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The list of things that Fey truly hated was blessedly short.

She had hated her father, of course. She hated sewing, having tried for years to learn when she was training in the Queen’s army and having nothing to show for it but pinpricks all over her fingers and hands. She hated the smell of lavender, which her mother had insisted was good for relaxation, but did nothing for Fey but make her gag.

And she hated meeting with the Head Priestesses of the four covens.

Fey stood outside the door, trying to calm her rage enough to enter without being openly hostile to the four women waiting inside.

“You okay?” Joy asked. Her sisters were waiting for her, watching her.

“No,” Fey answered with a snarl, and Lilith chuckled darkly.

It was one of the few palace events they would attend unmasked, and Fey pined for the anonymity of her uniform. Pined for the mask to hide her from the Priestesses inside.

Deep breaths, Fey. She squared her shoulders. You can do this.

“Ok. I’m ready.”

“Try not to kill anyone, okay?” Joy whispered as she put her hand on the door handle. Fey smiled, and they filed inside.

When a new Blade is introduced, it’s a tradition that the heads of the four covens are informed before the official initiation by the Queen. It was a formality, and the High Priestesses had no real power to either accept or reject a candidate, but it was a matter of politics and tradition.

Two more things Fey hated—politics and tradition.

The High Priestesses were seated when Fey and her sisters entered the entertaining room, clustered together in high-backed chairs and sipping tea. The attendants had been dismissed earlier, none having the sort of access that would allow them to see the Queen’s Blades unveiled.

Joy, Lilith, and Fey bowed deeply to the High Priestesses. Fey avoided looking at any of them directly, and one in particular.

She’d only met Sana a few times but loathed being in the same room as the Water Coven High Priestess. Sana was everything Fey wasn’t, everything a Water Witch should be. Quiet, gentle. She was a healer and, of course, an expert in elixir craft.

Fey felt her judgment like a physical weight whenever they were together.

But Sana smiled at them in a seemingly warm welcome, setting her teacup down gently when they entered. She wore full Priestess Robes in the soft blue of the Water Coven. Next to her, the head of the Air Coven, Linh, looked at the clock pointedly and tsked. She was the oldest of the High Priestesses by several decades, and every year her patience for events outside her temple grew shorter.

“Sorry to keep you all waiting,” Joy said politely, inclining her head. “We were unavoidably detained.”

They hadn’t been detained by anything, of course. They were simply late. Later still, since Fey had needed time to collect herself in the hallway. But Joy was a skillful and charming liar, and even Fey would have believed her if she hadn’t known the truth.

The Priestesses nodded appropriately. Fey could feel Sana’s gaze but refused to look at or acknowledge her.

“I understand we have a new Blade joining the ranks?” Leandra asked. The Fire Priestess sat proud as a Queen in her seat.

“Another Fire Witch, no doubt,” Linh complained loudly.

Fey clenched her teeth together, but Joy’s smile never faltered.

“A Fire Witch, yes,” Joy conceded. “But Willow is also an Earth Witch.”

The Earth Coven Priestess Claudia looked up with interest. It had been quite a while since an Earth Witch had been a Blade.

It was a trophy to them to have their covens represented in this. Though their identities were supposed to be secret, the powers they held always seemed to leak out, and Fey was sure that leak started here, with these women. There were bragging rights to be had when a Blade could wield their coven’s element.

“Earth primary?” Claudia asked, hopefully.

Joy shook her head. “Willow is a Fire primary. Earth is her secondary power.”

Linh snorted. “See? Another Fire Witch.”

“My Priestess,” Joy responded, emphasizing the word my. “Are you not pleased with my work on the Blades? Have I not brought honor to the Air Coven?”