A Book of Spirits and Thieves

“What’s she talking about?” Becca asked, frowning.

Maddox didn’t look away from the goddess. He held her gaze defiantly.

“Yes, there it is,” she said with a cool smile. “I can see the resemblance much better when you’re not shivering like a frightened child. Your father wasn’t much older than you when he fell in love with my sister.”

“Eighteen, actually,” Barnabas said, his voice tight. “There was a bit of an age difference between us, I admit, but we didn’t mind.”

“Even now, he plays the fool in an attempt to distract me.” Valoria clasped Maddox’s chin. “All this time I’ve been searching for a girl. If only I’d known your true parents’ little secret.”

“I’m afraid I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Maddox replied, fighting to keep his tone steady. “My mother is Damaris Corso. My father was all but a stranger to her.”

She patted his cheek. “A nice attempt, but you can’t fool me. Not anymore.”

“Okay, Maddox,” Becca whispered. “I think I understand what’s going on here. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but promise you’ll listen to me. I know this realization might come as a bit of a, um, shock? To say the least? But look at it this way. . . . You’ve always considered your magic to be a curse, right? You didn’t know where it came from or why you had it. Now you do. Your mother was a sorceress and, by the sound of it, one of the good ones.”

“Bring me the book,” Valoria instructed Sienna. “I’m ready to finally reclaim my dagger and punish the thief who stole it from me.”

“After you stole it from Eva, you mean,” Barnabas growled.

“If you think I can help you, you’re wrong,” Maddox said to Valoria. “I’ve examined the book, and it means nothing to me. I can’t use it to open up a gateway. My magic doesn’t do that, and that raggedy old thing certainly won’t make any difference.”

“No, I don’t suppose it would. Not the way you’re used to channeling your magic now, at least.” She eyed him from top to tail. “The magic I’m familiar with is elemental—the magic of life. You possess the flip side to this—death magic. Life and death do go hand in hand, after all. How curious it is that Eva, an immortal, would give life to a creature who is exactly the opposite. Usually when those of my kind create life with mortals, they end up with witches for offspring, like my loyal Sienna and her dead sister: women with small holds on elemental magic. You are a rare creature indeed.”

“Perhaps I am, but I still can’t help you.” Maddox tried to summon some of Barnabas’s irreverence but knew he came up short.

“Even if you could,” she replied, “you’d likely fail. From what I’ve seen of you, you’re too young, too timid. You doubt every move you make and seek guidance and permission before every action you take. What a waste.”

Darkness churned deep in his belly, and he balled his hands into fists at his sides.

“She’s wrong.” Becca shook her head. “You have to know that, don’t you?”

“Here it is, Your Radiance.” Sienna had brought the book out from the cottage and handed it to Valoria.

The goddess took it, drawing in a long, satisfied breath. “Very good.”

“What’s so special about this dagger you’re after, anyway?” Maddox asked. He’d tried to catch Barnabas’s eye, but it seemed the man was trying to avoid his gaze.

“When wielded by an immortal, one can carve loyalty, obedience, and trust into another’s very skin. Three qualities that are rarely found in your kind.”

“You wish to create an army of slaves,” Barnabas hissed. “Don’t you?”

“Perhaps you will be my first recruit,” she told him. “Yes, I think that would be a fitting punishment for you. Three marks would ensure that you will bow to me, that you will worship me. That you will love me, perhaps as much as you loved my sister, even as the magic eats away at your very soul to sustain itself. Very few can resist the magic of the dagger marks.”

“I will resist.”

“You say that now. I’ll ask you again when you’re kneeling before my throne.”

She leafed through the book until she came to the page that showed the illustration of the stone wheel.

“It’s a spell book,” Becca said. “This . . . this gateway magic, it’s only a part of it.”

“How do you know?” Maddox whispered.

“It’s pretty thick for one measly spell, don’t you think?”

“This will be the most difficult spell I’ve ever attempted,” Valoria said aloud. “Eva could wield this kind of magic easily, but for the rest of us, we need to be wary. Worlds and time can shift. One mistake and I could open a gateway years before the thief entered this world, or years after he finally faded from existence. I wish to pull him back as close as possible to the moment he was originally exiled.”