She meant both inside and out. I hoped Anson would understand, if her eavesdropping annoyed him. We’d find out soon enough if Amal’s aggression was increasing. I pulled one book closer. Read the title: Use of Magical Objects and Tools in Seidr Traditions.
I’d already briefed Laura on my meeting with the nymphs. She was as shocked as I’d been that the nymphs were so profoundly involved. They’d always pretended to have no knowledge since it wasn’t their concern.
Laura shook her head. “I’m worried about Amal… if some part of her remembers the cutting and blood. Although I found a reference in the early literature. It left the door open on whether painting runes with blood was used to frighten people, or if it was necessary for the magic.”
“When Grayson inked my runes, he didn’t need blood.” Only the ink he’d made in the cave, and his lifelong commitment to protect me no matter what the emotions were, or how our lives turned out.
“Seidr magic always involves bonds.”
“Can we break the magic?”
“Only by going back to the source and putting the original sin to right.”
By returning the wolves to the queens. One wolf. One remaining queen.
Laura opened the book in front of her and read the opening line. “Seidr magic that properly targets the soul will strip away a person’s power.”
“And your wolves are part of your souls,” I said. “That’s why the sorceress took them. To steal the queens’ power.”
“In a way, yes. But they are separate, and you are—”
“A no-wolf.”
“Noa…” Her gaze jerked up, then narrowed. “Where are you going with this?”
“I have an empty soul-space. That makes me invincible, doesn’t it? No wolf, no chance of losing what I don’t have, or being vulnerable to seidr sorcery. I’m the perfect, fated person to go after the Bone Woman.”
Laura’s face tightened, but she said nothing, blinking as she stared at the open book, leather bound in red with gold lettering. Small, the kind of book someone might slip into a pocket or backpack. Hide away in a crevice. So many secret places where that book might have hidden, before ending up in Anson’s archive.
“I thought you didn’t believe in fate,” she murmured.
Sunlight shimmered through the fake archive window. “It’s easier to understand this life in terms of fate. A black destiny. Which is both ambitious and perfectly arbitrary.”
Laura gripped my hands with hers. “Stop right now. You were in a coma for two weeks, Noa. Now you’re reeling with what Aine said, and Amal’s threat, and even that lament—don’t lie. I know how it tore you up. Then finding Julien—yes, I know about that. Anson accidentally let it slip, and I haven’t said a word to anyone about it. But don’t follow this path that you’re on. Stop and put everything into perspective. Give yourself a break, for fuck’s sake.”
A tease tugged at my lips. “For fuck’s sake, Laura? Isn’t that a little blue for you?”
“I’m coming out of my shell on this,” she snapped. “I mean it. Don’t make me worry about you.”
“I worry about you. All of you, the wolves in Sentinel Falls. The Carmag.”
“You’re not allowed to have martyr syndrome.”
“I want to talk to the witch again,” I said. “The one in the Farmer’s Market.”
“And ask her what?”
Before I thought of an answer, the archive doors whooshed open and a woman entered. She was auburn-haired, strikingly lovely. She walked with the aid of a crutch fitted to her arm. A wave of her hair fell artfully to hide the burn scar on the side of her face.
She hesitated on the threshold; her smile wavered before she settled firmly into confidence. “I meant no interruption.” Even her voice was memorable. “I was looking for my brother. The meeting adjourned early and I thought I might find him here.”
“I haven’t seen him,” Laura said warmly. Then, to me, she added, “This is Anson’s sister, Lila Salas. Noa Bishop.”
Lila’s smile was quick and taut. “Welcome to the Carmag. Are you enjoying your stay?”
“As much as possible. We’re all grateful for the hospitality.”
“Of course.” Russet hair swayed as she nodded, then half turned and gestured toward the door. “I’m needed in the medical complex, or I’d stay and visit. If you see Anson, please tell him I’m looking for him.”
