Page 75 of Midnight Witch

Gloria shrugged. “I heard it on the grapevine before I fled the country.”

“She’s dead.”

Gloria froze. Her mouth opened and closed soundlessly. “You—you killed Raya?!”

Cortes dipped his head. “Last month, in Prague.” He indicated Vlad. “He helped.”

The witch’s wide-eyed gaze flitted to the incubus. “I…I didn’t know.”

Relief and something that looked like elation darted in Gloria’s eyes. Considering that fact was only known to the Council of the Moon and the High Council, this hardly came as a surprise. Nikolai frowned.

I doubt she’s been keeping up with what’s been happening in the world of magic. She’s been too busy hiding from my father and Barquiel for that.

“Is your daughter okay?” Mae asked.

Gloria hesitated. “Yes. I hid her somewhere Raya couldn’t reach her.”

“My father and his council have a way of finding out people’s best-kept secrets,” Nikolai said thinly.

Gloria’s fingers tightened on her cat.

“I know,” she retorted bitterly. “But they still seem to think I’m dead, for now. That’s why they had to find another witch with the power to use Illusion Sorcery. Otherwise, I’m pretty certain they would have used me.”

A strained hush fell inside the trailer.

“How did I trigger the Illusion Sorcery Raya forced you to invoke so she could kill me?” Cortes said stiffly. “I don’t recall touching any altar.”

Gloria made a face. “Remember the museum she took you to the morning of the day she attacked you?”

A perplexed frown wrinkled Cortes’s brow. “But all I did was look at some paintings.”

“The top of the altar was the slab of stone you walked across when you entered that building.”

Nikolai drew a sharp breath.

Cortes stared. “What?!”

Gloria shrugged. “An altar can be anywhere. It doesn’t necessarily have to be inside a church.”

Vlad touched Cortes’s shoulder. The sorcerer stood with his jaw clenched tight and his hands fisted at his sides.

“The name of the witch they’re using is Anya Mendes,” Mae said. “She’s the daughter of Sergio Mendes, the High Priest of the Rio de Janeiro coven.”

Gloria flinched. “She’s Sergio’s daughter?!”

Mae nodded.

“I take it by that that you know Mendes?” Nikolai observed.

“Yes, I do,” Gloria mumbled dazedly. “Arcane Magic and Illusion Sorcery are closely related, after all. Damn it, I hadn’t thought of that possibility.” The witch chewed her lip with a distracted expression before looking warily at Mae. “Why did you come looking for me?”

“Because I think you can help us find her.”

Nikolai exchanged a startled glance with Vlad and Cortes.

They’d never questioned Mae about why she’d been so adamant to find the witch who had helped Raya. He furrowed his brow.

Can this woman really locate Anya and that church?

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