Page 150 of A Weave of Lies
Then the Seelie noticed her, and beyond its slowly stretching smile, Semras saw the Night lurking.
A weirwitch once told her that most Seelie would guide lost travellers back to their rightful places, following their own odd, structural logic to decide who belonged where. She hadn’t mentioned that some of them werecollectors.
The lord raised a rotten limb and, in a guttural tongue not spoken by men for a millennium, declared a single word:“Geanl?c.”
Join us.
The swarm of fey lunged toward Semras.
She ran. Through corridors of twisted roots and sharp stones, she fled as their echoing, nightmarish chanting pursued her.
Join us, join us, join us.
Semras kept running until the Night’s maw closed behind her, until the Seelie’s Court could no longer chase her, until the writhing mass and its pointing finger faded into a nightmare forever burned into her mind.
Join us. Stay. Belong.Years later, she could still hear their honeyed whispers in her mind—her deepest longing, twisted into this grotesque, repulsive fate. How very like the Fey to poison even her childish dreams of a family.
“Semras?” Velten’s voice dragged her out of her memories. “If you would rather not talk about it …”
She shook her head. “It’s fine. It happened almost a decade ago. I just … struggle to find the words to describe …” Atop her bedroll, the witch hugged her knees. “You know how some people fear the mighty jaws of a bear? Well, I fear the swarm of thousands of bugs that consume its corpse.”
“So you met fey critters. Trenti imps, flying ventolines, the likes?” Velten raised an eyebrow. “They are not particularly dangerous.”
Semras glared at him, fighting back the shudders brought out by the memories. “Try facing a thousand at once. Old Crone witness me; try facing a single humanoid fey!” Another shiver took her.
Velten stared at her for a moment, then added a log to the fire. Embers flew into the night. “I have before,” he said, smirking. “You forget my brother.”
“The changeling? How could I? He’s the reason we’re stuck here together.”
His grin dropped. “Do not call him that.”
“Oh, do forgive me,Inquisitor,” she said mockingly. “What should I call him? The Hammer of Witches, maybe, like TribunalTorqedan was called thirty years ago?” Semras sneered. “Because that’s how witches will name him as soon as Callum starts his precious witch purge, and then he’ll be his mentor’s perfect heir.”
The inquisitor dropped his eyes to the flames. “It will not get to that.”
“Will you kill him yourself, then? Because we’re not any closer to stopping him.”
Heart beating wildly against her chest, Semras prayed he would finally speak to her. That he’d tell her of his plan and of what he found at the coven grounds. That she wouldn’t have to feel the sting of his betrayal once more, and that she could put her doubts to rest, and—
Instead, he grimaced in pain. “I … I cannot kill family.”
“Uh.” Leaning closer to the campfire, Semras peered over the flames straight at Velten. “Glad to hear I didn’t make you break your vow, then. Seems like you already broke it, placingfamilyabove your Elumenra god.”
He winced but didn’t correct her.
Semras looked down at the gloves he had given her. They were too big to fit her properly, but they hid her damaged hands well. And they’d be useful later if her doubt proved to be true and he tried to leave her behind.
She wouldn’t let him. If he was still keeping secrets from her, that meant he intended to interrogate the comfrey buyer in a manner she’d never approve of.
Chasing away the thought of the small vial in her pocket, Semras gazed at the campfire. Plunging her hands into its flame would probably feel better than the throbbing, raw pain of her newly woven core—and of what she needed to do to stop her treacherous Wyrdtwined.
She’d be the last witch he ever hurt. She’d make sure of it.
Heart aching violently, Semras turned her eyes away from the tempting flames.
Nighthadfallenbythe time Themas came back on Pagan with the other horse trailing behind them.
Both steeds panted loudly, and Velten strode away from the campfire to join them at once. With a growing frown, the inquisitor examined each animal while the knight dismounted.
