Page 44 of Familiar of the Witch

‘Yet you failed.’ Her words were cold.

My gut clenched. How I hated that word, hated it even more because she was correct. Ihadfailed. ‘Yes,’ I said simply.

‘No,’ Bastion growled. ‘Amber did not fail. Melva herself said that it was her time. She had foreseen it and it could not be undone, no matter how hard we tried.’

‘And did you try,protector,to save her?’ Liyana sneered.

‘I did,’ Bastion confirmed.

Liyana lost some of her combative stance. She believed us – or at least she believed Bastion. ‘What brings you before me?’ she asked abruptly.

I doubted she’d appreciate me crawling around a pentagram so I got right to it. ‘I need a bespelled cloak.’

‘Why?’

‘I’m hunting the necromancer that killed Melva. I want them dead. There’s going to be a gathering of black witches at an auction of dark artefacts and we need to go to it.’

‘Why?’ she asked again. ‘What will your presence do?’ she sneered.

‘We’ll infiltrate the auction and we’ll gather information to end the black witches.’

She barked a laugh. ‘You and a griffin against the full might of the black Coven – and more black witches besides – gathered in one place?’

‘You know about the black Coven?’ My eyes narrowed.

‘It is impossible to see the future without doing so.’

That wasn’t good, not good at all. ‘Do they win?’ I asked, my heart pounding suddenly.

Liyana’s mouth twisted in a caricature of a smile, ‘Why, Amber DeLea, have you started to believe in prophecy?’

I glared. ‘I’ve always believed in prophecy, I just don’t like it. I don’t want my actions to be anything but my own. If you tell me myfuture is predestined, what is the point of life? I would simply be a marionette, strolling down the pre-set path made for me. What joy does that bring?’

‘It is not the destination that matters but the journey itself,’ she said sanctimoniously.

‘If the journey is written in the stars then why bother?’

‘Fool! There are hundreds of paths stretching before you, a million journeys to take.’

‘Perhaps. But knowing about one of them sets it in stone.’ I folded my arms. ‘And that is why I don’t like prophecy because it is trying to cajole me down one of many paths. If it succeeds, my future is set.’

She huffed in exasperation. ‘It is not so ham-fisted as that. You fail to appreciate the intricacies and subtleties of a prophecy. If it is told to you at one time it may have one meaning, but told to you at another you might interpret it completely differently.’

I sighed and my head pounded a little more. ‘Can we argue about the worth of prophecy another time? My head is aching and I need a Seer-bespelled cloak. I need it now. Name your price.’ Revealing how much I needed the cloak was not my wisest negotiating move, but pain was making me blunder. I needed to gather my wits, whichwere scattered around me like rune stones clumsily tossed by an acolyte.

Liyana pursed her lips. ‘A favour, Amber DeLea. Of my timing and choosing,’ she said finally.

‘One favour, but with the caveat that I will not assist you by act or omission in harming or killing another living being.’

‘Done and done.’

‘So mote it be.’ I touched a hand to my aching temples.

‘Witnessed.’ Bastion spoke quietly. He was battling the pain, too.

‘The cloak?’ I asked Liyana.

‘Do you think I have one lying around?’ She raised an imperious eyebrow. ‘It will be made and delivered to your Coven tower.’

---