Elsie barrels into me so hard that I can’t breathe as she squeezes my midsection like a starving python. Cas grins as though it’s the funniest thing he’s seen all day, but there’s a desperation in the way Elsie clings to me that stops me from echoing the expression. Something in the way she’s holding herself screams guilt and almost… fear.
“I thought you’d died,” she whispered, eyes already red and raw from tears. “What happened to your hand!?”
“Elsie,” Sophie’s voice breaks up the reunion, “I trust you’re happy to see to the Shadow’s wounds while I help the Lunars organise the funerals.”
The Lady Solar’s voice is harsher than I’ve ever heard it as she addresses the normally sunny teenager.
“Of course, Mother Solar,” Elsie replies, releasing me from her death grip and dropping into a deep bow.
My eyes widen as I realise that Sophie is about to ghost me again. She can’t leave. I need answers.
Chief among them, how is a witch responsible for making the Mortal Cure?
“Mother Solar, I have questions.” I have to know about the Alchemist.
Sophie sighs, then looks back at me. “I cannot give you the answers you’re looking for.”
“Bullshit.” I get several alarmed looks from the witches around me, but I’m past caring. I take care to lower my voice before I continue, but I don’t back down. “I have questions, and you know more than you’re telling me. Unless you want to have this discussion in front of everyone else, I suggest you make time for it privately.”
Sophie’s eyes harden the tiniest fraction. It isn’t even something I should notice. But we’re locked into a battle of wills now, our eyes caught in a contest I’m too angry to lose.
It takes a long minute, but she looks away, breaking the contact with a small nod. She moves away before I can say anything else, but I know she’ll keep her word.
Whatever secrets she and Petra were hiding, they’re not something they want the other witches to know.
“What are you talking about?” Elsie asks.
“Nevermind.”
She just shrugs, happy to let the matter drop and avoid the harshness in my tone. “Well, you still need healing before you deal with whatever it is. Come on.”
The tiny Solar all but drags me through the crowd, followed by two amused members of my harem. The four of us get a selection of strange looks as we pass. The witches are caught between bowing to me, ogling my mates and glaring at Elsie.
What has the Solar done to upset them all so much? I know she’s annoying, but this is deeper than the normal adult frustration at a juvenile.
Elsie doesn’t stop, doesn’t even acknowledge anyone else as she hurries across crumbling bridges and up half-destroyed stairs.
The hall of healing is derelict, but also mercifully empty. Elsie doesn’t waste time gaping at the huge hole that has swallowed one quarter of the room, but starts rummaging through one of the few unharmed cupboards.
Cas and Kier wait by the door, postures alert, but their eyes are fixed on me as I approach her.
I don’t trust how they haven’t spoken since they got here. With Kier, that’s normal. With Cas…
“You’ve burned out. I can feel it from here.” It sounds almost like the teenager is scoldingme.
“I know.”
“How did you manage that?”
“An athame.”
Elsie drops the bundle of herbs she’s holding and stares at me like I’m a ghost. “That kind of power should have killed you. How are you still alive?”
Cas’s loud growl made me glance nervously towards the two of them. Both he and Kier look absolutely thunderous. Well, there goes downplaying the danger of what I’ve done.
When will Elsie stop getting me into trouble?
“I survived.” The statement is as much for the growling men behind me as it is an answer to her question. “I didn’t have any other choice.”
