Page 5

CHAPTER 5

‘I still don’t think it’s a good idea,’ Innes said.

‘We’ve gone over this—’ Briony started.

‘And you haven’t listened, so I’m going to say it again.

’

Briony sat opposite her at the dining room table while Tabita, having just returned from a week in Neart, brewed something that smelled of clove and star anise on the stove.

She and Briony had been having this argument for days, but Tabita hadn’t said anything about the plan – which was either very good or very bad.

‘First of all, with the Ever fading the Seacht are on edge,’ Innes said, repeating the same thing she’d been saying ever since Briony had confirmed the border would fail.

‘That means there are more demigods patrolling, looking to kill the Ever Blessed to try and stop unsanctioned magic use. Do you really want me to die so far from the border?’

It was a low blow, but she didn’t care.

The Seacht were hellbent on killing anyone who could access the Ever to hoard the magic for themselves, and while witches had once been as powerful as the gods, the Seacht’s prowess had grown since the Great War.

With the witches’ dwindling birth rates, their powers were lessening day by day.

They should be on par, yet the gods were outstripping them to the point that she, a full-blown witch, would have difficulty going against a demigod.

It was one thing to cross the border for a day at a time, another to leave for weeks on end.

Innes shook her head.

‘Secondly, you’re pregnant.

’ Briony made a sound in the back of her throat, but Innes continued, ‘And I am one of the best midwives in Telorne. Are you telling me you’d rather I go to Vincentia and talk to Queen Una about the blight than be here to help deliver your healthy baby?

’ She didn’t state the obvious, and by the look on Briony’s face, she didn’t need to say it.

They stared at each other, a battle of wills.

‘If we don’t protect the border there will be so many deaths, Innes.

’

‘Yes, but those deaths aren’t—’

‘Me?’

Innes glanced away, unable to hold her cousin’s fiery gaze.

‘Why does my life mean more than any other witch’s?

Why are you willing to help me, but not them?

’

‘We’ve had enough deaths in this family.

My mother, your mother.

I’m going to choose you, Briony.

There’s no point arguing.

’

Briony’s face was flushed, but not from sisterly love.

Anger blushed her cheeks and her belly rose and fell like bellows with her breath.

‘The border will fall, and the blight will continue, Innes. It won’t matter if you deliver my baby if the gods kill us anyway.

’

‘Then send someone else! My priorities are clear, Briony. ’

‘There is no one else,’ Tabita boomed, agitation clear in her voice.

Both of their heads snapped to their grandmother.

‘What do you mean?’ Innes asked.

‘There are plenty of others who can act as an emissary – you have an entire council of them.’

Tabita sighed, turning so she leaned against the counter to look at them.

‘We cannot maintain the border without new life, Innes.’

Briony smiled, triumphant, while a scowl crept onto Innes’ face.

‘I’m a midwife; you can’t tell me to stop helping people.

’

Tabita inhaled, transforming from their grandmother into the High Witch before their eyes.

Innes’ nerves flashed at the sight, but she forced herself to meet her grandmother’s gaze.

‘You may be a midwife, but you are a witch first and foremost. After careful deliberation, the council has decided to send you as our emissary to Vettona, Innes.’

‘They can’t—’

‘Yes, we can.’ Her words laced around Innes in thick bands full of Ever.

An order from her High Witch.

‘You have been given time, Innes. More time than any other witch has been offered. But the council cannot afford to wait any longer. Your kin are in danger, and as you have the marking of a High Witch, the council has decided this mission is to be your Passage. As High Witch, I agree.’

A ringing sounded and the world went fuzzy around the edges.

Tabita was saying something, but she couldn’t make sense of the words.

Passage .

.

.

find answers .

.

.

She’d thought she’d have more time.

.

.

.

Queen Una .

.

.

Leave immediately .

.

.

She couldn’t.

.

.

It wasn’t—

‘Excuse me,’ she said, standing so swiftly her chair fell over.

‘I need a minute.’

Innes ran down the hallway of the cottage and burst outside, the perfect day at odds with the turmoil roiling inside her chest.

Her lungs strained and she crouched between the rows of herbs, sinking her fingers into the dirt to try and ground herself.

Memories she wanted to forget twisted under her skin, her mother’s face blinking in and out of vision in time with her ragged breathing.

Her Passage had come.

And she had no option but to accept or risk the wrath of the council.

A delirious snort erupted from her.

Her choice, it seemed, was either to risk the life of her niece, or the lives of all witches.

Perhaps , a small voice said in the back of her mind, I could make it to Vincentia and back before the babe is born?

While the Passage was instigated by the council, the pivotal event that marked the moment in Ever couldn’t be forced.

There were, however, certain things that helped speed the process – near-death experiences, for example.

A crunch sounded behind her, but she didn’t turn to look.

She knew it was Briony, just like she knew finding a cure for the blight and forcing her Passage would take longer than three months.

‘I’m sorry,’ Briony said, her voice soft and lilting.

Innes exhaled in a loud, sarcastic whoosh.

‘I didn’t realise it would go this far,’ Briony said.

‘The fate of the witches relies on the border, B, and the border relies on the strength of the witches as a whole. Of course it would go this far.’

‘True. But I didn’t think she would invoke the Passage.

’

Innes closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe through the rush of nausea that swelled at those words.

‘I know you’ve been hoping it would never come.

With everything that happened with your mother’s Passage.

.

.

I get it, Innes.

And I’m sorry Tabby went as far as she did, but I’m not sorry you’ll be the one to speak with Queen Una.

We need information, and we need allies.

No one else is better placed to seek those things than you.

’

‘There are heaps of other witches who could do this, and you know it.’

Briony dipped her head in concession.

‘Yes, but there are no others who are related to the current High Witch, Innes. You will have access no other would be afforded.’

Innes didn’t say anything.

Briony was right, and she loathed to admit it, yet she couldn’t help the next words that left her mouth, ‘Unless they hand me over and I die.’

Briony just stared at her.

‘Queen Una won’t do that.

’

Innes threw her hands up and paced away before turning back to her infuriating cousin.

‘Whatever. What’s done is done.

’

‘Don’t give me bland platitudes, Innes,’ Briony said, grabbing her shoulder to stop her pacing.

‘Give me something to argue with.’

Despite herself, Innes felt the corner of her mouth tick upwards.

It was a saying they had been throwing at each other since they were witchlings, and so she did as Briony asked.

‘Being far from the border means there’s no quick escape.

Helping expecting mothers a few hours from home is nothing compared to this.

If anyone finds out I’m a witch, the Seacht and their loyal demigods will find me before I can return.

’

Briony nodded.

‘I know. But... I need to know if Vincentia is experiencing the same levels of stillbirths and disrupted Ever as we are. And...’ She trailed off and looked at their cottage, then dragged Innes back several yards so they were out of earshot from the kitchen window.

‘And I need you to listen out for any rumours of the Ellarch. Especially ones that mention Tassos.’

Innes’ brows lifted.

She hadn’t expected this.

‘Why?’

Briony shook her head slowly, expression unreadable.

‘There are whispers of his return, but nothing I can confirm yet.’

‘People have been whispering of his return since he fell.’

Briony frowned.

‘What whispers make you think this?’

Her cousin’s face became a blank mask, and Innes groaned, the puzzle pieces falling into place.

‘Please do not tell me that these are the sylphs’ whispers ?

’

When Briony didn’t respond, Innes cursed and dragged her cousin a few more yards from the house, just to be safe.

‘Are you telling me it was you who summoned the murmur of sylphs near the border to speak with them?’

Briony winced but nodded.

‘Godsdamnit, B, you’re pregnant.

If Tabby were to find out—’

‘She won’t, because you won’t tell her.

’ Briony placed a firm hand on Innes’ shoulder.

‘The witches who maintain the border have known things have been wrong for a long time, Innes. Longer than Tabby cares to admit. Of course I’m going to use all the tools available to find a solution.

’

‘So, what’s the solution they gave you?

’ Innes asked with no small amount of irony.

If one was capable of summoning a murmur of sylphs, one needed to be well versed in riddles.

They did not give answers so much as roundabout suggestions.

She and Briony both knew that.

Briony, however, did not take the bait.

Innes pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to work through what this new information meant.

‘Was it to do with Tassos?’

‘Yes.’

‘What—’

‘I don’t know,’ Briony said, her temper flaring.

‘This whole thing is unknown and I hate it! It is why I am asking you to please keep an ear out for me. Anything you hear to do with Tassos and the Ellarch might help us in finding a cure for the blight, or at least buy us more time to maintain the border. You know what Tabby is like when the Ellarch is mentioned – she gets all sad and nostalgic, but doesn’t actually think anything of the humans who still believe.

’

‘Ellarch loyalists have never been successful before.’

‘Which is why I need you to help me. And I need you to do it quickly so you can return for the birth of your niece, okay?’ Briony’s eyes glistened with unshed tears and it was this sight alone that snapped Innes out of her own self-pity.

Briony never cried, she was the steadfast one in their relationship.

The one who would take the blame or find a solution to the mess that Innes would panic about.

She was, in every regard that counted, her sister.

Save for Tabita, she was the only family Innes had left.

And her niece.

.

.

she shook her head, unable to fathom the devastation she would feel should anything happen to the baby.

It didn’t matter that Briony was her cousin, witches viewed family trees as interconnected webs.

The babe was her niece, and she her aunt.

It was that fact alone which forced her to finally admit what she needed to do.

She caught her cousin in a hug, the swell of Briony’s belly the only thing between them.

‘May the Ever keep us whole, and the Ellarch keep us safe. May it keep you safe, Innes,’ Briony said, her words mingling with the birdsong around them.

Any remaining hesitation Innes had quickly dissolved, because she would do anything for her family.

Everything.