Page 35 of Witchlight
“We will have to leave the Tine before that, I believe.” Gretchya tapped several spots near the map’s center. “These cities here are well known for hostility against Nomatsis.”
“Right.” Caden’s Threads moldered with both shame and frustration. He swiped a hand through his chestnut hair. “In that case, we can disembark here.”
We,Iseult noted.Not you.A quick transition—and she suspected Gretchya and Alma heard it too. She sipped at her borgsha. Then frowned at the half-eaten stew. The horse meat, taken when the beasts died at the Moon Mother’s will, was overcooked and greasy. She’d never enjoyed it.
“Not to your liking?” Alma asked. She sat two stools away, her face cast in firelight. Gone was the golden green of her eyes; now, they were pure silver. As pale as the icicles gathering on the trees outside.
“I have gotten spoiled off food fit for an empress.” Iseult flushed.
“As have we. Safiya has given us so much. But…” Alma slid over to thestool beside Iseult. This near, her eyes practically glowed. “You will have to adjust your tastes once you are on the road.”
Iseult tensed.
“When do you leave?” Alma asked.
Iseult’s tongue fattened in her mouth. “W-when Dom fon Eron d-decides our armies are large enough.”
Alma’s eyebrows arced. She didn’t believe Iseult at all, but she also didn’t contradict her.
So Iseult gave up. “How did you know?”
Alma dipped closer. “Because Rikra, who is selling you a tent, ratted you out. Although, to be fair, she only said something because I cornered her and asked.”
Iseult sighed. “I see.”
“This is not a bad thing,” Alma insisted. “She was going to sell you a broken tent for too much coin, and I will give you a good one for free.And.” She leaned closer. Then she half whispered: “I have assembled more things that might be useful. We Nomatsis travel so much, you know. We have useful tools that weigh less and pack smaller. It’s all in a bag behind the tent. I’ve covered it with pine branches.”
Iseult didn’t know how to respond to this. It felt so much like a moment a month ago when Alma had followed her through the forest east of here and given her a satchel of supplies. Iseult had asked why Alma had helped then, and Alma had answered:Because Moon Mother always protects her own.
Iseult didn’t ask Alma why she helped this time. She knew the answer would be the same—but now they both would remember the time Iseult hadn’t helped Alma at all.
“Does m-my mother know?”
“I have not discussed it with Gretchya, but I would think she can guess what you intend. After all, there is no other path before you.”
No,Iseult thought.There isn’t. She and Safi might not have known it, but they’d been locked into the future from the day they were born.
“I saw her, you know,” Alma continued, still so near. Still so quiet. “She was surrounded by stars and shadow. And I felt whole. I felt unafraid and loved to the core of my Threads.” Alma’s glowing eyes held steady on Iseult’s face. “But she is dying, and I fear these new Threads, this new slow cleaving—it is her attempt to take back what little power she can.”
“Yes,” Iseult agreed on an exhale.
“Until you heal the final Well, none of us are safe. Any of us might be the next target Moon Mother takes from.”
Iseult nodded.
“So it is good that you go now to heal the Well. And if there is anything more I can do to help you along your way, then you need only ask.”
“Ah.” Iseult sighed again, a sad, heavy sound that sank into the earth. There wasso muchbuilding inside her. More than her lungs could contain. More than her heart or chest could hold.
She forced her throat to swallow. Then she clasped Alma’s bicep. “Y-y-you…” She paused. Tried again: “Youhave already done too much, Alma. I will ask for no more.”
“It is not for you that I make this offer, though.” Alma’s lips twitched in a way that might be a smile, or might simply be annoyance. “It is for Moon Mother, because if you do not heal the Well, we all will suffer.”
Iseult let her hand slide off Alma. “In that case, all I ask is that you keep my mother safe. And… well, Caden, too.”
“I will watch over them both, Iseult. With every tool and weapon I have.”
There was the swelling again, but now it pushed against Iseult’s skull. She wiggled her nose—once, twice—before standing. It stretched a distance between her and the girl who could have been her sister if only Iseult had let her in.
