.
A big one.
I don’t have time to think. All I can do is act and hope that for once I get this right.
“Cressida!” I shout.
