Page 78 of When Wishes Bleed

Bay went still. “You know this for certain?”

Mira looked to me. “Yes,” I answered.

“Likely cast-outs from the House of Fate.”

That’s what Brecan suspected, but hearing it confirmed by a Priest sent goosebumps over my skin. Brecan stood a few inches taller beside me.

“How will you contain her?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Without your help, Sable, we can’t.”

“My help? I have no affinity.”

“Only a witch of Fate can end her. And if you can’t bring yourself to do that, you could use the power of your blood connection to bind her once more. Though you won’t be able to do it in the earth.”

Fate confirmed his statement with a gentle warmth, but soon that warmth turned hotter, scorching my marrow. He wanted my mother to burn.

But if I couldn’t leave Tauren, how did he expect me to end her? How could I get close enough to? Unless she was coming here, for him. The thought made me welcome Fate’s flame.

If I finally saw my mother face-to-face, would I be strong enough to do what Fate or the Circle required? I had so many questions. “What did she do to deserve the punishment meted out?”

My grandmother lied to me – to everyone – about her death, but hadn’t the foresight to see she would escape her prison of roots and soil. I wanted to know what she’d done to garner such a harsh punishment.

Suddenly, Bay was gone.

Mira called his name, but it was no use. Brecan turned the shower off.

“Do either of you know anything about my mother?”

Mira shook her head, but Brecan refused to look me in the eye.

“You know something.”

He put a finger to his lips. “I won’t speak of it here.”

A knock at the door startled all three of us.

Mira let out a pent-up breath. “It’s just your schedule. I wonder what time you’ll leave with Tauren today?” She was trying her best to remain cheerful, but the morning’s revelation had set us all on edge. Brecan and I waited as Mira went to retrieve the paper.

He still wouldn’t look me in the eye. “I have to shower. I’ll be back soon.”

Clutching my towel tighter, I nodded and watched as he left the washroom.

Mira returned a moment later, looking pale. “You leave just after breakfast and will return this evening. Sable…”

“What?”

“Escorts are not allowed to go with you on this outing.”

A key turned in the lock to my door. Mira and I stepped into the bedroom and watched as the Queen and her guards stepped in. “You’re dismissed,” she said to Mira in a cold tone.

Quiet as a ghost, Mira slipped through the small entourage and out the door.

Rage roiled in the Queen’s eyes. I called on her residue to find that it was gone. Her guards, four hulking men whose arms were larger than my waist, looked straight ahead at nothing at all.

The Queen’s golden eyes locked onto my stained fingertips, tracking the ichor up my arms and across my chest.

I clutched my towel tighter to my body.

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