Chapter 19

Nineteen

"There isn’t much in the world more devastating than a heartbroken saint, and a more dangerous creature isn’t to be found." — Sayings of the Blessed Crow.

Mara searched for a way out and tried to force the rising miracle down. People asked if she was okay, but she ignored them, too afraid to stop or speak. If the miracle came out, it could wipe out the whole Blood Moon Bar.

"That way is out," a faun told her, pointing to a dark corner. Mara nodded her thanks and stumbled into the dark passageway.

This time, there were no steps, only a heavy door that slid open and spat her out in a side street. Mara gulped down the cold night air, trying to clear the ambrosia from her head.

"Please, please, please, Saint Anea, no," she prayed. She didn’t know where she was in the city, her mind a little too drunk on alcohol, kisses, and magic to find something she recognized.

Mara stopped walking when she made it to the park and had space around her. She closed her eyes and tried to reach for the magic of the store.

Nothing. Not even a whisper.

"Fuck…" she groaned and sat down under a tree. She needed to sober up and calm down. She focused on the miracle moving back down from her throat to its place in her chest. "Please, it’s not time for you."

Sitting on the grass, Mara lost time. When she had finally gotten the miracle to settle, the ambrosia had worn off, and she finally felt like herself.

You completely ruined your date and probably freaked Augustus out at the same time. Mara bit her lip. Had kissing Augustus triggered the miracle? She tried to think back to see if it had been anything else.

Augustus’s voice came back to her, warning her about ambrosia. It will bring out what’s already buried inside of you.

"You damn idiot, Mara Corvo," she muttered to herself. She really hoped that Augustus didn’t think she had run out on him because of the kissing. God, she had liked the kissing.

She wanted to message him but didn’t have her phone with her. What a disaster.

"Find out where you are, and then go and see him," she told herself and got to her feet. She wouldn’t be able to find the bar without him, so she would go to the house on Albert Street. If he hadn’t gone home yet, she would wait.

After wandering around the park, Mara found a sign that told her it was Argyle Square in Carlton. Helpful signs pointed her toward a tram stop that went in the direction of Albert Street.

It had started to rain softly by the time Mara made it to Augustus’s door, and she was shivering.

Turn up looking like a drowned rat. What a brilliant idea.

It couldn’t be helped; she couldn’t let a night pass without explaining to him what had happened.

The wards let her pass without a fuss, and Mara marched up to his door. She wiped the water from her face as best as possible and rang the doorbell. A light burned inside, and the door swung open.

Mara’s greeting died on her lips as she came face to face with a tall brunette. She had tousled wet hair and was wearing a man’s night robe. Augustus’s night robe.

"Hello, can I help you?" she asked.

"Is Augustus here?" Mara managed to squeak out, blood going cold.

"He’s just in the shower. Do you want to come in?" She stepped aside with a friendly smile.

Nausea roiled Mara’s stomach. "No, thank you."

The brunette called something behind her, but it was drowned out by the cold rain and the roaring in Mara’s head.

* * *

It was dawn when Mara finally found the teashop and sat down on the steps. Athanasius opened the cat flap minutes later and caught her eating her way through a too big kebab.

Despite her nausea, the ambrosia hangover demanded she eat something to soak up the last of the magic. The confused kebab shop owner had taken one of her ruby crow feathers without question.

"Mara? Are you all right?" Athanasius asked, rubbing against her.

"No, I’m not," she sobbed.

"Tell me, child. What happened?"

Mara told her grandfather about the bar, the ambrosia, and her miracle trying to escape. All of his fur stood up in indignation when she got to the part about the brunette.

"I don’t know what to do with this feeling," she sobbed because, for the first time in her long life, the saint of grief was heartbroken. "I feel like such a damn fool."

"Don’t. You did the right thing by leaving the bar when you did." Athanasius looked like he had swallowed a bee and forced himself to add. "Perhaps you need to sleep and then try and talk to the sorcerer."

"He had a woman in one of his robes hours after kissing me. There’s nothing to talk about."

"You don’t know if he took her home to sleep with her. You could be jumping to conclusions."

Mara frowned. "You hate him, so why are you defending him?"

"Because you love the big idiot!" Athanasius hissed. "And when you love someone, you don’t just jump to conclusions. You get the full story. If you don’t, you end up like Sophia."

"What about Sophia?" Mara asked coolly. She didn’t even want to think how her mother would’ve berated her for the last twenty-four hours alone.

Athanasius prowled around the top step before lying down beside her.

"Why do you think your mother moved us from Europe to Australia?"

"I always thought it was because she didn’t trust the family anymore, and she wanted to get away from the war that was brewing."

"Both are true, but it’s only part of the story. Your mother fell in love with a sorcerer when we were living with your Greek cousins. She didn’t know it, but one of the women in the other families, Elena, was also in love with him. She wanted Sophia out of the way, so she planted letters amongst the man’s things to make out he was going to kill you and steal your miracles," Athanasius explained.

"What? How did I not know about this?" Mara asked, dazed. She knew Sophia was having problems and infighting with others in the traveling families. It wasn’t anything new, though, and she certainly didn’t realize that Sophia was in love.

"Sophia was a private woman, and she didn’t expect to fall for a sorcerer. You can understand, given your family’s history, that she wanted to keep it a secret." Athanasius’s eyes glowed. "When she found the papers and the plans, she didn’t break up with the sorcerer like Elena had planned. Sophia summoned her big miracle and used it to kill him."

Mara was going to be sick. "But, why? Why not try and talk to him?"

"You have to understand, little one. Your mother loved you more than anything in the world. She was beyond reasoning with. She destroyed the sorcerer, and when she found out what Elena had done, she slit her throat. We left that night to escape any repercussions because Sophia no longer trusted them anywhere near you. She died of heartache, and she refused to let you try and cure it because…because she felt like she deserved it."

Mara’s mind was suddenly filled with Sophia’s last days of pain, of her shouting abuse and crying out for spirits who wouldn’t answer her until all that was left of her was crow feathers.

Athanasius bumped his head against her. "She never wanted you near sorcerers because she saw in her cards that you would make her mistake and fall for one."

"Did she see if I died because of Augustus?" Mara asked, dreading the answer.

"No. She only saw that you were in love with him and would follow a hard path because of it."

"You know, grandfather, all of that would’ve been helpful to know when he first turned up," Mara said, anger lacing every word.

"I made a promise to Sophia not to. And I’m only breaking it because I don’t want you making her mistakes…" he called, but she wasn’t listening.

Mara strode through the store, glared at Anea on her way past, and blew out all of her candles. She clawed at the heavy gown, beads bouncing to the floor as she tore herself free from it. She climbed into the clawfoot tub and turned on the hot water.

Mara covered her face with her hands and wept, so she never noticed the single crow feather that fell from her back and blew away.