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“Thank Hecate.” Excitement rushed through my veins despite the very real danger I was in. I’d been hoping to encounter a witch, and here one was, standing right before me. “The priest said I might find you here. You’re working with the rebels, then?”
Confusion washed over the witch’s face, and Trystan scowled. “See! I told you. The viceroy sent her here to sniff out our cell.”
“What?” I asked, taken aback.
“Don’t play dumb. I was at the demonstration, and I saw you there with Lord Starclaw and his little inventor. That’s how I know you’re lying.”
I bit back a curse. Telling Trystan I hadn’t been at the demonstration when I’d been in plain sight of the crowd hadbeen a mistake. “You don’t understand,” I said, desperately trying to think of a way to make them see reason without revealing my identity. Why hadn’t I prepared myself for the possibility of this conversation? “Maximillian didn’t send me. I came here of my own volition.”
“Maximillian,” the witch mocked. The vines around my wrists sprouted thorns, and I cried out as they bit into my skin, drawing blood. “You’re on a first name basis with the viceroy, and expect us to believe you aren’t working with him?” She rotated a hand, and the vines began to twist.
“Fuck!” I screamed as the thorns shredded my flesh. The harder I struggled, the deeper they cut, until blood trickled down my fingers and dripped onto the floor. “Godsdammit, let me go! I’m not your ene—”
An earth-shattering roar cut off the rest of my plea, and I jerked in my chair as Jinx manifested right in front of me in her wildcat form. Trystan and the witch shrieked in surprise, and in the blink of an eye, my shadow familiar had the human pinned to the ground, her jaws fastened around his throat. Trystan panted as he stared up at her with terror in his blue eyes, and when he tried to go for the knife at his side, she rumbled a warning he probably felt down to his bones.
“That’s Jinx,” I said, as calmly as I could through the pain. “My familiar. She won’t hurt your friend as long as you release me.”
The witch let out a string of curses, her eyes darting between me and Trystan lying on the floor. It was clear she didn’t want to let me go, but there was no way she would be able to save her friend before my shadow familiar severed his jugular with her inch-long fangs.
“Fine,” she hissed, slashing her through the air with her hand. The vines around my wrists and ankles went limp, and I staggered to my feet, still feeling woozy.
“What in the hells did you spike my drink with?” I asked, glaring at Trystan. Jinx removed her teeth from around his neck, but held her position, placing one paw just beneath the base of his throat in case he decided to get any ideas.
“Soporoot,” the witch said sweetly. “An undetectable variety I cultivated myself.”
Of course.Soporoot contained narcoleptic properties—a few shredded pieces brewed in tea made for an excellent sleep remedy. Strained into oil form, it was a lot more potent, and could knock a target out within a few minutes depending on the dosage. “Clever work,” I muttered, rubbing at my bleeding wrists. “You don’t have any bandages, do you?”
She scoffed. “You’re seriously asking me to patch you up while your beast is pinning my partner to the ground?”
“You’re the one who did this to me! With no provocation!”
She pursed her lips. “You’re obviously a witch,” she said, glancing toward Jinx, “but you’re not like any witch I’ve ever met. I didn’t detect any magic on you, and I’ve yet to meet any witch who’s able to summon a wild animal out of nowhere like you just did.”
I eyed her, then motioned for Jinx to let Trystan up. In true cat fashion, she followed my order with her own interpretation by shrinking down to her normal, cat-sized form, and sitting on his chest. Trystan gave her a wary look as she began to groom herself, then cautiously attempted to prop himself up onan elbow. She let out a feline growl, and I suppressed a snicker when he immediately returned to his supine position.
“If you want me to tell you the truth about who I am,” I said to the witch, “then you’re going to have to tell me whoyouare, first.”
The witch sat back down on her crate with a sigh. “I’m Belladonna Greenspan,” she said, “And this is Trystan Balour. We’re the unofficial owners of the Red Tavern, and we gather intelligence and coordinate rescue and relief efforts for the rebellion.”
Greenspan.One of the three most influential witch families of the Verdantia Clan. “The unofficial owners?” I asked.
“Trystan’s master is the official proprietor… but we arranged for him to go on a very long trip, and he’s yet to return.” Belladonna gave me a wolfish smile. “As far as the viceroy and his staff are concerned, Trystan merely runs it in his absence.”
“Donna,” Trystan said sharply. “You’re telling her too much.”
I sighed, then walked over and scooped Jinx into my arms so the rebel bartender could finally get up. “If I told you my name was Kitana Nightshade, would that mean anything to you?” I asked them both.
Trystan shook his head, but the Verdantia witch’s eyes widened. “Kitana Nightshade as in the vampire hunter from the Nocturne Clan?” She crossed her arms over her nearly flat chest. “You must think I’m stupid. Kitana was slain in battle fifty years ago, and she was an extraordinarily powerful witch. She would never have allowed herself to be incapacitated as easily as you were tonight.”
Ouch.Clearly, I was not living up to my reputation. “Wasshe killed?” I asked lightly as I stroked Jinx’s fur. My shadow familiar unraveled into a coil of thick, smoky shadow, wrapping around my arms like a diaphanous shawl. “Or did someone fake her death so she wouldn’t be able to interfere with their nefarious plans?”
That last bit was a guess—I still didn’t know the exact why behind Sebastian’s decision to imprison me. But I did have my theories, and I looked forward to prying the truth out of him once I got my hands around his slimy neck.
“It would have had to be an incredible fake,” Belladonna argued. “There was a massive funeral attended by all the clan heads, and the body was presented and displayed before they put it on the pyre.”
An incredible fake.My knees began to wobble, and I sat down heavily in the chair. All these years, I’d thought that my clan had abandoned me, that no one had bothered to come look for me. But Sebastian had presented them with a body double so convincing, not one of the Grand Matrons or Patrons had questioned whether it was really me.
“I dunno, Donna,” Trystan said. “She seems pretty shocked. I don’t think she’s faking.”
