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She moved with a lazy kind of grace, weaving her long, scaled body between the stones littering the cave floor. I wondered, not for the first time, why she didn’t at least clear the space given her form. The mass of snakes crowning her head writhed and slithered, with a great many of those unsettling eyes landing on me.
“I like the stones,” she said, a warm smile lighting her face.
Right.I’d been so focused on getting my questions answered, that I’d almost forgotten her magic wasn’t limited to seeing. She could also hear thoughts if one wasn’t careful enough to guard them.
“Come now, Captain. You know I would never use your inner musings against you.”
I wanted to believe that, but we weren’t that close. Considering there was a very real chance one of my dearest friends had betrayed me, it was also possible that I wasn’t as good a judge of character as I’d once imagined.
Still, I dipped my head respectfully, letting my hand rest loose on the pommel of my cutlass. “I appreciate that, Rue. Just as I hope you can appreciate that I’m here on a time sensitive matter.”
Her throaty laugh filled my mind as she moved, as though she were standing right beside me and all around me at once. “Time in this realm is an animal all its own.”
She slid to the side, taking a seat on a rough stone throne built into a rise in the center of the cavern. Shafts of moonlight spilled in through the holes dotting the ceiling, reflecting off the fine metallic details of her leather top. Her long tail caught those streams of light as well as it coiled almost lazily beside her.
“Indeed. Which is why I’m here. I need to know—”
She held up a hand. “Yes.”
“Yes?”
“Sending the shadow was part of the demon’s plan.”
I blinked at her. It shouldn’t have been so unsettling that she knew exactly what I’d intended to ask. Still, there was no denying the unease working its way through me.
“To what end?”
Petra had been summoned to the human world in her physical form on many occasions, but her shadow had always remained anchored to this realm. That was the way the magic damning the demon to this enchanted realm worked.
She shook her head gently, a hundred tiny snakes swaying with the movement. “You know the boy wouldn’t give up his soul, correct?”
I nodded.
“Were you aware the demon tried to take it by force and failed?”
That was news to me, but it did offer some explanation as to why Matty had been unconscious when he’d arrived on my ship in Leo’s arms.
Petra had once delighted in ripping children’s souls from their bodies when they wouldn’t play along with her twisted games. In doing so, it weakened the soul a great deal, which meant the power left for the creature to consume was minimal. That tiny detail hadn’t stopped her from taking what she wanted after other methods had proven unsuccessful.
“How did it fail?” Howcouldit have failed? Stealing souls was the demon’s specialty.
“The boy’s tie to Wendy is just as strong as his sister’s,” she said. “Moira.”
“Never.” Saying her name aloud tore open a wound inside me that hadn’t existed a day ago.
Rue settled back, huffing out a small breath as she drummed her fingers on the stone beneath her hand. “I’m rarely wrong about anything, my dear captain.”
That pulled a bitter chuckle from me. “Trust me, her name is Never.”
She watched me with a kind of motherly affection one showed while watching someone else’s children play. Like she had a soft spot for me but wouldn’t go so far as to sacrifice herself on my behalf. “I suppose you would know.”
I shook my head before the rush of recent memories of the woman had a chance to flood my mind and dull my senses. She was trying to pull those thoughts from me. She was gentle about it, I would give her that, but I wasn’t in the mood to be manipulated.
“What about Leo?” I asked, a harsh tone coloring the question.
“What about him?”
I bit my tongue to stop the sharp retort that tried to slip out at her deliberate ignorance. “Is he part of the demon’s plan?”
