Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night

'Have we lost her again? Bowen, you must keep up with your captromancer better than this!'

'Nïx!'

'Oh, I know already, of course. She's gone off to a witch's plane, in a different dimension. Before you ask, I'll tell you that they're held sacred, and I can't give you directions to it. There are some laws even the proto-Valkyrie won't break.'

'After all this, you will no' tell me how to reach that place?'

She tilted her head at him. 'You, Bowen MacRieve, want to go to a world where only witches and their kindred live? Where magick is in everything from a raindrop to a bird's feather?'

'Nïx, I want to do whatever it bloody takes—'

'I wish I could help you. I do.' She quirked a brow. 'Especially since you're keeping yourself up a bit better.' She clawed the air in his direction, and he scowled. 'And actually, there is a simple way for you to reach her. The means is so obvious it hurts me—hurts me, I tell you.'

'Damn it, what is it, Valkyrie?'

'You have as much right as anyone to be on a witch's plane.'

'But I'm no' connected by blood to the Wiccae. And I'm no' Mari's husband—yet.'

'Figure out why you've the right to be there, and I'll help you with the logistics.'

Her gaze locked on something below them. Her small form tensed like a predator's. She appeared to be stalking Regin. Or at least someone stalking Regin. 'Must go.' She finally met his eyes. 'Do not come to me again without an answer... ' Then, like a blur, she leapt to the ground, disappearing into the crowd.

54

The next night, Bowe had been asleep for only an hour—after dropping exhausted onto his mattress on the floor at his new place—when he sat up in bed, his heart thundering. The answer was on his tongue.

Once he'd hated to the gods what he was. Now he realized it was the answer to reaching her.

Bowe dragged on jeans... couldn't find his shoes so he went without... was still throwing on a shirt as he charged out into the night to find Nïx.

Luckily she was at Val Hall—and lucid, he saw, when she met him outside the Valkyrie's home.

'Nïx, I figured out how I can join her,' he told her at once. 'You said witches and their kindred can reach that other place. From what I've been reading, that means familiars as well.'

'Um, Bowen,' she began slowly, 'familiars are... animals.'

He raised his eyebrows in an 'and your point is' expression. 'I read that familiars can be protectors—I am Mari's protector. One witch had a tiger—another even had a bear. Why no' a Lykae?'

Nïx beamed proudly. 'I'm impressed!'

'So how the hell do I get to her?'

'Go to her room at Andoain.'

'I was just there this... ' He trailed off, having learned not to question these things endlessly—or, in some instances, at all. 'Verra well.'

At Andoain, he bounded up the stairs to Mari's bedroom three at time, ignoring the growing pain in his leg. From the corner of his eye, he spied witches blinking at him from behind their doors. He dimly noted that candles were lit throughout—they seemed to be expecting him.

He swung open Mari's door. And was suddenly in another house, with buckets of snow falling outside. He glanced around, battling his sense of disquiet. Was any of this real? Was he dreaming?

Easing farther inside, he found a woman within who resembled Mariketa. Beside her stood a man who crossed thick arms over his chest, raising his brows at Bowe.

At that moment, Bowe realized that he was meeting Mari's parents—and that, in addition to his bare feet and unshaven, rough appearance, his shirt was on backward. And inside out.

'This is the male she's been seeing?' the man muttered. 'He can't even dress himself.'

Bowe just stifled the urge to point out that though he might not be able to dress himself, he sure as hell could perceive when a bairn was on his shoulders. Instead he bit his tongue. This warlock, though arrogant, was Bowe's future father-in-law.

'A werewolf, Jill? Really.'

'Hush.' The woman slapped the back of her hand against his stomach, then said, 'I'm Jillian. And this is my husband, Warren. We are Mari's parents. And we know you're Bowen MacRieve of the Lykae clan.'

He gave her a nod.

To Bowe, Warren demanded, 'Aren't you a bit old for my daughter?'

When Bowe scowled, Jillian blithely continued, 'We've been waiting for you. Mari's been waiting. She needs your help.'

'Where is she?'

'Follow me.' Jillian showed him to a room that looked like a cross between the bedroom in Belize and Mari's at Andoain.

His breath left him. Mari stood in front of a full-length mirror, utterly still, dark eyes unblinking. His voice broke low when he asked, 'What's happened tae her?'

Jillian answered, 'Once she received Häxa's powers, she basically enchanted herself. And no one's strong enough to combat her magick.'

'None can fix what they can hardly touch,' Warren said.

Jillian added, 'But we think you might be able to talk her from this. Nix told us this morning that you intend to be her protector—'

'He's a beast familiar,' Warren scoffed.

'Which makes him a werewolf protector. And that's why he's been allowed here.'

'Can she hear me?' Bowe asked, disregarding the fact that he hadn't spoken to Nix until minutes ago.

'Mari's aware of everything we're saying,' she answered.

'How do I free her?'

'You persuade her to somehow find the power to pull away. Talk to her, make her fight,' Jillian said. 'Reflections are Mari's strengths, but they're also her weaknesses. She can be hurt by them if she draws too much on them—once you succeed in freeing her, then you have to make sure she doesn't lose herself in the mirror like this ever again.'

No wonder he'd had such a strong reaction to her chanting to the glass.

Warren added, 'Tonight, if you succeed, we're going to bind Häxa's power within her. For a few decades, Mari will need to use the mirror for knowledge sparingly—only in the direst emergencies. She can travel through mirrors and use them to focus spells, but the knowledge is what Häxa's power will always crave—and bindings are not infallible.'

'Can we trust you to see to this?' Jillian asked.

Bowe gave a sharp nod. 'Aye, I can see to it.'

'Don't try to put anything in front of her eyes,' Warren said. 'She'll burn away whatever blocks her gaze. And whatever you do, do not break the mirror.'

Without looking away from Mari, Bowe asked, 'Why no'?' This seemed an ideal solution to him.

Jillian murmured, 'The shock could... it could kill her.'

No' ideal.

'I want to be alone with her,' Bowe said.

She nodded. 'We're going to the binding ceremony. Good luck, Bowen.'

After they closed the door, Bowe could still hear Mari's father say, 'Jill, why are you so confident in MacRieve?'