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I nodded at her, figuring I should at least acknowledge her presence.
She let the curtain fall back into place.
Now that was more like the welcome I was used to.
Chapter Ten
The smell of fresh hay greeted me as soon as I stepped into my room, but I didn’t think to be scared until Fen made a mewling noise.
Hay.
A rustling sound, not unlike a bird taking flight, drew my attention to the back corner of the suite. The lights were out, making it impossible to see anything, but all the same I knew instantly I wasn’t alone.
I had barely even thought about escaping when a calm, steady female voice said, “Do. Not. Move.”
The command was a deep purr and made me freeze in place, my eyes drawn to the space it had come from. “Can I turn on the lights?” I asked.
“Yes. If that is what you need to feel secure.” There was something like a laugh in her tone, as if she wanted me to know just how foolish I was to think the light could protect me.
>
I flicked the switch by the door, casting the space in soft yellow light. Sitting on a low chair near the bathroom was the goddess Macha.
I had never met Macha personally, yet I knew who she was without a moment’s hesitation. I was familiar with her sister Badb, who was another aspect of the Morrigan. Macha looked like her sister, physically, but also nothing like her, in that I didn’t want to scream when I saw her face. She had long red hair plaited into a series of braids, starting with small ones, then those small ones woven into bigger ones, until what remained was an intertwined tapestry of copper hair that resembled a very elegant rope hanging down to her waist.
Atop her head was a large headdress made entirely of raven feathers. Except it…rustled.
Then part of it moved, and a live bird fixed me with its glassy black eye.
Oh.
Her dress was simple for that of a goddess, a long stone-colored gown cinched at the waist with a leather belt. Except the hem from the floor to her knee was stained in various shades of red and brown, until the color was so deep at the bottom it was nearly black.
This, I realized, was from thousands of years of walking through fields of blood.
Beneath her skirts, a pair of horse’s hooves rested against the floor instead of human feet.
The Morrigan were harbingers of death. And Macha in particular was the bringer of war.
A fact I hoped was going to be irrelevant to our conversation.
“Can I sit?” I asked.
“You may.” Her stare was calculating, and I knew she was drinking in every move I made, looking for signs of weakness.
She wouldn’t have to look all that hard. I wanted to sit because my knees were about to turn to Jell-O. I could play it off like the gods weren’t impressive, but the second I had to share a room with one I was immediately reminded they were not to be dismissed so easily.
Her eyes didn’t move from me the entire time as I set down Fen’s carrier and took a seat in the chair next to the door. The bed practically smirked at me, reminding me how badly I’d been craving sleep just seconds earlier.
Now that I was sitting I remembered my decorum and bowed my head. “Goddess Macha, keeper of horses, bringer of war, sister of the Morrigan. To what do I owe this humbling gift of your presence?” As a rule I didn’t owe her any kind of fealty because my wagon was already hitched to Seth. But I could still lay the politeness on nice and thick.
She didn’t move from her seat. Instead she laced her fingers together and placed her hands gently in her lap. Unlike Badb, she didn’t wear the threat of violence right on the surface. Everything about Badb was made to unsettle whoever was near her. She radiated something that made people scared. With Macha the fear was more implicit. I knew I was scared of her, but I also wasn’t ready to wet myself.
It was a very weird balance to strike.
“It has come to my attention you’ve decided to investigate these…deaths.” Macha waved her hand as she said the word, like she wasn’t sure it was the appropriate way to state it.
“The initiate deaths?”
