Page 134 of The Mirror of Beasts

“Don’t lay a finger on her,” Caitriona warned.

“I’ve no need to, sister,” Kasumi answered.

“I’m not your sister,” Caitriona snarled.

Nash made a soothing noise at the back of his throat, a hand clasped to her shoulder. The other sorceresses, including Madrigal, were starting to circle the table as well, and I suddenly felt like a lamb who’d woken up and found herself surrounded by wolves. I dragged both my workbag and Neve’s fanny pack across the table, tucking the latter into my satchel for safekeeping.

Kasumi’s face was impassive as she bent over Neve, studying her. Drawing the thin wand over Neve’s body. Magic lashed out from under Neve’s skin, crackling along the wood. “And this girl, she’s of maiden rank?”

“No, she is unaffiliated with the Sistren,” said the mousy brunette.

“Her name is Neve,” I said. “And you rejected her when she came to you for schooling.”

I wondered suddenly if Kasumi herself had been the one who’d turned Neve away—if she was the one who had mocked her lack of lineage and made her feel like nothing. Fury coursed through my blood.

Emrys’s thumb stroked along my wrist, soothing. His eyes never left the red-haired sorceress as she leaned around Kasumi’s shoulder, fighting to maintain her disinterested expression. Her perfectly arched brows rose at something Kasumi murmured to them.

“Well?” Nash asked. “What is it?”

“Yes,” Kasumi said. “This is the power known as the Goddess’s light. I believe it is her.”

The words turned the castle around me, everything, to ash.

She’ll never be safe, I thought, horrified. As long as Lord Death lived, she would never be able to return to a normal life. She would never be safe from him.

“She needs more protection than the four of you can offer,” Kasumi said. “I must bring her back to the Council.”

“Absolutely not,” Caitriona growled. “You will not bring her into your nest of adders!”

“I see the Avalonian opinion of sorceresses has yet to improve,” Nash murmured. “Think clearly on this, child. They are her own kind—”

“They are not,” Caitriona cut in sharply. “And they’ll turn her over to Lord Death to save themselves.”

“How dare you?” Kasumi’s calm demeanor was more frightening than any of the wands pointed at us. “We are servants of the Goddess. We will not relinquish the soul of her child to that monster, nor one of our own.”

“One of your own?” I repeated incredulously. “You sent her away in the cruelest manner possible. You refused to help her before, so why should we believe you’d be willing to do it now?”

“Child, are you under the mistaken belief that you have a choice?” Kasumi asked, the words edged with warning.

Nash held up his hands, paternally cajoling in a way that got my back up, even now.

“Between them, the Sistren have thousands of years’ worth of knowledge,” he said. “Would you rather risk having the magic burn her up? The poor dove was writing to them, asking for their help. Don’t you think this is what she’d want?”

My hands clenched into fists at my sides, but I couldn’t argue with the truth. Emrys squeezed my wrist in encouragement.

“There is another reason we will not give the soul to Lord Death,” Kasumi said.

“That’s—” Nash interrupted. “That’s all hearsay, isn’t it?”

She ignored him. “The soul possesses magic beyond our reckoning. If he were to kill your friend and take Creiddylad’s soul to Annwn, both she and that power would be entirely under his command, and that would spell an end for all of us.”

“More lies,” Caitriona said, shaking her head. “You refused her before, just as you refused to help Avalon. You knew, didn’t you? What was happening on the isle, how few of us were left. And you did nothing.”

Kasumi’s even stare was infuriating. “By the time we discovered what was happening, it was already too late. My only regret is not believing you’d be so foolish as to perform the ritual that unmade Avalon.”

Caitriona surged toward her, only to be stopped by Nash.

“Easy,” he crooned. “It’s not a fair fight.”

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