Page 118 of A Weave of Lies
The agent had followed her everywhere she went and reported it all, then. Soon, the monster would learn of her conversation with his rival.
Maybe he would accept killing her corpse now.
Maraz’Miri stepped closer and entangled their arms together. Tugging a stumbling Semras along, she sauntered toward her cell. “You’ve been up to a lot of things for someone under lock and key. I’ll teach you how to pick them yourself for the next time. It was still quite impressive how you tried, though. You should join us!”
“… What …?”
“Nimue’s boring now that she’s had her baby. She just keeps to her room and shushes me away whenever I come by in a breeze. I bet you wouldn’t. Do you really have to leave?Ensi-il-ensi, he said—”
Semras planted her feet on the ground. Her arm slipped from Maz’s, and the agent kept moving forward without her.
“Maraz’Miri,” she called. With her sleeves pushed back and one glove lost somewhere she couldn’t remember, her shackles were on full display now. “I’m not here of my own free will. I’m a prisoner. Tell me you understand that.”
“Uh? Come on, ifEnsi-il-ensiwanted you as a prisoner, you wouldn’t be able to sneak around at all.” Maz spun a few times on her heels with arms spread wide. “He’s just waiting for you to run.”
What …?
Her declaration stunned Semras into silence.
Maraz’Miri took her arm again and dragged her back to the room. “You should do it soon, I can tell he’s growing impatient.”
Waiting for her to run?
Semrassteppedintoherroom, the agent’s words still weighing heavily on her mind. It wasn’t just hers. Mingling in were those of Nimue, of Callum, of Themas. Of her captor, even.
Something was deeply wrong. She could feel it in her bones.
Thread by thread, the weave of lies trapping her in this waking nightmare was fraying at the edges. Every contradiction she heard, every lie out of place, every act that spoke louder than words brought her closer to unraveling it.
It was time to slice its warps and wefts and peer into what lay beyond.
“Maraz’Miri,” Semras called, “could I have paper, ink, and a feather pen, please?”
“As you wish!” She bowed with a little dance. “Themas is supposed to be on guard duty right now. I’ll warn him to come back and bring you all that at the same time.”
Maz closed the door behind her. For the first time since her imprisonment, Semras heard it hit the frame with the soft click of wood on wood rather than the creaks of a cell door.
Mind ensconced in deep thoughts, she focused on solving the riddle once and for all. She had to; there were only so many times she could break before the pieces of her wouldn’t fit back together anymore.
Like a potion to identify, she’d lay out all the facts she knew and make sense of its chaos. Then she’d wield the truth like a weapon and take down her monster.
A knock on the door startled her away from her thoughts. “Come in,” Semras said.
Themas entered cautiously, then set the stationery down on the dressing table. “Semras …”
“I … I went to the annex.” She tried smiling. From his worried frown, she hadn’t succeeded.
“What was in it?”
“Nothing but a baby. And not …” Her voice trailed off before she could say ‘even his.’ Ulrech and Nimue’s secret wasn’t hers to share.
“Bloody Void, there was nothing at all? No paper? No plan, no … nothing?”
Semras thought of her portrait. “Nothing new.”
Themas groaned. “Then we can only … um, use the baby, I-I suppose? A great deal more tasteless than I was prepared for, but we could—”
“Donotfinish that sentence, Themas,” she growled, glaring at him. “Do not eventhinkabout it. That child has the blood of witches flowing through his veins. He is kin to me.”
