“It’s the theory of those few who have studied the phenomenon that the Irkallan blood not only breaks down the barrier to magic, but also provides some sort of immunity to it.”
I raised an eyebrow. “How can you use magic and yet be immune to it?”
“I don’t know the ins and outs of it,” he said. “I simply know its truth.”
I finished my sandwich then picked up one of the sticky sweetmeats. “What happened to the unlit unfortunate enough to be uncovered as witches?”
The smile that twisted his lips held little in the way of humor. “You already know the answer to that. It’s the reason I keep Eluria well away from Winterborne and beyond the sight of any witch.”
“You have witches at Blacklake.”
“Who have been there for decades. They wouldn’t betray us.”
“So why the subterfuge when I was there?”
“Just because I believe no-one there would betray either me or my daughter doesn’t mean they wouldn’t pass on information if they suspected you were a witch-capable unlit. The subterfuge was meant to protect you—and it was Kiro who suggested it.”
“And why would he do that? I’m nothing to him.”
“No. But you are both a soldier and a Sifft, one who has had little to do with either the Reaches or us witches. We needed an outsider, one we could trust, and who would see what we couldn’t.”
“But what happens afterward? When the puzzle is solved and we’re all returned to our normal lives? Will I find myself facing the fate you seek to keep your daughter from?”
“Whatever you think of Kiro, he’s a fair man.”
“Which is no answer.”
“No.” As I yawned again, he added, “You need to sleep. We can continue this tomorrow.”
“I’m not going anywhere—not before you fully explain why it was so necessary to perform the ceremony of Gaia. You surely couldn’t have been serious when you said I might have destroyed half of Winterborne—”
“Oh, but I was. A witch who has not performed the committal ceremony has little control over the elements that flow through them. Not only do they risk tearing themselves apart with the power they evoke, but also everything and everyone around them. Tonight, with you, it was only the floor of the bedchamber. The next time it might be the curtain wall or something even more catastrophic.”
It was a sobering thought. “Does that mean I have to undergo a similar induction for the air magic?”
“It would be best, although you seem to have far greater control over that element.”
“But won’t that jeopardize the reason I’m here if what I am becomes common knowledge?”
“It won’t. Kiro will ensure the priestess who draws you through the ceremony is of a discreet nature.”
“So the earth and the air have different demands sexually when it comes to the ceremony?”
He smiled. “The air is temperamental and changeable, so she’s naturally considered the more feminine power. The earth is stronger but slower to change, and therefore considered male.”
“And yet she’s called the earth mother, not earth father.”
He laughed. “That’s also true. Perhaps it’s more a case of the earth mother having basic needs, and therefore it’s priests rather than priestesses who are called upon.” He pushed out of the cloudsak with far more grace than I seemed capable of. “You should stretch out and sleep.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Go make sure the maidservant is paid for her silence, and get her to discreetly organize another bed. I’m not sleeping for more than a day in one of those things.”
“Soft, just like the wind said.”
He snorted, but his gaze skimmed me and the smell of desire began to taint the air. He scrubbed a hand across his chin, the sound like sandpaper in the brief silence, then gave me a sharp nod and departed. I smiled, reached for the nearest fur, and then made myself comfortable on the cloudsak.
And, rather unsurprisingly, slept.
Kiro reappeared on the dot of three. I was at least awake by then, but the lethargy I wouldn’t admit to after the ceremony last night hung on my body like a weight, and it was something of a struggle to even think.
The maidservant let him in. Trey appeared a heartbeat later, one towel wrapped around his waist while he dried his short hair with another.
“Kiro,” he said, dropping down onto the nearby hassock. “What news leaves the lips of gossips this day?”
Kiro sat in the chair opposite us both, his gaze sweeping me in a critical manner. “They’re all abuzz with the news of a liaison between the mysterious Lady N and Lady P, especially given neither appeared back at the masque.”
“Will there be any problems?” Trey asked.
“No. There are several servants in her household who’ll swear she arrived back at her own suites little more than an hour after leaving the masque. What happened after that will, of course, will be the target of much conjecture once it is discovered she’s missing.”
“And her husband? Will he cause a problem?”
“Hard to say given he hasn’t spoken to me since I did a full reading on his lady when she first reappeared a year ago.”
“Wait—what?” I glanced from Kiro to Trey and back again. “Did Pyra disappear like Saska?”
“Not just like her,” Kiro said, voice grim. “But with her. They were part of a train coming back from the West Range outpost that was attacked by the Adlin.”
The West Range lay at the end of the Blacksaw Mountains, very close to the sea. A lack of major attacks from the Adlin for over half a millennium had led to the outpost becoming something of a holiday resort. Even April, Ava, and I had gone there, though I personally wasn’t all that keen on the place—mainly because the sand had a nasty habit of getting in all the wrong places.
“But surely it was well guarded if it contained witches from Upper Reaches?” I said. “And in any event, wouldn’t the witches be more than capable of protecting themselves?”
“Apparently not, because the train was totally decimated. But the bodies of the five women—all of them powerful witches—were not recovered. They were presumed taken by the Adlin to be consumed at a later date.”
“And here I was thinking Adlin had an ‘eat until engorged and hunt again later’ approach to their food.” And maybe being immediately eaten wasn’t the worst that could have happened to Saska and me.
“Generally, they do.”
The edge in his tone had my eyebrow rising in query. “So this has happened before?”
“Once, some thirty years ago, from what I’ve discovered so far. It was an event that involved the lady Hedra Harken—”
“Surprise, surprise,” I muttered.
His lips twisted in acknowledgment. “And the ladies Maya Myrl and Kora Sanna. The latter two were never seen again.”
“When and where was Hedra found?”
“Two years later, out in the middle of the Tenterra desert.” He paused. “She was pregnant. Saska is the product of her captors, whoever they might be.”
Just as Saska’s child would be. Was it a coincidence that both mother and daughter had suffered an almost identical fate? I suspected not—and the wind agreed with me.
“It obviously wasn’t the Adlin, then.” Not given Saska showed no sign of that heritage. “I’m gathering you’ve done a full reading on them all?”
The dark energy that was his magic stirred, reminding me of a viper rattling in frustration or anger. Interestingly, though its power caressed my skin, it didn’t hold anywhere near the pull that it had on other occasions.
“Yes. There’s no awareness of what happened to them in the time they were missing, or who their captives were.” He paused. “To be honest, the totality of the memory loss makes me suspect it was deliberately done.”
“So why do you think the Adlin were so furiously determined to recapture Saska? That’s not normal behavior for them, I can guarantee you that.” I gathered the fur around my chest then knelt up to pour three mugs of coffee. I handed one to each of the men then gripped mine and sat back down.