Page 84 of Liar Witch

Chapter Twenty-One

Nilsa

My workroom is peaceful. The oasis of calm is exactly what I need right now. A tranquil backdrop to help me focus on scrying. I waste no time in pulling down the black bowl from its shelf and filling it with water. The Lady’s light shines through the glass skylight above me, and I smile as the water is bathed in it.

I need to talk to Reva and Elsie. If they’re still in Ilyani, a city which houses one of the oldest Solar temples in the world, they might be able to find more information on fae bargains. If there’s anything that might tell a witch how to break one, it will be in there.

I rummage through drawer after drawer, searching for one of the healing charms Elsie made for me before we left Sanctum. All I need is a link to her magic, something to make finding her faster.

My fingers find a small silk bag, and I smile in triumph.

I place it on one side of the bowl and stare down into the water. I’ve never traced Solar magic before, but it can’t be that different to Lunar.

The Lady’s magic fills me, and I direct it through the charm and into the water.

Elsie’s face appears on the water’s surface after several long minutes of trying. The Solar is curled up in a sleeping bag, illuminated by a lantern light, her head buried in a book as Reva slumbers, oblivious, a few feet away.

It’s a little odd to see a Solar awake in the evening while a Lunar still slumbers, but Reva looks tired. There are dark shadows under her eyes, and I can see the hint of a bandage peeking out over the neckline of her shirt.

Something must have happened, though they seem safe enough for now.

If I have to guess, I’d say they’re in the Solar Temple, but I can’t see much of the building.

Now all I have to do is pray she has the ability to sense another witch is scrying for her.

It takes a while. Minutes tick by as I watch her flick page after page.

Come on, Elsie.

Reva’s eyes fly open first. She doesn’t stretch or make any noise as she carefully examines the room, cautiously. There’s pain in her expression, but she masks it quickly, pushing up to her elbows.

“We’re being watched.”

Elsie’s head jerks up, her eyes wide. “Oh, that. Sorry, it’s a really good book.” She slips out of her sleeping bag and heads across the room, rummaging in a bag for a second before drawing out a smaller, more portable scrying bowl and filling it from their water skin.

She hands both to Reva, who struggles to escape the confines of her own bag.

It takes a few minutes for Reva to follow my magic back and summon my image on the surface of her bowl.

“Nilsa!” Elsie beams. “Are you okay? Where are you? Are your pirates still—” She cuts off as she notices Reva’s grin and lightly swats her Lunar counterpart. “What? We haven’t seen her in almost two weeks! That’s enough time for anything to happen!” Turning back to me, her face loses some of its eagerness. “Everything is fine, right?”

I nod. “I found my siren mate and I have a plan, but I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything,” Elsie says eagerly, before I can continue.

“Anythingexceptblowing up another mine,” Reva amends, clutching her side. “I’m not doing that again. It got me two broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder.”

“Did the guards at Fort Ilya put up more of a fight than you were expecting?”

Reva rolls her eyes. “They didn’t even know I was there. I snuck in, added an enchantment to their gunpowder to make it a little more combustible, left a tiny candle in with it and made my exit. Turns out, it was a little more explosive than I predicted. I didn’t get all of the way out of the blast zone in time.”

“She tumbled down a cliff,” Elsie protests. “I had to drag her back onto her broom and fly us both out of there. We’ve been hiding in the Solar Temple for days. Good thing High Priestess Elodie and the remaining Solars left some stuff behind. They were already gone by the time we got here.”

“Sophie must have scried ahead and convinced Elodie to leave before you arrived.” The Mother Solar had seemed adamant on all witches retreating to Coveton, so it doesn’t surprise me.

“Either that or the way things are here forced their hand.” Elsie fidgets with her hair. “It’s so much worse than when you were here before. The moment anyone so much as suspects someone’s a witch, they spit on you. If people weren’t afraid the Solar Temple was cursed like the Lunar Temple, I doubt we’d be safe here.”

I grimace at the thought of Ilyani being somehowworsethan before. “Well, while you’re there, I have a favour to ask.”