Page 69 of Crown of Tides and Fury

Persi grabbed Kitch’s shirtsleeve and bit her lip. I was such an idiot for not realizing what a big moment this would be for her. She was about to learn if she was one of the chosen few—if her incredible talent came from the Fae King or if it was derived from Muir blood alone.

“Last known…” Brian frowned. “Persi, dear. What is your birthdate?”

She looked like she was going to throw up. “April…twenty-ninth…1989.”

“Sylvie Petit. Winterthur, Switzerland.” Brian read slowly, as if to give Persi time to digest every word. “She was killed in a gondola accident when lightning struck the cable, April 29, 1989.”

All the oxygen left the room.

He continued. “On that date, Palida’s power passed to a Persephone Ward, Cheyenne, Wyoming. Daughter of Angela Ward, granddaughter of Helen Muir, Cheyenne, Wyoming. Last whereabouts…unknown.”

I tried not to stare right at her, but it was impossible not to. I didn’t know what I was waiting for, but if a big spotlight appeared above her head, joined by a chorus of angels, I wouldn’t have been surprised.

Kitch took her hand, smiled. “We’ve known all along, though, have we not?”

Persi’s mass of curls swayed first, then her head shook. She jumped out of her chair and took her hand with her, breaking contact with Kitch. Though he stood, too, he didn’t reach for her again.

She sidled away from him, then stopped when she realized her retreat from Kitch only put her closer to Wickham. “No one is taking my power from me.”

Wickham blinked. “Is that what bothers ye? Ye think we’ll take yer power?” He laughed. “Of course ye do. But don’t ye see? We’ve beaten the bastard already. Palida’s power, no matter which of us holds it, keeps it out of play for Orion.”

“So, you won’t try to take it from me?”

Wickham sighed, shrugged his shoulders. “Not unless ye ask me to. The contract is already broken. Passing one of the Naming Powers to another has no added consequence…that we know of.”

“Your sisters described what happened when you took a witch’s power once, in a hotel room.”

“Aye. Her name is Aries.”

“They said it came out as a mist, and you stored it in a whisky flask.”

“I did. The power of wishing. One sister had the power to wish. The other, the power to counter wishes, or unwish. When the second sister died, the power to unwish went to Aries. Combined, the two powers made her life…complicated indeed. She wanted to be rid of them both.”

“So who did you give it to?”

“It remains, to this day, in that whisky flask…where none can find it.”

“But taking her wish didn’t break the contract.”

“The Covenant was broken before that day, but still, it wasn’t aNamingPower. Nothing forbade a witch from giving her power to another. TheSeanair’sduty was to keep only those Naming Powers from being given to another because, in the wrong hands, they could be catastrophic.”

“When your brother died, did you get his power?”

Wickham paled. If I hadn’t been watching closely, I wouldn’t have noticed. He may have seemed normal—he breathed, blinked, smiled—but his skin had blanched, albeit briefly.

“It’s complicated. My brother had Soni’s power when he died. His power was mixed with hers. I sent him back in time to die under watchful eyes. When her power was lost, his was lost with it.”

“I’m curious,” Flann said. “Just what kind of power did Walter have?”

“Illusion. Verra convincing illusion. I believe it was the nature of his power that corrupted him. Anyone with his skills would be tempted…” He shuddered. “All illusion is a lie, after all. I am grateful it was lost. May it never be found.”

Maybe a sour memory of his brother was the reason for his reaction…but I knew there was something more, something he wasn’t telling us.

Flann and I exchanged a glance. He knew it too.

* * *

With the excitementof discovering one of the Naming Powers already in our ranks, we voted to put off work for the rest of the day. Besides Soni’s lost power, there was only one left to locate—Neia’s power of Youth--and we agreed to save that for the following day.

---