Page 67 of Liar Witch

I touch down first, followed by Lexi, both of us going silent as we listen for any sound that the guard might have noticed us.

Nothing.

Her footsteps make the planks creak below us as she moves back to the other side, and I have to stifle the urge to sigh in relief.

“There they are,” Lexi whispers.

As she speaks, Mother comes out onto the balcony, and the guard automatically moves away.

They’re not permitted to even glance at our mother and whichever guests she entertains on the balcony.

“I’m surprised you wanted to speak to me at all.” Nilsa’s words are quiet, and I shift, trying to get closer so I can hear her better. “I know I’m not your first choice for your son.”

She sounds surprisingly sober for a woman who was dancing on tables not an hour ago, and I wonder idly if that’s her magic at work.

“Choice does not come into it. You are not the correct fit for my people; therefore, I cannot support your claim.”

“But I am the correct fit for your son.”

“An Empress doesn’t get to take such things into consideration. We are at war.”

“With the Eagle of Galmere.”

My mother’s silence speaks volumes about how unprepared she is for Nilsa’s knowledge, and my mate takes the advantage.

“I intend to kill her. Niklaus and the rest of my mates will help me.”

“He is a male.”

“He is awarrior. His sex is irrelevant. I’m here seeking allies to remove Catherine from the throne and stop her stripping your people of scales for her fake immortality.”

My mother scoffs. “How much can you possibly know anything about that? You’ve not been alive for the centuries I’ve suffered, watching my people disappear one by one.”

“I’m young, yes,” Nilsa admits without shame. “But I’m also one of only two Shadows to ever make it over the palace wall, andI’mthe reason that the Claw is nothing more than an ugly pile of rubble in the Eagle’s back yard. My second attempt won’t fail. You can be a part of her downfall. Help me, and we’ll get vengeance for those you’ve lost.”

My mother’s pause is much longer this time. She stands, staring out at the empty, moonlit sea with a strangely vulnerable look on her face. For the first time, I notice how exhausted she truly looks.

“Our people are tired, Shadow. We have screamed, unheard, into the abyss for decades. Silenced by the mages and the humans. We have lost countless sisters to the unknown fate that awaits them when they’re collected in those nets. I have lost two nieces already; now you wish to take my son. You’re asking me to abandon our ideals and pin the hopes of my people on an assassin barely old enough to wield magic. How can I justify a choice like that when I know that long-term alliances with Adella’s honourable family will give us decades to try and save my people?”

Nilsa doesn’t hesitate.

“A slow death or a fast one, what difference does it make?”

“It gives children a chance to live. It gives us time to find a place to hide. It leaves our honour intact.”

“A warrior race retreating to hide like cowards?” Nilsa snorts. “I thought you had more steel than that.”

“Once, I might have. Then my people started being taken to that place. To thatfacility—” she spits the word “—they call Ignira, and never returning.”

The fire in my mate’s eyes is spectacular as she stares down my mother. “I understand your doubt, but when I win that mate challenge tomorrow, I’m taking Klaus with me. Then we’re heading to Ignira. I’ll return with the head of the mage there and free as many of your people as I can.”

My mother’s startled laugh is stunning. A rare, carefree sound that none of us have heard in what feels like years.

“If you do all of that, you have my blessing and my army.”

Nilsa’s grin is fierce. “Consider it done.”

Chapter Seventeen