Page 58 of Familiar of the Witch

I looked around. We were in Tristan’s lounge, all polished wooden floors and lush fabrics and pillows. It didn’t look like an evil den, but appearances can be deceptive. I touched the walls and used my magic to run through the wards on them. As a reception room, these had wards against vampyrs and a few other helpful ones but nothing sinister.

But I could also see a hidden layer of runes that were not activated – and those were as sinister as hell. Once they lit up, no one would be walking in or out; Tristan could lock this room down like a jail cell. But for nowthey remained inert. In his arrogance, hiding behind his position as a Council member, he had assumed he was safe.

There was another door, warded to high heaven. I suspected it opened into an office that Tristan used as a dark ritual space.

I touched the wall and the layers of runes lit up as I ran my magic through them. At first glance it looked like they were really heavy-duty but, as I lifted the layers, I spied black runes underneath. Bad things would happen to people who breached those.

I licked my lips. I could start to paintezrobut we’d be here forever. I’d have to cancel them, rune by rune, layer by layer. It would take so long and the Goddess’s warning had felt urgent.

I didn’t know what to do. In desperation, I reached up and clasped my new necklace. ‘Sisters, I need help. How do I get through the wards?’

‘Blood,’came the instant answer from a chorus of voices. ‘Use the griffin’s blood. He can coax down even the black wards with his blood.’

I turned to Bastion, astonishment on my face. ‘You can coaxwards?’

Chapter 47

My mouth was still open with shock so I clacked it shut. ‘How is that possible?’ Wards aren’t sentient.

No wonder he was the pre-eminent assassin in the world; not even our best wards could hope to keep him out. All those times when I’d strengthened my wards against him, they’d been as ineffectual as a chocolate fireguard.

Bastion cleared his throat. ‘A witch uses her magic to draw runes. Each rune could have dozens of uses but it is the witch’s intent that dictates how it is used.’

‘I knowthat,’I said impatiently. ‘I’m a rune master!’ He was teaching me to suck eggs.

He gave me a chastening look that I ignored. ‘If you’d let mecontinue…’

I gestured grandly to indicate that the floor was his, then folded my arms and tapped my toes. I managed to restrain the audible huff that wanted to slide out, but only just.

‘In giving their intent, the witch gives her magic to the runes and temporarily gives them a purpose. It’s not enough to call them sentient but enough that I can disrupt them.’

‘Surely the runes don’t have the intention to do anything other than what they are wrought to do? You can’t coax them to fail.’

‘All wards fail – it is a constant cycle. That’s why you witches are always having to repaint them. My magic disrupts the link between the rune and their maker, so they fail sooner than they would do otherwise.’

Something connected in my brain. ‘Hold on! You once kicked down a door hidden and warded with black runes. You triggered a black-witch’s curse and you nearly gotkilled.Why didn’t you just coax them down?’

Embarrassment flooded me – Bastion’s mortification, not my own. He mumbled something I didn’t catch. ‘What? Speak up,’ I ordered impatiently.

His cheeks were red. ‘I was trying to impress you.’

I stared. ‘By kicking down a door?’

‘Women like that sort of thing,’ he muttered.

I strugglednot to laugh. ‘For future reference, I am far more impressed with your pancake-making skills than your ability to grate cheese with your abs.’

‘Good to know.’ His face was still red.

‘You really pulled a curse down on yourself because you were trying to impress me?’

‘Can we leave it now?’ he asked plaintively.

I smirked. ‘For now, but we’re revisiting it later. That really is adorable.’

The deadliest man on seven continents narrowed his eyes. ‘I amnotadorable.’

‘You are, but we’ll discuss that later. Time is marching on.’ I waved my hand impatiently. ‘Break the wards, Bastion. Let’s rescue our Frogmatch.’

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