“Thank you,” Rose said. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be willing. And so soon. It will be soon, right?”
“Tonight, I think,” Mae said. “I’ll go talk to the sisters about it. Then we’ll take care of this.”
Mae stood. “I’ll see about the preparations.” As she left the room, the sound of Hink’s voice, then Rose’s laughter followed her.
Rose was brimming with hopefulness. She knew she had a second chance at life after coming so very close to death, and it looked like she intended to live it to the fullest.
Maybe Mae needed to start looking on the bright side herself. After all, she was a witch. A very powerful witch. And while it might have been her magic that had harmed her friends, it would be her magic that saved them as well.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Cedar stood out on the porch of the gathering hall, looking across the coven’s fields to the orchards turning silver-orange in the setting sun. He still hurt if he moved too quickly, his ribs catching at simple movements. His neck and face were still so sore that he had a constant ache in his head.
The sisters had been surprised when the ships dropped anchor over their north field a week or so ago, but they had welcomed Mae and all the others in out of the rain and wind. They’d found a bed for everyone, and put their best healers to soothe the wounded.
The dead were wrapped in clean blankets and buried beneath the apple orchard with soft prayers. Miss Dupuis had stayed out by Theobald’s grave for a day and night before coming back into the houses.
Tonight, Wil sat beside Cedar, silent as only a wolf can be, listening, just as Cedar was listening to the women who had been called from the surrounding acres, preparing for Mae to unbind the Holder.
He’d asked Mae if she was recovered enough to use magic again, and she’d avoided his eyes before answering him. He didn’t know what it was about this place, but it made him uncomfortable.
Mae seemed uncomfortable too. Angry.
Alun Madder strolled up in front of the porch, the cherry-scented smoke from his pipe curling around his head. “You still owe us that promise, Mr. Hunt.”
“Which promise, Mr. Madder?” Cedar asked. “That I hunt the Holder for you so long as our roads remained the same?”
“That’s the one.”
“Found it. The Holder’s right back there in that room, attached to Miss Rose Small.”
Alun leaned on the outside of the porch rail, his back to Cedar so he too could stare out at the sunset. “That’s one piece of it. One out of seven. It’s a good start, but it doesn’t make your promise to us fulfilled.”
“I killed Mr. Shunt,” Cedar noted.
“That you did. But if you think his hands are the worst that the Holder can fall into, you are misunderstanding our problem.”
Cedar crossed his arms carefully over his chest. “Why didn’t you tell me about the others who were fighting the Strange, like Miss Dupuis, Mr. Theobald, and Miss Wright?”
Alun puffed on his pipe for a bit. The sun was nearly down, just a slight glow of deep red smudging the clouds at the horizon.
“Didn’t think you’d believe me,” Alun said. “Or my brothers. Didn’t think you would join us. It’s a select group, Mr. Hunt. Vowed to keep the land safe from the kinds of things you hunt. Strange things. All good people who would stand beside you, fight beside you.”
“Die beside me.”
“That too,” Alun agreed.
“I’ve seen enough dying to last my years,” Cedar said. “I’m not the man you need. Once this curse is off me, I won’t feel the hunger to hunt any Strange thing. And I’ll be glad for it.”
Alun grunted in agreement. Then, “You recall that town we rode into a few weeks back? Vicinity, up Idaho way?”
“Yes.”
“All those people dead. Unalives. Men and women and children. Dead because just one piece of the Holder landed on their town. There’s still six pieces of it out there. Stirring up six different hells.”
Alun pushed off the porch rail and turned toward him as he started up the stairs. He walked past Cedar to the door, where he paused.
“People are going to die in great numbers while we track down the pieces of the Holder,” he said. “That’s just the facts of it. And not all of the people out looking for the Holder together can find those pieces as quickly as you and your brother can.
“The curse laid upon you, Mr. Hunt, might be seen as a blessing. Especially from the perspective of the people in the path of the Holder’s destruction. People you could save.”
Cedar heard the approach of footsteps from inside the building.
“Mr. Hunt? Oh, Mr. Madder,” the elder sister, Miss Adaline, called out as she opened the door. “I didn’t expect you on the threshold. Come in, please.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Alun said.
“Are you coming, Mr. Hunt?” she asked. “The sisters have gathered and the sun’s gone down. If you’d like to be present for Miss Small, now’s the time. We’ll be sealing the doors and windows shortly.”
Cedar took a breath and looked over at Miss Adaline. She was old enough to be his mother, he supposed, and still held some beauty to her features. But there was something about her that sat wrong with him. A cunning to her eye he could not ignore.
She was the kind of woman he would not turn his back on for long.
Mae had said she and the sisters had agreed to try to break his curse. Could try to break Wil’s curse too. It was what he had wanted. It was a part of why he had accompanied Mae to the coven.
Only a part of the reason, but still, he’d thought of nothing but being free of the curse since the day he’d woken up fevered, near dead, and covered in blood he thought was his brother’s.
But Alun’s words hung heavy on his mind.
If what he had said was true, then breaking the curse would be dooming hundreds, maybe thousands to suffer from the Holder.
“Mr. Hunt,” Miss Adaline said, “are you well?”
“No,” he said honestly, before he remembered his manners. He swallowed, and took his hat off his head, running his fingers along the brim as he pulled himself together. “Thank you, though,” he said, “for your concern.”
She gave him a tight smile. “Of course. Now come in from the cold. We’ll all have something joyous to celebrate soon.”
Wil stood, and pressed his head under Cedar’s hand. He knew what Cedar was thinking, had heard and understood every word Alun had said.
And he knew what Cedar had decided.
“We deserve a little joy,” Cedar said.
“Always, Mr. Hunt,” she said. “And I’ve found there’s not any dark circumstance that doesn’t hold a glimmer of happiness.”
He nodded, then he and Wil, together, walked into the gathering.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
One thing Rose had not expected was for magic to make her sneeze. But the sisters had set all sorts of herbs burning and sprinkled more in water, and even rubbed oil and herbs gently on her wrists, forehead and over her heart. All together the smoke and greenness made her eyes water and her nose tickle.
