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“You brought me here, witch.”
“I’m not a—” But she was. All Vjestik were. Magda, while not a Vjestik, was undoubtedly a witch, albeit of a much darker persuasion, and it was her magic that had turned him into an animal. MagicAnahad fed him.I didn’t know. I didn’t know.“Please. Just... Sit down for a moment. We can talk.”
The corner of his upper lip peeled back. “I didn’t come here to talk.”
“I know,” Ana said, trying to keep calm, which was damn near impossible when she was standing naked, wielding a poker to keep a naked Ravenwood from jumping her bones. “I know, Varradyn. But it’s what we need to do right now. If you come closer, I’ll have no choice but to take you out with this.” She nudged the poker. “If you stay put, we can have a conversation. A proper one. And I’ll tell you everything. How I found you. How we got here. Who sent—”
“That’s quite enough!” Magda’s shrill voice radiated off the glass, settling into the stones. “You’ve made a proper mess of this situation, girl, and it’s time to end it. Kill him.”
“What?” Ana turned around, toward the direction of the words, but she couldn’t see the koldyna anywhere.
Even Varradyn stumbled out of his stupor momentarily, cocking his head in befuddlement.
“Kill him. I’d have preferred you fucked him first, but I should have known you’d need more warming up to the idea.”
“Warming up towhatidea? I would never, ever have done it. No matter what threats you hold over me. You may as well killmeif you think I’ll ever doanythinglike this again!”
“We’ll see.” The words creaked like boots on wooden steps. “Underneath the hearth you will find a dagger strapped. It’s yours. Take his heart.”
“I will not.” Ana backed away from Varradyn, from the fire, and from the dagger supposedly waiting for her. “Varradyn,go. Run. Fly away from herenowbefore it’s too late!”
“No, Varradyn,” Magda said, placid as a lake. “You will not go. You will not run. You will not fly anywhere.”
“I will not go. I will not run. I will not fly anywhere,” Varradyn repeated, monotone.
Ana whipped her focus between the raven and the traveling sound of Magda’s threats. “You’re completely mad. This isnotwhat we agreed to. This is not simpleendeavoring.”
“And how would you know? You always leave before the good part begins.” Magda’s shadow appeared first, then she stepped out from behind the large pulpit at the head of the dome. She flashed her blackened teeth. “Take his heart, Ana, or I take yours.”
Tears ran down Ana’s face as she spread her arms wide, poker held aloft. “Take it then! You have already taken my mother! You’re slowly taking my father, my brother! What else is there?What else is there, koldyna?”
Varradyn watched them both, shivering.
“What else...” Magda glided forward. Her thin orange hair was matted in small clumps around her face, almost as if she’d styled it that way. “You think I don’t know you gave your heart away? That I cannot see the signs of love in your eyes? In the way you choose your words? That I cannot read the flush in your cheeks when you’ve returned from town?” Her cackle sent a chilling bolt through Ana. “Oh, girl. Little stupid pjika. Of course I know. And now that you’ve angered me, I’ll find outwhohas distracted you so, and I’ll tear his heart from his chest, still beating. You’ll find it one night on your dinner plate, instead of supper. And unless you want me to slit your father’s throat in front of you and precious little Niko, you’lldevourit. Every last bite. Every last drop of blood he spilled, for lovingyou.A fitting end. And then no one will ever make that mistake again.”
Ana ambled sideways until she slammed into the hearth again. The room was spinning so fast, she no longer knew right from left from up from down. Varradyn. Magda. Glass. Fire. In her mind, she saw herself hurl the poker into the glass and run. Runharduntil she reached the entrance and then lift, shifting, and flying away from all the pain, sorrow, grief, and regret. Fromher.From all of it.
It was only when the first bolts of hail peppered her wings that Ana realized her escape hadn’t been in her head at all.
She swooped around, catching a breeze that carried her sideways until she was facing the way she’d come.
Magda stood outside the observatory.
Watching.
Waiting.
Glowering.
Ana locked it all away for later and raced across the sky toward home.
Chapter5
Use Your Illusions
Ana flew around until nightfall. On her descent into the snowy courtyard of Fanghelm, she heard the mournful notes of a funeral dirge floating up from the bottom of the hill.
The song may as well have been for her. She wasn’t dead yet, but she would be. Soon. A part of her had died in the observatory.
