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“We’ll talk after we tell her what happened,”Kierden murmured.
I agreed, and we both focused on our meal.
Chapter22
Nissa
Eisley made conversation while Kierden and I both ate. When we were done, all three of us went back to the room the bodies were in. One of the fae woman from earlier was already waiting for us inside, and when we entered, she pulled a small pouch nearly identical to mine out of her pocket. She tossed it to me, and I caught it.
“Don’t touch the other leaves again,”Kierden warned me as he pulled my pouch out of his pocket and handed it to me.
“It’ll be easier to match them if I hold them.”
“I will drag your ass back to my room if you even think about it,”he growled.
Though I gave him a dramatic sigh, I had to admit that he had a point.
I wouldn’t touch anything.
“What’s going on?” Eisley asked.
“When Nissa was in Dirue’s home, she realized one of the fertility-suppressing plants wasn’t the same as the others around it. They look the same, but their energy is different,” the female fae who’d returned with her leaves explained. Kierden was too busy watching me to make sure I didn’t touch any of the leaves to explain it himself.
“Veil,” Eisley breathed. “You thinkDirueis the murderer?”
“We think someone has been murdering couples for a long, long time, and this is the first clue we’ve ever had,” the other woman said.
They continued talking while I set my leaves and the other woman’s on tables a few feet away from each other, and then stepped back and closed my eyes.
Letting out a slow breath, I forced myself to follow the flow of my magic again.
It took some time, but eventually, I managed to find the plants in the room again.
I paid close attention to the individual leaves for a few minutes before finally withdrawing from the magic. I’d made sure I was absolutely certain—I wasn’t going to be responsible for condemning someone for something they hadn’t done.
All three pairs of eyes in the room were focused on me when I opened mine.
“Mine match hers.” I gestured to the woman who’d brought hers for comparison. “The couples’ leaves feel different than ours.”
Eisley’s expression grew grave.
“It could still be that the mated couples need stronger plants,” the other woman reminded us, though she didn’t sound convinced.
“She’s the killer,” Kierden said, his voice low but sure. “It doesn’t make sense, but nothing else does either.”
Eisley’s grimace deepened. “She supported the unmated couples more than anyone else, and opposed the anti-sex laws more loudly, too. I don’t know how she could go from that to murdering all newly-mated couples.”
“She told me that the cult didn’t have anything against love, they just thought mated couples could destroy Evare,” I said quietly.
“Veil.” Eisley pushed her hair out of her eyes.
There was a long moment of silence.
Finally, Kierden said, “We don’t act until we’ve heard back from Govind. It’ll be a few hours; he’s going over there to ask her about the fertility of fully-mated pairs.”
The women nodded.
“We’ll keep an eye out for him and come find you when he shows,” Eisley said, looking at Kierden.
