Page 16 of Ivy & Bone

“Forgive me for not trusting your word,” Polina said in a flat voice. “Besides, there are always loopholes in a bargain. But this pomegranate tea will ensure you don’t renege your side of the bargain. If you do, the magic contained in the tea will destroy you from the inside out.” A cruel smile spread across her face as if she would actually enjoy watching his demise.

“Pomegranates,” Cyrus grumbled. He was learning to despise that wretched fruit.

“Yes.” Polina was staring at Prudence now. “I know exactly what pomegranates represent.” Polina’s gaze hardened, and in that moment, Cyrus realized she knew. She knew her daughter was married to the god of Hell.

Prudence rose to her feet and gnawed on her lower lip, avoiding her mother’s gaze. “Mama . . .”

“Save it,” Polina said tightly. “What’s done is done. Now, go fix it.”

Prudence only nodded, still not looking at Polina.

Sybil returned with a large pouch that jingled with each step. She pressed it into Prudence’s hands. “Be careful, sweet.” They embraced, and Prudence blinked tears from her eyes.

Polina shoved the bowl more incessantly toward Cyrus, and he groaned before accepting it. He only allowed himself a moment’s hesitation before thinking to himself, I am not a coward. He would do whatever it took to return to his domain. Just as Prudence would do anything to retrieve her sister.

Bracing himself, he tipped the contents of the bowl into his mouth and swallowed it down. The tart flavor burned down his throat, and he smacked his lips, struggling to get the thick nectar as far from his tongue as possible. When he was finished, he spat on the ground at Polina’s feet, but she didn’t even flinch.

She nodded once before accepting the empty bowl from him.

“Here.” Sybil shoved a pile of clothes into Cyrus’s arms. He wasn’t sure when she’d disappeared, but at some point, she’d run off to fetch some clothing for him. He scowled down at the peasant garb that smelled of fish and dirt.

“Don’t look so revolted,” Sybil snapped. “It’s better than nothing.”

“Is it?” Cyrus arched an eyebrow. “I happen to know how good I look naked.”

“Oh, Goddess help us all,” Polina whispered, raising her gaze skyward.

“Mama.” Prudence stared past them with wide eyes.

The spirits had multiplied. The wispy white auras now saturated the air so thickly that the village seemed to be ensconced in a dense fog.

“Almighty Goddess,” Sybil breathed in horror. “They’ll never stop.”

Prudence’s face had drained of color as she stared numbly at the souls that continued multiplying. Even Cyrus had never seen anything like it. His first journey to the mortal realm had been like a leak in the gate, allowing one soul at a time to slip through.

But this was as if an entire dam had burst, unleashing a powerful flood that would sweep away everyone and everything.

“We’re safe in the house,” Polina insisted. “Prudence, you must go. Now.”

But Prudence continued to stare at the souls, her expression haunted. Cyrus sensed she was seeing something else; something that shook her to the core.

Prudence blinked, her eyes moist, before turning back to her mother. “I can’t. I have to find a way to stop this first.” She looked at Cyrus, her face hardening with grim determination. “Get those clothes on. We have work to do.”

BANISHMENT

PRUE

While Cyrus was busy dressing himself on the porch, Prue darted through her house, dodging various coven members and muttering her apologies as she elbowed them. The house, which had seemed large for only three people after Mona died, now seemed impossibly small with the entire coven crammed inside.

“It’s unwise to perform a banishment,” Polina chided for the fourth time, trailing Prue like an incessant shadow. “Especially after the massive spell you just cast, bringing that in my village.” She gestured a hand toward the front door where Cyrus stood, cursing as he stepped into the borrowed clothes from Erasmus, an older man who lived next-door.

“Would you rather I abandon you all and let the spirits take you?” Prue snapped, snatching a jar of jimsonweed from the shelf in the kitchen and throwing it into her bag where it clinked along with the other ingredients. After a moment’s hesitation, Prue opened a closet door and dug through various boxes and shawls and hats until she found what she was looking for: her mother’s old pair of sandals.

Goddess, how long had it been since Prue had worn shoes? Wrinkling her nose, she stepped into the sandals, already hating the way they crowded her feet. But she couldn’t exactly wander around the Realm of Gaia barefoot. Not all terrains were as easy to navigate as Krenia.

“Yes, I would!” Polina cried, waving her arms and accidentally whacking the shoulder of Beatrice, the Crone of the coven. “Sorry, Beatrice,” she muttered quickly. “Prudence, the way to solve this problem is to dump that demon back to the gate where he belongs. That is what you can do for this coven.”

Prue gritted her teeth, whirling to face her mother. “I am not leaving these people to fend for themselves. Not—not again.”

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