Deri flapped one arm like a wing. “Fly Biddie girl.”
Panicked thoughts spun through my head. Should I grab Nora? Force her away from the wretch? Would that be enough? What if the suffocation stemmed from a mental ailment rather than something physical? Could Nora die while I searched for the source of the problem?
Damnation! Where is Cate?
Nora’s face turned from red to dark purple. Blood trickled from a deep scratch on her neck. “Stop it!” I cried and moved aside.
Air whooshed into Nora’s lungs in a string of rapid gulps. “That wasn’t nice, Deri,” she scolded in between panting breaths.
Deri assumed a repentant expression. “Beg yehr pardon. But Goody has to die if anyone tries to stop us.”
“I know,” Nora said, kindly. She glanced at me, and a shadow of pain crossed her face. “Selah...I...” Her body jerked violently.
“Nora!”
Our eyes met once more, and the hatred nearly stopped my breath. “Goodbye, Selah. Please tell my mother that I shan’t be home tonight.”
“Bye bye, Biddie girl,” Deri sing-songed in her childish voice. “Fly, fly away, or little Deri will make her pay.” She skipped from the dressing room with Nora walking in hurried steps beside her.
Stunned, I watched them vanish down the corridor to the alley. Pain swelled in my chest, pushed my heart to the top of my throat. “Oh, Nora,” I cried softly.
Jane groaned on the floor. Rolling onto her side, she pushed her back against the wall. “What happened,” she asked, bleary eyed.
I knelt beside her, my grief too great for even the slightest relief. “You fainted, is all.”
Footsteps pounded down the hallway. I looked up as Henry burst into the room. “Where is the little she devil?” His coat was ripped and a large bruise reddened his cheek, but otherwise he appeared unharmed.
James and Justine came in next, with Andrew supported between them. His head bobbed unsteadily, and his left eye had already swollen shut. He sank down against the wall next to Jane.
Henry paced the length of the room, peering into every shadow. “She isn’t here.”
A slew of thoughts ran into one. “Nora...I...I think she’s the key.”
James whirled around to face me. “What are you talking about? Where is she?”
“Deri took her out through the alleyway. We have to follow them.” I started toward the door when Justine stopped me.
“Selah, you’ve got to come with me. There are wounded and dying everywhere. The damage,” her voice broke and she seemed on the verge of tears. “It’s much worse than I ever imagined. Cate and Tom are doing what they can, but there’s too many.”
I looked back and forth between Justine and James. My goddess blood belonged to those in the main hall. But my heart’s blood belonged to Nora.
Henry took my hand. “James and I will follow Deri. The girl will come to justice before the night’s through.” The heat of vengeance burned in his eyes.
I shook my head wildly. “Deri will kill Nora if she knows your intentions. Get her away from the wretch before you do anything else.”
Henry pressed a kiss into my palm. “Take care, Selah. This will soon be over.”
Dread curled in the pit of my stomach. “Be careful,” I whispered as they disappeared from sight.
Chapter Nineteen
An Unlikely Alliance
A single map covered the narrow wooden table in Cate’s library. In the upper left corner, ornate scrollwork encased the title: Magnae Britanniae et Hilberniae Tabular—A Map of Great Britian and Ireland. Starting at London, I traced a horizontal line to the port town of Bristol on the western coast. The line continued along the water, from Bristol Channel to St. George’s, with a sharp arc through the Irish Sea. My finger stopped atop the town of Wexford on the eastern shores of my ancestral homeland.