A Book of Spirits and Thieves

“A madman.”


“Exactly. He knows too much about what you can do. He only wants to use you.”

“If he can get me out of here alive, I might be all right with that.”

“I like a nice walk,” Barnabas said now, his chains clanking with every step, drawing Maddox’s mind back to the present. “Good for the bones. Good for the marrow. Makes it glow at night like fire-sprites, which, confidentially speaking, are a delicious treat with a nice goblet of wine to help douse their flames.”

“Fire-sprites? Quiet, you crazy bastard,” the blond guard growled. “Or I’ll gut you where you stand.”

“No,” Maddox said quickly. “No gutting. He needs to be fully intact to be my hen’s toe. Be quiet, Barney.”

“Yes, my young friend. I shall be quiet. It has been far too long since I last feasted my eyes upon Her Radiance’s golden flesh. I tingle at the thought.”

“Shut up,” the blond guard growled, shoving him forward along the hallway.

Maddox wasn’t sure what to make of Barnabas, not yet, but since no one else was there to assist him in this particular time of need, he had no choice but to hold tightly on to optimism.

He wished Becca were walking by his side—that would help bolster his courage greatly. But Barnabas had given her the task of locating a specific room in the palace (“We could do it ourselves, but better to have an invisible friend help us,” he’d said), so she’d gone in the opposite direction.

They were brought to the front of the tree-and-plant-filled hall to kneel at the bottom of the steps before Valoria, who sat on her throne.

“What is this?” the goddess said with displeasure. “What is this filthy creature you insult me with?”

“Greetings, radiant being.” Barnabas nodded into a deep bow, his forehead brushing against the moss. “It is an honor to breathe the same rather humid air as you on this lovely, vine-entangled morning.”

“The madman,” the blond guard explained. “The witch boy claims that he needs him here to do his magic, as a good luck charm.”

“Does he, now.” She considered them one at a time. “I suppose it doesn’t matter. His stench will be removed from my presence before too long. Now, boy. Can you do what I ask of you?”

Aegus slithered out from beneath Valoria’s gown. Today her long skirts were black and trimmed in crimson.

“Such a beautiful creature!” Barnabas exclaimed. “One would never guess how cold-blooded it is.”

Maddox grimaced, knowing Barnabas wasn’t speaking only about the snake.

Aegus hissed, his forked tongue darting out from his mouth.

“Speak, boy,” Valoria commanded, ignoring Barnabas.

He’d spent most of the previous night worrying about how he would answer her. How did one respond to a goddess requesting an impossible task?

With as many lies as required, of course.

“Yes, Your Radiance, I can help you. Whatever you need. We will find this girl’s spirit and conjure it back from the realm of death, if that is where she is.”

“And can you extract her magic? So we can use it to reclaim what was stolen from me?”

Another addition to her list of impossible tasks. “It might help if I knew what the stolen object is that you’re seeking,” Maddox said.

“A dagger,” she said. “A very special golden dagger that has been long out of my reach. I also, of course, want the thief to pay dearly for his many crimes.”

A golden dagger. That was what all this was about?

“This young witch,” Maddox continued, willing confidence into his words. He thought of Livius again. He hated him for the three years they’d traveled together across the land, bilking nobles out of their coin, but he had been an excellent con man. “What does she look like? What is her name?”

“Her appearance? Her name?” Valoria’s eyes narrowed. “If I knew those things, I would have been able to find her myself. All I know for sure is that at the time she died—if she is indeed dead—she was a beautiful and very powerful young witch. She is the daughter of my dead sister, after all.”

Maddox’s eyes widened. “The daughter of . . .” He gulped.

He hadn’t known it was possible for immortal goddesses to have dead sisters.

Barnabas went rigid beside him, watching quietly, his gaze never leaving Valoria. “Do what you do to help Her Radiance, my young friend,” he said. “Do it now so she can get what she most deserves.”

“All right.” Maddox closed his eyes and raised his palms. “There are spirits around us all the time,” he lied. “I will now implore them, ask them for more information about this witch.”

Valoria nodded. “Very good. Go ahead.”