Page 57 of First Ritual

I had children to meet. “You can go where you like, Hux. This gal is certainly going to lunch.”

“We’re meeting the guys.”

“You are. I’m not.”

He pulled me down the tunnel. “You are.”

“Me no.”

The magus threw me an irritated look. “You yes.”

Some things were nonnegotiable even if I enjoyed him adopting my language games. “Do you know much about the hungry-female phenomenon?”

He paused, green eyes glinting.

Typical grimoire, say a big word like phenomenon and they couldn’t help themselves.

The magus released me to push his glasses up. “What’s that?”

“It’s a thing where if a woman doesn’t eat, she is overcome by an unfathomable rage. Her rage gets uglier and uglier the longer she doesn’t eat. In my experience, by the end stages of hanger, the female will devour anyone in her path on the quest for sustenance. Picture a T-rex storming down a narrow crevice eating small animals. That’s what happens.”

Huxley sighed. “There isn’t much time between meetings until Caves is done for the week. We want to make progress now.”

“Help me to help you then, Hux.”

I could almost hear the grinding of his teeth. Music to my damn ears.

“If I get you food,” he said heavily, “will you please go to meet the others in apothecary?”

“Why apothecary?”

The magus walked away.

“I’ll go, but don’t skimp on the food. You’ll be the first animal I eat!”

“Enjoying yourself?”

“Barrow,” I said before turning. “Doing okay?”

“Caves is underway.”

And that meant?

His gaze tracked Huxley’s back. “Did I hear that Huxley is fetching you food?”

Fetching… I liked that word.

“Sure is,” I said cheerfully. “Could you help me with something? I’d like to talk to someone about a transfer to another coven. Who should I go to?”

Barrow lost some of his color. “You’ve decided then?”

“I want to discuss the options.”

“A transfer is simple enough if there is space at another coven and if they’re receptive to you joining. We simply put the message out to see what the response is.”

Good. “Learning about Caves has been big for me. I’m trying to get my head around everything, but there’s so much new. Maybe with less on my plate, I wouldn’t feel overwhelmed by things. Caves, the coven, the affinity test…”

“We don’t want any member of the coven to feel overwhelmed.” He frowned.

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