The desire to backtrack, disappear into the nearing dusk, galled me. Maybe Laura’s warning sank in more profoundly than I’d imagined, turning every shadow into a threat, every word into a temptation or a warning.
The witch heaved herself upright, the bone necklace juddering as if the bones were still alive.
“Maybe you’re the Bone Woman,” I said, holding her dark gaze.
“I’m a far cry from her.” She shuffled the tarot cards on her counter. “Let’s see what the cards say.”
Her fingers were nimble as she slapped the first card, face up. I’d never seen designs like those on her cards. “The night you came in here… you were hiding from the loss.”
I stared at the image of a veiled girl who seemed to stare back.
“The lament dredged up the guilt.” The witch snapped a second card from the deck… a woman weeping.
“Friends said it wasn’t your fault, but you knew they didn’t believe it.”
A third card. A third female face, turned away.
“And only a fool sees a kitten when a lion enters the village.”
Her fingers clawed the edge of a fourth card before she flipped it over. I stared at the image; a lion stared back. A kitten nestled between its paws.
I refused to let my voice waver. “Someone else said that to me.”
“Did he, now?”
The old woman gathered up her cards, resettled the deck; the belled rings on her long fingers clanged with a soft, discordant sound.
I moistened my lips. “If you’re a seer, then you know why I’m here.”
“I know.” Her glance skimmed the milling crowds. “What else I know is the downside to vampires cutting those runes of yours. They marked you, girl. And now… it’s like tracking a straying dog.”
Something Grayson would have sensed, if it was true—and if he’d been at full strength, not nearly destroyed by the all the killing. This witch wasn’t an ally, not if she belonged to the Gemini coven. But she also used people and opportunities. And I hadn’t forgotten the rules of the game.
“If I’m being tracked, then I don’t have much time.”
Her gaze turned shrewd. “You have something to show me?”
I tugged the folded paper from my pocket, slapped it down on her counter, but kept my palm on top like a weight when she reached. “How much will it cost me?”
She pursed her lips, wrinkles creasing as she stared at the folded paper and the image she couldn’t see with my palm in the way. “No answers in the alpha’s fancy archive? I’ve heard it’s extensive.”
“I’ve heard covens keep records for centuries. Records different from what the wolves find interesting.”
She scowled. “Do I look like a walking archive to you?”
“You look like someone who wants revenge for her coven. For the two women tied to their thrones, who were dead long before I got there.” I tapped a finger against the folded paper. “We fight the same enemy.”
“You fight. I want none of it.”
“You’d rather read cards and tea leaves to non-believers in a flea market?” I threw her words back at her, hit the mark.
The witch arched an eyebrow. “Is it answers you want, girl? Or justification?” She pointed at the folded paper. “Move your hand and back away.”
My turn to arch an eyebrow. “I won’t touch you. Syphon from you, if that’s the concern.”
“Not why I asked.” She sorted through the crystals, pulling a clear stone from the depths. Set it down on the paper beside my palm.
The feathery brush of spiders scampered over my skin, and I jerked my hand back.
