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“Sheis Elora,” Celeste exclaimed.
“No,sheis,” Elora countered, facing her. “Mother, you must end this madness.”
Celeste let out a frustrated groan.
Khalstorm shot Xanthia a pleading look. “Can you tell them apart?”
Xanthia glanced at both women for a tense moment. Celeste felt a probing power graze her subconscious and realized she’d felt that same sensation only minutes before…
Xanthia shook her head. “The spell is solid. I can’t differentiate.”
“Can you undo it?”
“Trying to break a spell on someone whoisn’tbespelled is dangerous. I’d need to know who is who first.”
Khalstorm murmured a curse under his breath, then set his gaze on the two witches. “Where did we first officially meet?”
Celeste realized immediately what he meant to do. He thought he could use trivia about their relationship to suss out who the real Celeste was, but—
“At our secret beach,” Elora preened. “You got a little cheeky, snatching my dress while I swam, and I knocked you in the water with an air spell.”
He seemed to relax a touch, until Celeste added, “And then I teased you with a glimpse of my backside before I sifted away. She knows all about us, Khalstorm. She can answer any question you have about our relationship, including about what we did last night.” She only realized this moments ago when Xanthia’s magic had brushed up against her subconscious, but during their battle, so had Elora’s, only she hadn’t just brushed up against it, she’d done a deep dive while Celeste had been fighting her off, to galvanize her mimic spell.
“Oh, goddess,” Elora cried out in believable distress, “she must have probed my mind.”
“You’ll have to knock us both out,” Celeste suggested.
“No don’t,” Elora argued. “That’s exactly what she wants. Other witches will sense the danger she’s in and come to her aid. They’d sift here right away, and you’ll be overrun.”
“Not from Garnath, they won’t,” Rayu announced with a self-satisfied grin. “The witches there have been captured, killed, or driven out.”
“What?” For the first time, Elora’s distress sounded authentic to Celeste’s ears. “How is that possible?”
At the same time, Khalstorm asked hopefully, “For real?”
Still brandishing his sword, Rayu nodded. “We tracked you there after we realized you’d escaped. Couldn’t understand at first why you’d escape just to go to the very place we were taking you. Then I realized your intentions.” He pinned Khalstorm with a curious gaze. “Something tells me things did no’ go as you planned.”
“Indeed.”
Contemplating him for a moment, Rayu continued. “You’d arrived long before us and spoiled the element of surprise. Rathmort’s coven was like a bee’s nest of activity. We were ambushed straight away by those rabid little beasts who thought they owned the place. They were no match for us, however. Once they realized they could no’ win, the survivors fled into the forest, the sniveling cowards.”
“Did you happen to kill Rathmort?”
Xanthia answered, “Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found.”
“Did we lose any on our side?” Khalstorm asked.
Rayu pursed his lips. “A few.”
Khalstorm sighed. “I’m sorry. That was never my intent.”
“What exactly was your intent?”
“It hardly matters now, but I’ll explain everything later.”
Rayu cocked his head. “Before or after you try to escape again?”
“No’ going anywhere until Celeste and this town are safe.”
