Chapter 35

The light threw back the heavy curtain of shadow hanging over the hall, chasing the darkness to the very edges of the room. It undulated with a terrifying ferocity, its many arms tracing scorched patterns over the stone floors like lightning.

"Neve!"

As I struggled to pick myself up off the floor and shake off the disorienting punch of magic, Caitriona rushed past. She stopped just beyond the reach of the roiling magic, the fear etched on her face illuminated by its pure, unearthly power.

Neve's outline was just barely visible at the center of the growing orb; her back was arched painfully, her head thrown back as if caught in a soul-rending scream.

"Release it!" Nash shouted. The light hummed low and thunderous, as if displeased. "You must release the sword!"

A set of strong hands gripped me under the elbows, easing me up as my legs wobbled.

"What is that?" Emrys breathed out, drawing me closer to his side.

"Neve!" I called, struggling to hear myself over the thrumming vibrations. "You have to let go!"

As Neve and the light rose, the ground cratered beneath them, sending cracks racing over the stone floor and up the walls. There was a faint movement from within the depths of the magic—Neve turning her head ever so slightly to the right, where Caitriona stood, a decision flashing in her eyes.

"Don't—!" I warned, but Caitriona had already thrust her arm forward through the barrier of magic.

Rather than repel her the way it had with me, the light shifted and swallowed her whole.

Emrys cast an uncertain look my way, as if I'd know what to do now.

I took a step forward, shielding my face from the intensity of the light. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nash do the same. We fought our way forward, only to be shoved back again and again.

Silver flashed and sang as it sliced the air above me, and, all at once, the magic extinguished. Excalibur clattered loudly as it spun over the uneven rubble, sliding out through the doorway and out of the hall.

As the lingering sparks of light drifted around us and the magic's deep purr faded, Caitriona knelt in the center of the crater. Smoke rose off her silver hair where the long ends had been torched, and ragged strands now brushed her cheeks. Her dark clothing was torn and frayed, revealing bands of angry burns on her pale skin. She didn't seem to feel any of it—her whole focus was on the girl in her arms.

"Is she alive?" I asked, wild with panic as I ran toward them. "Cait, is she alive?"

"Stay back," Caitriona warned quietly. "The magic's not finished with her yet."

She was right. The same light that had gathered around Neve now ran beneath her skin like glowing rivers, illuminating her from within. The smell of burned flesh was almost overwhelming as I leaned over Caitriona, horrified.

There wasn't a mark, not so much as a scratch on Neve, but for a terrifying moment, it looked like she was breaking apart.

Sweat poured down Neve's face and she let out a low moan, her face twisting in pain. I could see the heat radiating from her, as if she were burning from the inside out .

"It really is her," I whispered.

"I think I've missed something," Emrys said, looking between Caitriona's crushed expression and mine. "Something else, I mean. Why did the sword react like that?"

"The sword was forged using the Goddess's power," I said. "The Bonecutter said it would have a reaction to the person who possesses the soul of her daughter."

The others must have told him the story at Rivenoak, when I'd first run after Cabell, or he sensed I didn't have the wherewithal to explain, because he only gave a shaky nod.

Nash muttered something to himself as he slid down the slope of the floor and came to stand beside Caitriona. "Let me carry her over to one of the tables, so we can look at her wounds."

Caitriona's fingers visibly tightened around Neve's shoulders.

"Lady Caitriona," Nash said, kind but firm. "I'll be careful, I swear it."

"She's still burning," Caitriona said hoarsely. The helplessness in her expression was shattering. "We need Olwen. Olwen would know what to do."

"Here, Cait," I said, kneeling beside her. "I'll help you."

Emrys moved to join us, but I held up a hand, stopping him.

Finally, Caitriona relented, shifting to allow me to take on more of Neve's weight. I tried not to flinch at the feeling of the scalding magic moving beneath her skin like fiery serpents.

"We need to cool her off," Nash said, guiding us to the last table standing in the hall. Emrys brushed the debris off it with a stroke of his arm before we set her down. "And you, Caitriona, take the salve out of my bag and put it on those burns."

"I'll get snow," I told him.

Neve let out another soft moan.

"I'll help you, Tamsy," Nash said. "You too, princeling, if you can stand a few minutes of actual work."

Emrys gritted his teeth, casting another worried look at Neve before answering. "I'll do my best to follow your heroic lead. "

But the snow we packed around her seemed to provide no relief to Neve; it melted just as quickly as it touched her skin.

"That will not work," came a silky voice behind us. "Her body needs time to acclimate to the magic."

I turned slowly, my hand reaching back for the hilt of my sword, only to still.

Seven women stood at the entrance of the hall, some in long velvet gowns and fur-lined cloaks, others in more modern attire—down coats and boots so practical, I never would have imagined them catching a sorceress's eye.

But that was what they were.

I recognized the tall woman standing in front of the others instantly from the envy-ridden descriptions I'd read of her in the library's newer Immortalities. Kasumi had been the High Sorceress of the Council of Sistren for nearly a century now, though she, like so many of the others, had held on to her youthful appearance despite the vast number of centuries behind her.

Her fair skin seemed to drink in the last glowing embers of magic drifting around us. A curtain of long, smooth hair that draped over her shoulder was darker than the night itself. The sorceress to her right, a slight, nervous brunette, watched us through her lashes, her long wand out.

"Kasumi," Nash said, miming a slight bow over Neve's still form. "As radiant as the first day I laid eyes on you."

"How is it that you're alive?" she asked. "And here I'd so desperately hoped the stories of your demise were true."

"You know how I like to tease, Kas," he said.

I grimaced, opening my mouth to say something, but Emrys's hand suddenly found mine, drawing our linked fingers behind his back and giving them a squeeze. I followed his gaze.

The Sorceress Madrigal stood at the back of the group, glaring at all of us like a petulant child forced into doing something that bored her. Her waves of flaming red hair had been knotted in a low bun, and given that the last time I saw her, she'd been immersed in frothy black tulle, her crimson gown and matching overcoat, embroidered with all manner of bones, seemed unusually subdued.

"I told you they were here, didn't I?" Madrigal said. "Now can I leave this godsforsaken place before I freeze a tit off?" Her eyes skimmed over us, bored and irritated, until they landed on Emrys. "Oh. Hello, pet."

A small smile flicked up the edges of her lips, and if Emrys hadn't been holding on to me, I might have stalked over and clawed it off her face.

"Well, my sweet rosy-cheeked darling, I always enjoy our reunions," Nash said. "But I'd love to know what you're all doing here."

The cold air radiated off the stones around us, but nothing was icier than Sorceress Kasumi's expression. "I came for the girl."

"Oh?" Nash said, he and Caitriona shifting to block Neve from the sorceresses' view. "Well, we have a few here for you to choose from."

Kasumi's eyes flashed, but she managed to control her tone. "The girl who possesses Creiddylad's soul. She wrote to Madrigal seeking answers about her mother, describing her unique power."

Madrigal looked up from where she was picking at her clawlike nails. "Her letters were so pitiful I found myself moved to bring them to the Council."

"And buy yourself acceptance," one of the other women said snidely.

"Don't be jealous, Belinda," Madrigal said. "It's not becoming of someone with such a reptilian complexion."

"Enough," Kasumi told them. "Excalibur's reaction has proven my suspicions that she is the one Lord Death seeks. You must let me see the girl, Nashbury."

"No." Caitriona's voice was a blade that brought the leader of the Council of Sistren to a stop before she'd even moved. The other sorceresses raised their wands in response.

"Who is this?" Kasumi asked Nash, casting a steely gaze over Caitriona. She had taken his advice and applied the salve to the burns on her face and arms. The wounds were already starting to look better .

"That is Lady Caitriona, lately of Avalon," Nash said.

The other sorceresses shifted, clearly intrigued as they tried to get a better look at her. The slight brunette at the High Sorceress's side explained, "One of the two surviving priestesses."

"I'm no longer a priestess," Caitriona growled.

"And the rest of them?" Kasumi pressed.

"This is my daughter, Tamsin," Nash said.

A strange pang went through me at that word. It wasn't true, of course, but he'd never said it before.

"Great Mother, you reproduced?" Kasumi asked, aghast.

"Adopted," I clarified.

"And that is Emrys Dye, lately of the Dye family," Nash said. "Though we're trying not to hold it against him, as he seems less fond of his father than the rest of us."

Kasumi took the information in stride, her expression inscrutable. She gestured toward Neve's unconscious form. "May I?"

"Cait," I said. She looked to me, stubbornness burning in her. "Let her look. It could help Neve."

Caitriona didn't move, but she did let me draw her aside, just enough for Kasumi and two other sorceresses to approach the table.

"Don't lay a finger on her," Caitriona warned.

"I've no need to, sister," Kasumi answered.

"I'm not your sister," Caitriona snarled.

Nash made a soothing noise at the back of his throat, a hand clasped to her shoulder. The other sorceresses, including Madrigal, were starting to circle the table as well, and I suddenly felt like a lamb who'd woken up and found herself surrounded by wolves. I dragged both my workbag and Neve's fanny pack across the table, tucking the latter into my satchel for safekeeping.

Kasumi's face was impassive as she bent over Neve, studying her. Drawing the thin wand over Neve's body. Magic lashed out from under Neve's skin, crackling along the wood. "And this girl, she's of maiden rank? "

"No, she is unaffiliated with the Sistren," said the mousy brunette.

"Her name is Neve," I said. "And you rejected her when she came to you for schooling."

I wondered suddenly if Kasumi herself had been the one who'd turned Neve away—if she was the one who had mocked her lack of lineage and made her feel like nothing. Fury coursed through my blood.

Emrys's thumb stroked along my wrist, soothing. His eyes never left the red-haired sorceress as she leaned around Kasumi's shoulder, fighting to maintain her disinterested expression. Her perfectly arched brows rose at something Kasumi murmured to them.

"Well?" Nash asked. "What is it?"

"Yes," Kasumi said. "This is the power known as the Goddess's light. I believe it is her."

The words turned the castle around me, everything, to ash.

She'll never be safe, I thought, horrified. As long as Lord Death lived, she would never be able to return to a normal life. She would never be safe from him.

"She needs more protection than the four of you can offer," Kasumi said. "I must bring her back to the Council."

"Absolutely not," Caitriona growled. "You will not bring her into your nest of adders!"

"I see the Avalonian opinion of sorceresses has yet to improve," Nash murmured. "Think clearly on this, child. They are her own kind—"

"They are not, " Caitriona cut in sharply. "And they'll turn her over to Lord Death to save themselves."

"How dare you?" Kasumi's calm demeanor was more frightening than any of the wands pointed at us. "We are servants of the Goddess. We will not relinquish the soul of her child to that monster, nor one of our own."

"One of your own?" I repeated incredulously. "You sent her away in the cruelest manner possible. You refused to help her before, so why should we believe you'd be willing to do it now? "

"Child, are you under the mistaken belief that you have a choice?" Kasumi asked, the words edged with warning.

Nash held up his hands, paternally cajoling in a way that got my back up, even now.

"Between them, the Sistren have thousands of years' worth of knowledge," he said. "Would you rather risk having the magic burn her up? The poor dove was writing to them, asking for their help. Don't you think this is what she'd want?"

My hands clenched into fists at my sides, but I couldn't argue with the truth. Emrys squeezed my wrist in encouragement.

"There is another reason we will not give the soul to Lord Death," Kasumi said.

"That's—" Nash interrupted. "That's all hearsay, isn't it?"

She ignored him. "The soul possesses magic beyond our reckoning. If he were to kill your friend and take Creiddylad's soul to Annwn, both she and that power would be entirely under his command, and that would spell an end for all of us."

"More lies," Caitriona said, shaking her head. "You refused her before, just as you refused to help Avalon. You knew, didn't you? What was happening on the isle, how few of us were left. And you did nothing. "

Kasumi's even stare was infuriating. "By the time we discovered what was happening, it was already too late. My only regret is not believing you'd be so foolish as to perform the ritual that unmade Avalon."

Caitriona surged toward her, only to be stopped by Nash.

"Easy," he crooned. "It's not a fair fight."

"Maybe if you had come yourself instead of sending your little spy, none of us would be standing here," I said.

"Spy?" Kasumi repeated, turning ever so slightly to me.

"Your pooka," I said.

Her head angled. "I sent no spy."

The others looked to Madrigal, who seemed offended by the suggestion. "Why would I send Dearie to such a place when I had an errand boy already there?"

Emrys drew in a deep breath; I was mad enough to spit nails, but he was clinging to his composure with white-knuckled tenacity.

"If you didn't send it, who did?" Nash asked. "One of the other members of the Council?"

"No one would do such a thing without my explicit orders," Kasumi said. "It would involve dismantling all of the careful spellwork we've put into place. However that pooka got into Avalon, it was not our doing. Perhaps it was there all along. What matters now is ending this, while we still have breath in our bodies."

My thoughts whirled. You couldn't trust a sorceress, I knew that, but she seemed genuinely surprised by the accusation.

The other sorceresses don't like her, I reminded myself. We'd listened to them discussing her leadership in the vault, what felt like weeks ago. If the Council or other members were acting behind her back, what did that say about her ability to protect Neve?

Caitriona's thoughts seemed to follow a similar path. She moved toward Neve again, as if to carry her away from all of this. But Neve still didn't open her eyes, and when a surge of magic rolled over her, she cried out in pain.

And that was answer enough for me.

We have to, I thought, feeling my heart crack inside my chest. There isn't another choice.

I had to believe that this was the path Neve would choose for herself.

"This entire time," I told Kasumi, "all she wanted was to help the Sistren. To save you."

"Then let us return the favor and help her," Kasumi said. "We haven't the time to debate this. The hours pass swiftly in our world. When we return, there will be less than two days until the solstice—until he opens the pathway to Annwn and allows the dead to spill back into our world. "

The thought sent terror skittering down my spine. "Time moves that slowly here?"

The High Sorceress nodded, though there was something victorious in her expression, as if she knew she'd played her trump card.

"Tamsin, you can't be seriously considering this," Caitriona said, her thick brows lowering.

"If you take her, we're coming with you," I told Kasumi.

"Tamsin," Caitriona pleaded. "Don't do this."

"I would expect nothing less." Kasumi cast a look of pure loathing at Nash. "I will even tolerate his presence."

"Cait," Nash said, drawing her off from us. "I understand, I do. But this is happening whether you will it to or not. Take a moment away to steady yourself. Fetch our things if you'd like. Just steady yourself."

Caitriona looked me straight in the eye as she said, "All of this was a mistake."

She sounded nothing like herself. It was as if the wounded animal we'd all sensed inside her, the very one we'd been trying to appease at every turn, had suddenly broken free of its cage. She looked utterly frantic, cornered—and in her pain, anger was the easiest thing to reach for.

I was surprised at how little her words stung once I understood what had fed them.

"Cait," Emrys tried, but she whirled on him, daring him to say something. He did. "It's only a mistake if we don't fix it."

She turned on her heel and strode out of the great hall, her footsteps echoing like hits to the chest. I started after her, only for Nash to catch my arm.

"Give her time," he said. "She needs a moment alone."

"She'll need more than that," Madrigal said. "I'd recommend copious amounts of wine, and, failing that, an hour or two in the iron maiden."

"Madrigal," Kasumi said sharply. "Isolde. "

The slight brunette beside her straightened, eagerly awaiting her instructions.

"Go retrieve the sword so we can examine it," she continued. "Aife and Annalise—collect what you can from the dragon."

"You're welcome for that, by the way," Nash said.

Kasumi's lips compressed into a tight line. "Don't make me stuff you up its foul end."

The remaining sorceresses used their wands to carve sigils into the table beneath Neve. The top pulled free of its legs and hovered on some unfelt buoy of air.

"Oh, look at this," the Sorceress Annalise said, holding up the dragon's limp tongue. "The scholars will be thrilled."

A cackle echoed off the soaring stone walls in answer. Isolde was scurrying around the doorway, bent at the waist, her face becoming more and more frantic. But Madrigal only leaned against the wall, laughing.

And I knew. Somehow I did. It felt like the world was crumbling beneath me.

"What?" Emrys asked, then stopped, realizing it too. "Oh, gods. No …"

I hurried toward them, joining Isolde's frantic search, following the path I'd seen the sword take as it had spun away from us.

Instead, I found footprints. I followed the trail of them to the castle's once-grand entrance, down the stairs leading back out into the dead kingdom.

A scream clawed up my throat, but when I dropped to my knees, no sound came.

Caitriona was gone, and she'd taken Excalibur with her.