Page 141 of Traitor Witch

"Where is everyone?" I ask.

Elsie shrugs as she grabs a handful of herbs from her pouch and smears the mix into the wound. A sigil on the back of her hand glows as she works, infusing the wound with a heat that's almost uncomfortable.

"I'm sure they're around somewhere. I had some studying to do, anyway, and Milo keeps me company."

I hiss as her magic hits a particularly tender spot.

"Sorry, sorry," she sing-songs, not sounding particularly apologetic at all. "Apparently I'm way ahead of all the healers in my new circle, so I think the older Solars are just leaving me to it."

Yup. That twinge of fire in my leg definitely screams top of her class.

I shouldn't be so cynical, but pain has a way of making me crabby.

When I look down, there isn't even a scar.

Okay, so maybe she's notawfulat healing.

Didn't mean it didn't hurt, though.

I stare at the empty room again, more irked by it that I want to admit.

"Are you happy here?"

Elsie looks up, startled by the question. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you're alone."

She snorts. "I was alone in Ilyani. Even on theDeadwood,those pirates had eyes only for you. Now, I have Milo and a Mother Solar who isn't scared to venture beyond the walls of her temple. I miss Coop, but I've got his necklace. If it's a tracker, maybe that means he'll visit me some day. Or, who knows, perhaps I'll end up back in Ilyani."

"You've not made any other friends?"

Her whole face lights up. "You're worried about me!"

I try to shrug it off. "I'm being sent on a mission, I'd rather you weren't miserable—"

And she's hugging me again. I'm being crushed by a Solar teenager. Lunars are tactile, but this is less of a hug and more death by squeezing.

"That's so sweet of you!"

I pat her back awkwardly. "Elsie?"

"Yes?"

"Can't breathe."

"Oh. Right, sorry!" She releases me, and I rub my arms to try to restore circulation to the muscles. "Don't worry about me! I'll be fine. You go do whatever it is Lady Lunar Petra needs you to do. I'm going to learn to be the best healer ever. I mean, have you seen the library? I could spend two centuries in there and not get bored. Did you know there are books there that document the wraiths' first appearances?"

"Books aren't really my—"

"They're so fascinating andfive hundredyears old." She turns her back to me, tending to the mess she made with the herbs. "Their first attacks cut us off from most of the crystal mines, meaning we had no way to power a lot of the mage tech. It took years to reclaim the few mines which remain and that's why crystals are so valuable..."

She's still babbling on as I slip into the spirit realm and out of the door.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

NILSA

Imake a beeline straight for my quarters.