Page 23 of Shadow's End

It was a warning I didn’t really need. Not when every instinct was screaming the very same thing.

After another dozen steps, the tunnel or shaft or whatever the hell this was began to widen out into a larger cavern. I paused, scanning the visible area, seeing ragged rock walls and various metallic bits and pieces suggesting that even if this cavern was a natural occurrence, it had been mined at some point.

What I couldn’t see was a large area to my right.

Or Jaqueline.

But she was here.

My senses, and the voices, told me that.

I took a deep breath that as usual did little to calm my nerves and popped the cork off the bottle of holy water. I could cast it faster than I could cast a spell. A cage spell nevertheless burned across my free hand—which, along with a repelling spell, had recently become my body’s automatic magical response to any sort of threat—but I was reluctant to use it until I knew exactly what sort of game or trap Jaqueline and Marie had planned. It might well be nothing more than another means of testing just how strong my magic was, and how well it meshed with the wild magic.

And itwasmeshed, even in something as simple as a repelling spell and this more complicated cage spell. It might be my inner magic rather than the wellspring’s, but it was doubtful Jaqueline or Marie would feel the difference.

“I know you’re in there, Jaqueline.” Thankfully, my voice showed little of the tension roiling through me. “What do you want?”

Her laughter ran across the shadows, the warm mocking sound so reminiscent of her mother that a chill ran through me. “I didn’t think you would be fooled for long.”

The shadows parted, and she stepped through. She was tall and supple, with copper hair and pale, flawless skin. Aside from the color of her hair and eyes—which were blue—and her more modern clothing, she was the image of Maelle.

I clenched my free hand against the deepening burn of magic pressing against my fingertips, fighting for dominance against the cage spell. I might be wary of unleashing my inner wild magic, but my inner energy seemed to have other ideas. No sparks danced across my fist just yet, but they couldn’t be that far off.

“What game do you and your mistress play now, Jaqueline?”

“Oh, I assure you, this is no game.” Her voice held echoes of Maelle’s accent, but it was nowhere near as cultured.

“Then what is it? Why do you haunt the shadows of this cavern when your dining room lies no more than a hundred or so yards away?”

“It is not our dining room. Hasn’t been for a week now, but I believe you are already aware of this.” Her voice was gently mocking. “I also believe you are here not to save the souls of the dead, but rather the life of one who has never deserved it.”

Which only made me wonder what Roger had done to her, given he apparently hadn’t existed until well after Maelle had destroyed the coven.

Or was that not the case?

If it wasn’t, then it meant I truly couldn’t believe anything any of them were telling me.

“That would be my ultimate goal, yes,” I said. “Maelle without the man who is basically her sanity is not someone any clear-thinking person would want to deal with.”

She chuckled again. “If you believe the face she presents to the world is her true one, then you have been sadly misled.”

“Oh, I’m well aware of who and what she is?—”

“No,” Jaqueline cut in. “I do not think you are.”

“Then why don’t you tell me?”

She took a step closer. I didn’t back away, but my grip instinctively tightened on the bottle of holy water. Her gaze briefly flickered down, and she smiled.

It was not a pleasant smile.

“If you think such a small vial will do me serious damage, you are deluded, young witch.”

“Oh, I am under no delusions as to what holy water can and can’t do. Take one step closer, and perhaps we will see which of us is right.”

She studied me for several wildly erratic heartbeats—mine, not hers—and then laughed. It was the first time I’d ever heard anything approachingrealwarmth from her, and my psi senses stirred.

Nothing in this situation was what it seemed, and to believe one person’s truth over the other’s might be the biggest mistake I’d ever make.

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