Page 132 of The Mirror of Beasts

I took a step forward, shielding my face from the intensity of the light. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nash do the same. We fought our way forward, only to be shoved back again and again.

Silver flashed and sang as it sliced the air above me, and, all at once, the magic extinguished. Excalibur clattered loudly as it spun over the uneven rubble, sliding out through the doorway and out of the hall.

As the lingering sparks of light drifted around us and the magic’s deep purr faded, Caitriona knelt in the center of the crater. Smoke rose off her silver hair where the long ends had been torched, and ragged strands now brushed her cheeks. Her dark clothing was torn and frayed, revealing bands of angry burns on her pale skin. She didn’t seem to feel any of it—her whole focus was on the girl in her arms.

“Is she alive?” I asked, wild with panic as I ran toward them. “Cait, is she alive?”

“Stay back,” Caitriona warned quietly. “The magic’s not finished with her yet.”

She was right. The same light that had gathered around Neve now ran beneath her skin like glowing rivers, illuminating her from within. The smell of burned flesh was almost overwhelming as I leaned over Caitriona, horrified.

There wasn’t a mark, not so much as a scratch on Neve, but for a terrifying moment, it looked like she was breaking apart.

Sweat poured down Neve’s face and she let out a low moan, her face twisting in pain. I could see the heat radiating from her, as if she were burning from the inside out.

“It really is her,” I whispered.

“I think I’ve missed something,” Emrys said, looking between Caitriona’s crushed expression and mine. “Something else, I mean. Why did the sword react like that?”

“The sword was forged using the Goddess’s power,” I said. “The Bonecutter said it would have a reaction to the person who possesses the soul of her daughter.”

The others must have told him the story at Rivenoak, when I’d first run after Cabell, or he sensed I didn’t have the wherewithal to explain, because he only gave a shaky nod.

Nash muttered something to himself as he slid down the slope of the floor and came to stand beside Caitriona. “Let me carry her over to one of the tables, so we can look at her wounds.”

Caitriona’s fingers visibly tightened around Neve’s shoulders.

“Lady Caitriona,” Nash said, kind but firm. “I’ll be careful, I swear it.”

“She’s still burning,” Caitriona said hoarsely. The helplessness in her expression was shattering. “We need Olwen. Olwen would know what to do.”

“Here, Cait,” I said, kneeling beside her. “I’ll help you.”

Emrys moved to join us, but I held up a hand, stopping him.

Finally, Caitriona relented, shifting to allow me to take on more of Neve’s weight. I tried not to flinch at the feeling of the scalding magic moving beneath her skin like fiery serpents.

“We need to cool her off,” Nash said, guiding us to the last table standing in the hall. Emrys brushed the debris off it with a stroke of his arm before we set her down. “And you, Caitriona, take the salve out of my bag and put it on those burns.”

“I’ll get snow,” I told him.

Neve let out another soft moan.

“I’ll help you, Tamsy,” Nash said. “You too, princeling, if you can stand a few minutes of actual work.”

Emrys gritted his teeth, casting another worried look at Neve before answering. “I’ll do my best to follow your heroic lead.”

But the snow we packed around her seemed to provide no relief to Neve; it melted just as quickly as it touched her skin.

“That will not work,” came a silky voice behind us. “Her body needs time to acclimate to the magic.”

I turned slowly, my hand reaching back for the hilt of my sword, only to still.

Seven women stood at the entrance of the hall, some in long velvet gowns and fur-lined cloaks, others in more modern attire—down coats and boots so practical, I never would have imagined them catching a sorceress’s eye.

But that was what they were.

I recognized the tall woman standing in front of the others instantly from the envy-ridden descriptions I’d read of her in the library’s newer Immortalities. Kasumi had been the High Sorceress of the Council of Sistren for nearly a century now, though she, like so many of the others, had held on to her youthful appearance despite the vast number of centuries behind her.

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