“And here I thought you didn’t give compliments.”
“It’s not a compliment.” Her shoulders straightened, her chin lifted, and suddenly she seemed taller than him. “But that might as well mean nothing.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s the Witch,” Nes said. “You have no idea the kind of power she has.”
He straightened, too. “I know some—”
“You don’t.”
Her tone made him stiffen.
“You think you know because you’ve heard stories or seen a bit of magic on the streets. But that’s not enough. Nowhere near enough.” She stared at him, her eyes like stones, her gaze unwavering. Gone was the soft, rolling blue he’d glimpsed. “This is the Witch we’re talking about. She doesn’t just have magic. Sheismagic.”
She shook her head and turned her back to him, heading for the street. A few steps away, she looked back. Her face was a battleground of emotions. “And, Cap, you have no idea what you’re up against.”
She left him then, disappearing into the crowds in a single blink.
Sheismagic.
Her words swam through his head. Nes might as well have said the Witch was evil. For anyone but the Goddess, magic was evil. And ifthe Witch was magic, as Nes claimed, then she, too, was evil. She had to be stopped.
He wondered what it had been like for Nes to watch Captain Mikaud die at the hands of the Witch. To see evil incarnate take her friend from her. And he wondered if that was what spurred her to warn him.
For the first time since meeting Nes, he wished he knew her past. He wanted to know what had made her the girl he saw today. When he’d seen her trying to save them all in the Drowning Square, he thought he understood her. Thought he saw his own reflection in the despair on her face. But there were things he had missed. Things he couldn’t see with his eyes.
“I wouldn’t go there if I were you.”
Too late.
Toran turned to face Quint. “It’s not like that.” And though the lie rolled smoothly off his tongue, his emotions broke free of their cage.
Genna stored the oars under the seats and climbed out of the rowboat. “Not like what?” she asked. “ ’Cause it most certainly isn’t an innocent business arrangement.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Sergeant Rizzo, don’t you have somewhere else to be?”
Genna tied the rowboat to the dock before straightening to her full height—a good head shorter than himself. She grinned. “No.”
It was only then that he remembered he and Nes wanted to question Genna about Fell’s mission. But Nes had stormed off. He supposed that conversation would have to wait. It didn’t feel right to have it without Nes.
He turned to Quint. “What did you find?”
Quint briefly glanced between him and Genna. “Unfortunately, not much. Aeos employs a barter system with the Witch.”
“In what way?”
“In that they learn what the Witch wants and give it to her in exchange for helping them.”
“Well, that part’s easy. We already know she wants Captain Fell dead.”
“Great.” Genna clapped her hands together. “We’ll kill Fell for the Witch, then she turns herself over to you, and immediately the world is a better place.”
“As nice as a world without Fell sounds, we can’t offer up his life to the Witch.”
Genna wrinkled her nose. “I certainly wouldn’t mind.”
Quint eyed Genna like he wouldn’t trust her no matter how far he could throw her. “What do you have against Captain Fell?”
