Trial by Fire

“What are you talking about?” Tristan asked.

“I want to know she’ll never fight for Lillian,” Caleb said, like it was obvious. “She doesn’t have to swear to fight for us, but we need to know you two aren’t training another evil witch.”

“No problem. I promise I’ll never fight for Lillian,” Lily said gladly. “Is that enough?”

“No, that’s not enough,” Rowan replied, his eyes narrowed mockingly.

“Well, apart from my word, what else can I give you?”

“Access,” he answered. “You have to allow me to ask you questions about your loyalty—in mindspeak, where you can’t lie—whenever I feel like it. If you don’t answer me, or if you shut me out without allowing me to feel your deeper intentions, we’ll kill you.”

Lily felt like she’d been kicked in the stomach. Did he really hate her that much?

“Ro,” Tristan said, interrupting the long silence. “That is totally out of line.”

“No it isn’t,” Rowan said, turning his glare on Tristan. “If at any point in this process she shuts me out, I think it’s fair to assume the worst.”

“Because that’s what Lillian did, right Rowan? She shut you out,” Tristan said, baiting him. But instead of anger Rowan responded with regret.

“And then she started hanging people,” Rowan said quietly. He looked at Lily. “Do you agree to my conditions?”

“Do I have a choice?” she snapped. She sat back in her chair, her throat filling with frustrated tears. If she agreed, it would be like living in a glass room, without even the right to keep her thoughts to herself. But if she didn’t, she’d never learn how to get back home. “You win, Rowan. I agree.”

He nodded and stood. “Let’s get started. Tristan? Do you want to change?”

“Yeah,” he replied. He stood and went down the hallway. Apparently, he knew his way around Rowan’s apartment because he didn’t need to be shown the location of the closet.

“Was there a loose dress in that bundle from your sister?” Rowan asked Lily without looking her in the eye. She nodded. “Put it on. And don’t wear anything binding under it.”

Lily stood up and stormed down the hallway to the bathroom where she’d left the bundle of clothes. She didn’t even consider arguing. This was Rowan’s show, and she was just going to play her part until she’d learned enough to get home. Lily stripped naked, slid into what looked like a white silk slip, and joined Rowan back in the main room. He, Caleb, and Tristan were at the far end of the apartment, clearing a large space in front of the fireplace.

Tristan had changed into loose white pants like Rowan, and the two of them had taken off their shirts. Their willstones pulsed on their bare chests. Lily’s willstones flared brightly in response, startling her. Rowan, Tristan, and Caleb saw the flash and looked at Lily briefly before returning to their tasks. Lily could feel static in the air. She glanced down and saw the hairs on her arms rising. The ritual was already beginning.

“Do you have enough wood stored?” Caleb asked Rowan.

“On the roof,” Rowan replied while he moved a white sofa out of the way. “We’re going to start small, anyway. Big magic is something she can do intuitively. It’s small magic she has trouble with—it took her forever to figure out how to mindspeak. Just like Lillian.”

Tristan rolled up the carpet, exposing the wood floor. “What were you thinking of starting with?” he asked.

“A water purification spell. We can send it as a gift to the sachem.”

Rowan opened a door next to the fireplace and took out a large cast-iron cauldron, which he hung on a hook that swung into and out of the fireplace. Tristan shook out a black silk sheet and laid it on the floor in front of the fire.

“Sit,” he instructed, leading Lily to the center of the silk sheet. He positioned her with her back to the fireplace.