Page 35

Chapter 35

I had been completely out of it, so it took me a moment to realise that we were walking into Melva’s office. Nell was sitting at her desk, eyes red-rimmed and raw. She said nothing as I walked in: there was no quip, no barb, and I was surprised to realise that I missed it. She just picked up the phone and spoke quietly into it. ‘Your 12pm is here.’ A beat of silence. ‘Yes, ma’am.’ She hung up the phone and looked up. ‘You can go in.’

Oscar led the way and Bastion pulled up the rear. As I walked past Nell, I laid a hand on her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. It isn’t often that we touch Other realmers – especially not the Seers – because if they choose to they can read you, your future and your hopes. It is an intimate thing to touch a Seer, something reserved for friends. Nell and I weren’t that, but we weren’t adversaries. Not any more .

Nell looked up at me and her eyes suddenly filled. She laid her hand on top of mine and gave it a light squeeze back. As her hand dropped away I let mine fall too. I didn’t have any words to offer her, no empty platitudes to utter. Nothing would ease the loss of her boss and friend whom she’d served faithfully for more than a decade.

Melva had been kind, warm and universally liked. A necromancer had made a vampyr slide into her safe haven and murder her and now here I was, strolling into the same safe haven once more. This time it didn’t feel so safe and I bet Nell felt the same.

I lifted my chin and walked in. I recognised the woman behind the desk, of course: I tried to know all the movers and shakers. Liyana had been full of promise for a while, but her hard edges had seen her relegated to the political sidelines. Now, apparently, people wanted hard edges; the Seers wanted to make it clear they weren’t soft and they weren’t kind. There was neither softness nor kindness in Liyana’s gaze as she looked at me, her mouth a grim line.

Bastion had murmured to me before we walked in that Liyana had been made High Priestess earlier that day. Unlike the Coven Council, which dragged out every decision until it had been debated at length, the Seers were decisive. I guess knowing the future really helped with that .

‘High Priestess Liyana, it is my honour to meet with you this day.’ I touched my hand to my heart and bowed.

‘It is indeed your honour,’ she replied, studying me like a spider gazing at a fly. I was a nuisance, one to be eradicated.

My eyes narrowed. I was neither of those things, and if she thought she was a spider then she would soon learn that I was a scorpion. I ate spiders for breakfast. ‘I have come to ask a boon,’ I soldiered on.

‘Bold of you, given that the last Seer you spoke to died whilst in your care.’

‘Melva was not in my care.’ I spoke carefully even as my temper spiked. ‘Though I did go to great lengths to try and save her.’

‘Yet you failed.’ Her words were cold.

My gut clenched. How I hated that word, hated it even more because she was correct. I had failed. ‘Yes,’ I said simply.

‘No,’ Bastion growled. ‘Amber did not fail. Melva herself said that it was her time. She had foreseen it and it could not be undone, no matter how hard we tried.’

‘And did you try, protector, to save her?’ Liyana sneered.

‘I did,’ Bastion confirmed .

Liyana lost some of her combative stance. She believed us – or at least she believed Bastion. ‘What brings you before me?’ she asked abruptly.

I doubted she’d appreciate me crawling around a pentagram so I got right to it. ‘I need a bespelled cloak.’

‘Why?’

‘I’m hunting the necromancer that killed Melva. I want them dead. There’s going to be a gathering of black witches at an auction of dark artefacts and we need to go to it.’

‘Why?’ she asked again. ‘What will your presence do?’ she sneered.

‘We’ll infiltrate the auction and we’ll gather information to end the black witches.’

She barked a laugh. ‘You and a griffin against the full might of the black Coven – and more black witches besides – gathered in one place?’

‘You know about the black Coven?’ My eyes narrowed.

‘It is impossible to see the future without doing so.’

That wasn’t good, not good at all. ‘Do they win?’ I asked, my heart pounding suddenly.

Liyana’s mouth twisted in a caricature of a smile, ‘Why, Amber DeLea, have you started to believe in prophecy?’

I glared. ‘I’ve always believed in prophecy, I just don’t like it. I don’t want my actions to be anything but my own. If you tell me my future is predestined, what is the point of life? I would simply be a marionette, strolling down the pre-set path made for me. What joy does that bring?’

‘It is not the destination that matters but the journey itself,’ she said sanctimoniously.

‘If the journey is written in the stars then why bother?’

‘Fool! There are hundreds of paths stretching before you, a million journeys to take.’

‘Perhaps. But knowing about one of them sets it in stone.’ I folded my arms. ‘And that is why I don’t like prophecy because it is trying to cajole me down one of many paths. If it succeeds, my future is set.’

She huffed in exasperation. ‘It is not so ham-fisted as that. You fail to appreciate the intricacies and subtleties of a prophecy. If it is told to you at one time it may have one meaning, but told to you at another you might interpret it completely differently.’

I sighed and my head pounded a little more. ‘Can we argue about the worth of prophecy another time? My head is aching and I need a Seer-bespelled cloak. I need it now. Name your price.’ Revealing how much I needed the cloak was not my wisest negotiating move, but pain was making me blunder. I needed to gather my wits, which were scattered around me like rune stones clumsily tossed by an acolyte.

Liyana pursed her lips. ‘A favour, Amber DeLea. Of my timing and choosing,’ she said finally.

‘One favour, but with the caveat that I will not assist you by act or omission in harming or killing another living being.’

‘Done and done.’

‘So mote it be.’ I touched a hand to my aching temples.

‘Witnessed.’ Bastion spoke quietly. He was battling the pain, too.

‘The cloak?’ I asked Liyana.

‘Do you think I have one lying around?’ She raised an imperious eyebrow. ‘It will be made and delivered to your Coven tower.’

‘We need it soon.’

‘It will be delivered as soon as possible,’ she promised tersely. She gestured to the door in clear dismissal, and I guessed it was time to leave. We slid out of Melva’s – Liyana’s – office.

‘Amber,’ Nell called as I walked out.

I turned back. ‘Yeah?’

Nell sniffed. ‘I’ve seen salads dressed better than you. Try looking in the mirror next time. ’

Try as I might, I couldn’t stop the broad grin sliding onto my face as we walked out. Bastion shook his head. ‘Women are strange,’ he said finally. ‘Why are you happy that she insulted your dress sense?’

Oscar started the engine. ‘Because it’s a return to the status quo,’ he chimed in. ‘Nell has always insulted Amber.’

‘Exactly,’ I agreed.

We were ten minutes from the Coven tower when a truck blindsided us from a side road. There was the crunch of metal and a short, sharp, scream. Mine. Luckily this time I didn’t hit my head; it already hurt enough without concussion being added to it. I was still blinking in confusion when Oscar and Bastion climbed out of the car.

I followed them and my sense of déjà vu increased. Our attackers were ogres, just like they had been last time. But this time they were undead ones.