And in tumbled the smell of gunpowder, incense, woodsmoke and blackberry.
Lio’s chanting stopped. His eyes snapped open and flashed black.
Dot was, for a moment, terribly confused. And then a roar ripped out from the walls of the house, as if, once again, the tea shop was being yanked by its roots.
‘Lio,’ hissed Theodora, her voice weak but growing in panic, ‘what are you doing?’
Lio’s magic, dark and addled, surged from his fingers, from his eyes, from his mouth and into the wards. A violent crack issued as the living room ward fractured, the tea shop ward fractured and, finally, the strange magic spilling from Lio connected to the final rune in the workshop below – and severed it.
Theodora leaped up at him, and before Dot could fully discern what she was seeing, the entire tea shop thundered with magic that shook the walls and floors, and an almighty bang rang out. Catherine Weyer stepped out of a portal and into the living room.
‘Get out,’ shrieked Theodora. She reached for her runes, but Cate sent a spell at the younger witch that thrust her backward, crashing into Lio. Theodora gasped and clutched at her chest, and Rupert and Dot flew to her side.
‘Lio?’ hissed Rupert. ‘Did you – are you helping Acanthi?’
‘N-no,’ stammered Lio, untangling himself from the rest of them. ‘What happened?’
‘Enough of all of this stupidity,’ said Cate. ‘Where is she?’
‘Who?’ asked Theodora. Dot spotted the bandages and salve that had been set aside for the witch. Quickly, she began to treat Theodora’s injuries from the blood magic.
‘Agytha is dead at your hand,’ said Cate. ‘Think very carefully before wasting any more of my time.’
‘Agytha?’ asked Theodora, wincing as Dot worked. ‘I only banished her.’
‘Rupert,’ Dot hissed. ‘Scissors.’
The boy handed them over to Dot, not once taking his vengeful eyes off Cate. Dot cut the bandages and wrapped them around Theodora’s chest.
‘I didn’t kill Agytha,’ said Theodora, wincing. ‘Dorothy, really—’
‘How did she get in here?’ hissed Lio.
‘It was you, pet,’ said Cate, stepping past the rune and the toppled candles. ‘We have tried every moment since we came to this city to penetrate the tea shop. We sensed the weakening. We wanted to help.’
‘Where is Moira?’ demanded Theodora. ‘Ouch!’
Dot had tied the bandages around her chest.
‘Where do you think?’ spat Cate. ‘She is down in your tea shop, holding onto the runes that Lio reconfigured. I’ll not have you eject us.’
All of them looked at Lio, yet the young man’s face held in it only confusion.
‘Lio wouldn’t touch the wards,’ said Rupert.
‘Lio would do anything for my Opal,’ said Cate. ‘Why else would I follow him to this awful city in the first place?’
‘Youattacked Belchamber,’ said Theodora, rounding on Lio. ‘You used Cate’s knife.’
‘I didn’t,’ insisted Lio. ‘I would never.’
‘What knife?’ demanded Cate.
‘The bread knife!’ said Theodora. ‘The one I used to summon you when I was a child. Look at the marks on him.’ Theodora thrust a hand at the unconscious spirit, still in the armchair.
‘Listen to your babbling,’ said Cate, irritated. ‘I have not seen that bread knife in almost a decade.’
Theodora went very still.
