Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night

'Jillian wanted you to have a normal life for as long as possible.'

'Normal? I thought I was unwanted! That they both chose to leave me.'

Elianna looked baffled. 'But they adored you—surely you remember that?'

Mari pointed an accusing finger at her. 'You should have told me about what happened to them!'

'When should I have? When you turned eighteen, should I have said, 'Your parents are frozen in eternal pain and agony—and you can't do a damned thing about it for many years.'? Then wish you luck on your SATs?'

Her parents had loved her. 'How do I wake them?'

Elianna glanced away. 'You have to kill the one that did this to them.'

Häxa was one step down from a goddess, the most powerful sorceress ever to live. 'Fate does no' blow her bullets,' Bowen had said. He'd been right. Mari was to fight the witches' greatest enemy. She feared the idea, but the fury churning inside her wouldn't be denied. Elianna stared at her eyes, and Mari knew they'd changed.

'I'm going after her. Tell me how to find her.'

'You will know how to find her when you are prepared to fight her.'

'For once, stop this witchy, mystical bullshit, Elianna! I want to kill her now!'

'You're not ready,' Elianna insisted.

'If you think I'll sit around here waiting to turn immortal—'

'That won't matter,' Elianna quietly interrupted. 'Häxa can turn any living being to dust. Immortality or mortality will make no difference.'

'Then do I even have a shot at winning against her?' Mari demanded. 'What do the seers say?'

'Anyone who tried to read the battle between Mariketa the Awaited and Häxa... was struck mad. We doubt Häxa has even been able to see this.'

'Doesn't matter. I'm still going after her, with or without your help.'

'If Häxa defeats you, she will usurp your powers. We can't risk that—or she will become unstoppable.'

'I'll figure it out!'

'Your parents are not the only ones in this state. There are thousands more, taken from all Lorekind and accumulated over time. Think of others suffering. You have responsibilities to them as well.'

A thousand voices calling to her in her dreams.

'How do I prepare, then?'

'You are a captromancer. You'll use the medium given to you to learn. No longer will you be given hints of information or power. Because you are the Queen of Reflections, knowledge will flow from the mirror straight to your being. You'll learn everything from how to coax fire from water to how to shield yourself from another's magick attacks, deflecting damage.'

Mari thought over all Elianna had revealed, struggling to remain calm. 'Does Häxa have any weaknesses?'

'It's been reported that her eyesight is poor. Her animal familiars see better than she does.'

'Familiars? What kind?'

'Trolls, some kobolds, ravens, and—'

'Ravens?' Mari bit out. When Elianna nodded, Mari said, 'Häxa's already been watching me! I saw them in the jungle, and in my dreams. Even just now when I stepped into the mirror, ravens were on the windowsill.'

'It makes sense that you've had foresight about her. And I figured she would already be spying on you. But remember, she can't get to you here.'

'Were you watching the scene when the fey princess showed up?' Mari asked.

Elianna gave an emphatic nod. 'Was I ever.'

'Mariah said a sorceress brought her back—it has to be Häxa that's done this. What better way to create misery than to return a male's mate precisely when he's decided to move on.' To herself, she thought, What better way to hurt me? First take my parents from me, now separate me from the man I love.

'It's certainly possible. This is how she operates.'

'If I actually succeed in killing her, what will happen? Will the world be changed?'

Elianna answered, 'Aside from freeing so many souls, your act won't change anything about today. But if Häxa is not stopped now, she will continue to grow more powerful. Soon there will come a time when she will enslave the entire world in misery. Hell will reign on earth.'

'But if Häxa's destroyed, what will happen to the balance between her, Hekate, and Hela?'

'This balance might be disrupted already because Häxa is no longer a goddess. And some are saying that Hela isn't as beneficent as she once was.'

Mari exhaled a long breath, wondering if she'd have to do battle with Hela one day as well. Had Mari actually dreaded the idea that her career highlights would peak when she was twenty-three? 'How do I begin?'

'I suppose you'd best conjure a mirror. Just imagine one you've seen and a facsimile will appear here.'

Mari pictured her oval antique mirror, framed in oak in a spindle stand. Within a nanosecond, a copy manifested itself. 'I just stand in front of it?'

'Yes, but be cautious with it,' Elianna said. 'The knowledge is potent and addictive. You'll receive an understanding no mortal has ever experienced. If you feel yourself getting in too deep, then you must pull back.'

Mari nodded and faced the mirror. Beautiful glass.

Her eyes flashed, reflecting back. To infinity, Mari's eyes seemed to reflect. No more tedious questions and answers. Knowledge had begun to funnel directly into her, spells and magicks becoming part of her.

It was exquisite, but now she had only one thing she wanted to know.

How to kill a sorceress.

'You always stand outside,' Mariah said as she joined Bowe at the porch railing. 'Is it to scent her?' Over the last few days, Mariah had settled in here, as best as she was able.

'I want to know she's safe.' Bowe had just returned from another failed attempt to locate Mariketa. Though he could scarcely believe it, the witches in her coven had allowed him to come and go into Andoain at will. But none could—or would—tell him how to find her.

Bowe had found that to the naked eye, the property had a proud-looking mansion surrounded by laden apple trees with shockingly green leaves. Butterflies flew everywhere.

Yet when he'd blinked for a fraction of a second, he'd seen an entirely different landscape. Hot stones choked up steam and smoke around a dilapidated manor house. Serpents wound along rotting balusters. That was the true Andoain—Mariketa's home.

'You are so miserable, Bowen. It's clear to me that she's cast a spell on you. What's unclear is why you seem not to care.'

'Mariah, the years after your death were... harsh.'

'I know. But I want to get past those times and look to the future. I need new memories. My last memories are of my death, and it was a... horrific death. But you know I don't blame you.'

Then why bring it up? he thought, then flushed. She'd never irritated him like this before. But everything about her was different from the witch, so that meant everything about her was... wrong.

'I see so many things differently now. I want to learn your ways, and give you the children you've always longed for.'

'What changed?'

'I was so selfish before and couldn't be more sorry for it. Death brought my priorities into focus. I want to create life.' She smiled shyly up at him. 'With you.'

Here Mariah was, offered up to him as he'd begged the gods for decades. All the difficulties he'd had with her seemed erased. She wasn't a witch of unspeakable power, but a gentle fey.

She was everything he'd thought he could ever want.

And he wasn't even certain that the witch would take him back. They'd fought before the plane wreck and hadn't overcome the difficulties between them.