Trial by Fire

“I didn’t hear you come down the hallway,” he said.

She shrugged at him coldly and his eyes widened. Lily hoped it was with hurt. She wanted to punish him. After everything they’d been through together, Rowan still believed she was evil. He’d been inside her head, shared some of her most intimate and painful memories, and yet he still thought she was going to become a tyrannical murderer like Lillian. She turned away from him, and toward Tristan.

“It’s really good to see you,” she said. She smiled warmly at him.

“And you. I like your haircut,” Tristan said, smiling back. A blush reddened his cheeks. His eyes darted over to Rowan and his smile faded. “I have clothes for you.” He picked up a bundle from beside his chair. “And a message from Juliet.”

“Juliet?” Lily said excitedly. She crossed to Tristan. “Is she okay? What happened when she got back to the Citadel? Was she upset with me because I didn’t try to mindspeak with her again?”

“Whoa!” Tristan said, holding up a hand. He passed the bundle to Lily, laughing under his breath. “I have no idea about any of those things. The letter’s sealed.”

Lily had to take the bundle awkwardly with one hand. “I need to put these in a necklace,” she said, unclenching her fingers slightly around her willstones.

“May I see?” Tristan asked, leaning forward expectantly.

Lily suddenly felt shy. It was almost like he’d asked to see a mole or a tattoo she had on a sensitive part of her body. She reminded herself that everyone here wore their willstones around their necks and she shouldn’t be so touchy about it. She opened her fingers and Tristan inhaled sharply.

“Beautiful,” he whispered, his face entranced. His compliment pleased her enormously, although she wasn’t quite sure why.

“Thank you,” Lily said, grinning. “I’m quite attached to them.”

Tristan laughed at her little joke, his breath brushing against her willstones. It sent a pleasant shiver up her back.

“One of each color. What do you think that means?” Tristan asked, and looked up at Rowan, who was watching the two of them with a guarded look.

“Do the different colored stones mean different things?” Lily asked.

“No,” Rowan answered. “No one knows why most stones are smoke, some rose, and a very few are golden.”

“That’s not entirely true, Ro,” Tristan countered. He looked at Lily. “Some people say the color of the stone can tell you about the personality of the wearer.”

“So what does it mean that I have three stones? That I have multiple personalities?”

Rowan shrugged. “I’ve heard of powerful witches in the past imprinting more than one stone at a time because there wasn’t an available stone large enough to harness her power, but your smoke stone is just about the biggest willstone I’ve ever seen. I think we’re in uncharted territory here, and we need to wait and see.” He stood and went to the kitchen. “Are you hungry?”

Rowan cooked for them while Lily changed into the new clothes Tristan had brought her, then took a moment to read Juliet’s letter. It didn’t say much, other than that Juliet was fine and that she hoped Lily stayed safe. Juliet placed extra importance on Lily staying far away from Gideon. She said he was lurking around, asking questions. Juliet begged her to stay out of sight for her own safety.

As Lily read the signature, “Ever Your Loving Sister, Juliet,” it occurred to her that she had been missing from her world for six days. Her Juliet must have been frantic.

“Lily,” Tristan asked when she joined them back in the kitchen “was there bad news in the letter?”