Page 10 of The Mirror of Beasts

“Please!” Olwen begged. “We were coming to find the Council of Sistren, to warn you about Lord Death!”

“Warn us?” Plum Hair grated out. “Warn us of what, precisely? That resisting his demand was futile? As if slaughtering five of our sistren weren’t message enough!”

“We were—we—” Each word I spoke only increased the pressure from behind. I wondered, fleetingly, how much force my body could withstand before it was crushed against the stone bars.

Caitriona let out a noise of pure rage, trying to rip her hands from the restraints.

“You led him directly to Stellamaris last night—admit it!” Acacia snarled.

Despite the pain ratcheting through my body, my mind latched onto that name. The Sorceress Stellamaris lived on the outskirts of Boston. Cabell and I had done a recovery job for her, retrieving her mother’s ring from another sorceress’s tomb. She had been—pleasant wasn’t the right word, and neither was harmless. She had been … uncomplicated to deal with.

The storm. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that the city experienced a freak blizzard the same night she was killed.

“We ought to rip every last detail about their master from their minds,” Plum Hair said. “Surely the Council won’t punish us if we get what they’re after?”

“What are you talking about?” Neve asked, beyond agitated.

“Unmakers of worlds,” Hestia sneered. “The four servants of Death, maidens of winter—the others may dress you up in pretty names, but we know what you are. We know the rot in your hearts.”

“We do not serve Death!” Caitriona raged. “We are his sworn enemies!”

At that, all three women laughed riotously. And through the pain, through terror, all I could imagine was kicking them into the nearest curse sigil.

“I’m one of you!” Neve cried. “I’m a sorceress! They’re—they’re priestesses of Avalon! We tried to stop Lord Death, not help him!”

The last of the air left my lungs as the force of Acacia’s magic drove harder against my back, threatening to snap my ribs, my spine. My vision darkened at the edges as I struggled to draw in even a shallow breath.

“Your fork-tongued lies mean nothing to us,” Hestia said. “There wasn’t a soul alive in Avalon when your master compelled you to destroy it.”

“We were trying to save the isle,” Olwen said, pleading. “We thought the ritual would purify it—it was a mistake!”

She began to hum, a shaky, desperate sound, to summon a spell. Neve joined her, her voice breaking with her sobbing breath.

The sorceresses only laughed, the flickering lantern light deepening the harsh lines of their faces.

“Singing spells? How quaint,” Acacia said. “Your cell is warded against the use of magic. Try it again and you’ll certainly be carrying your friend home in pieces.”

“It was a mistake! All of it!” Neve swore in desperation.

“More lies,” Plum Hair sang. She glanced toward Acacia, enjoying the show.

“Tell us what your master is after,” Acacia demanded. “And why he wants it by the winter solstice.”

“We don’t know what you’re talking about!” Caitriona thundered.

“They must truly hate their friend to wish her dead,” Hestia said. “I don’t know about you, sistren, but I would be all too glad to avenge the mortals who perished at Glastonbury. The ones slaughtered as you unmade the boundary and brought hell raining down upon this world.”

The agony finally overcame me like a tide, ripping through the last bit of strength I had. I cried out, hot tears streaking my face. My limbs, my skin, strained against the stone, stretching painfully, threatening to tear.

“Stop!”

Blue-white light erupted through the cell with Neve’s shattering cry, incinerating the darkness with its unbridled intensity.

The sorceresses stumbled back, flinging their arms over their faces to shield their eyes. The light produced no heat, but it radiated a dizzying pressure with each shuddering breath Neve took.

“You said you blocked their magic!” Hestia shrieked.

“I did!” Acacia shrieked back.

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