Page 134 of A Weave of Lies
Themas sighed. “I am listening.”
“There is nothing between the inquisitor and me. And therewillbe nothing. Regardless of what I want—and I am not saying I do—what he made me suffer will always hang between us.” Semras glanced at where she’d last seen Estevan. “Even if I tried to ignore it, it would fester like an internal wound and rot the foundation of anything we may have. I am not an idiotic, besotted girl, Themas. I know there are things that cannot be forgiven.”
The knight smiled. It didn’t reach his eyes. “Good to know you still have your wits about you. Rejecting me is fine, but I’d hate to lose to someone like him.”
Semras’ face twisted into a scowl. “Did you see me as just a prize to be won all along?”
A gallant knight once chased away guards for her; the witch wondered where he had gone. He certainly didn’t stand before her right now.
His hazel eyes softened. “No, I—I sincerely wanted to keep you safe from him. I told you I was worried about you, and I still am.” Themas lifted a tentative hand, then rested it on her cheek. “It would have been brief, but I would have loved you all the more fiercely for it.”
Semras shuffled on her feet but didn’t move away. Even as she knew it was only a foolish dream, even as she was certain Themas couldn’t have fulfilled what she yearned for, she had still wanted to hear someone choose her.
But he had never intended to keep by her side. Even if she had chosen him, he’d have just ended up joining the long list of people passing by in her life, staying and then moving on while she remained behind and alone.
Always alone, even when surrounded by a crowd—as if a wall stood between her and them. As if she were waiting for someone to come reach out for her.
Themas glanced at her lips. “Your beauty isstunning. It’s a weapon you could wield to make any man kneel at your feet. You could have anyone.” He hesitated before continuing. “Do not fall for him. He manipulated you, and he never stopped doing it. If you have made a deal for your freedom, Semras, Velten will break it. Everything he wants, he spoils and takes for himself. And I … I fear he may yet break what he cannot have.”
Semras looked away. Themas’ plea mirrored her own deepest fears. Estevan wasn’t the monster he had wanted her to believe in, but he had still acted like one. Part of him wascapableof it.
She shuddered to think of what else he might be capable of.
“He won’t take me.” Semras smiled bitterly. “And as long as his debt toward me remains unpaid in kind, I won’t take him either.”
The knight softly gripped her chin and turned her attention back to him. Fondness and longing fought for a place in his eyes. “I don’t regret trying my chances with you, as futile as it ended up being. I only regret never knowing the depths of your passion. May I be so bold as to request one last kiss from this bewitching witch?”
She hesitated. A deep guilt still haunted her for deceiving Themas in order to use him. For the way she wasstillusing him as a shield between Estevan and her. “I—”
“I hate to intrude upon lovers, but time is of the essence,” Estevan said, voice cold and quiet.
Semras stepped away from Themas, and the knight groaned lowly.
Estevan was standing next to Pagan, fist clutching the reins firmly. It wasn’t needed—next to the other, ear-twitching horse, the half-fey was eerily still and silent. A demure, prune-coloured shine rippled through its damp coat, betraying its kelpie blood. From it, drops of water fell one by one onto the inquisitor’s feet.
Estevan looked equally drenched. By all evidence, he had to retrieve his temperamental steed by wading into the pond himself. His damp shirt was now clinging to him, moulding itself against the defined lines of his muscles. Under the moonlit night, the see-through fabric left little for the imagination, and the way his hair now fell over his eyes intensified his gaze in a way Semras hadn’t expected.
That man looked far too stunning for one who’d just walked into a pond, she thought. She tried to hold back a coy smile.
“Laugh if you wish,” Estevan said flatly.
“I wouldn’t dare to,” she replied. “Wrestling a half-blooded kelpie out of the waters is a feat worthy of praise.”
Themas blinked. “A what?”
“Do they teach anything at all to the new Venator knights these days?” Estevan grumbled, shaking the water off his clothes.
Reflexively, Semras grabbed the wefts of water entwined in them. Her stiff fingers surprisingly obeyed, and she wrenched the threads out, letting them fall onto the soil at the inquisitor’s feet.
Her heart skipped a beat. She hadwoven. The bones in her hands now rang with a searing, pulsating pain, but she hadwoven. An array of emotions overwhelmed her at once. Wonder and relief twirled within her heart as fear and dread receded at long last.
Semras searched for Estevan’s gaze—only he could understand.
An amazed smile had spread across his lips. Clearing his throat, he asked softly, “Could you … for Pagan, as well? I would quite appreciate a dry ride too.”
Just as she had done before, Semras twirled the threads around her fingers, letting the cool sensation of water pulse around them before throwing them away. Annoyed, the half-fey horse whined with a startling shrill, but the witch didn’t care. She couldweave—not as gracefully as before, and not as strongly, but itworked. Nothing else mattered.
Semras wiped discreet tears of relief away from her eyes. The leather of Estevan’s gloves brushed her cheeks, leaving behind a trail of musk and wood essence. It seemed like a lifetime since she had last smelled that comforting scent.
