“You are hoping to slay the Nattmara,” she observed.
“You know of it?” Steifan asked, stepping up beside me.
She crossed her arms and shivered, though the fire in the small space had me sweating. “It hunts me too. It has not managed to find me yet, but I fear it will eventually.”
Could she be the powerful blood the Nattmara had mentioned? It would make sense. “You’re afraid of it,” I observed.
“I have been hiding since it arrived in the city, watching it when I can. It seeks me tirelessly.”
“You were not so difficult to find, you do realize that?”
She smiled. “You found me because I wished you to find me. I knew it was a risk, but I needed to see if you could be trusted.”
“And can I?”
“You were prepared to leave me when I would not cooperate,” she explained. “That alone lets me know I can trust you. You are not working with the creature. Anyone working with that thing would have tried to force answers from me.”
“Do you know how to break his glamour?”
Her arms still wrapped tightly around her, she raised dark brows. “If I knew, do you believe you could kill it?”
“I slew the creature’s sister in a small village in the North. She had hoped to feast on my blood.”
She finally lowered her arms, her surprise clear. “Did the sister not share in his glamour?”
“Their father was part Sidhe, and the mother pure-blooded Nattmara. The sister took after their mother, but Egar strongly inherited his father’s gifts. The father was keeping them both contained until he was killed.”
She looked down into the fire. “This explains much. The creature has nearly broken through my glamour many times. I hadn’t previously understood how he would possess such gifts.”
“Do witches really know glamour?” Steifan asked.
Her lips curled into the barest of smiles. “No child, I never said I was a witch, only that others believe it to be so.”
My jaw fell open as realization threatened. Suddenly it made sense how a witch could survive in the middle of the city. How she could only be found by those she chose. If she could do glamour, she could hide in plain sight. But witches couldn’t do real glamour. Only one type of creature could. “You’re Sidhe, aren’t you?”
Steifan balked at me, but I was pretty sure I was right. This was why the Nattmara wanted her blood so badly. It could potentially sustain him for centuries.
She watched me for a moment, then nodded.
“So you know how to break his glamour?” I pressed, stepping close enough to the fire that my toes grew hot through the leather of my boots.
“Yes, but there is one problem. You are hunters, and you may someday hunt me. If I tell you how to break the Nattmara’s glamour, you may be able to break mine as well.”
I shook my head. “We have no reason to harm you. The people of this area protect you. It seems you live a life of peace.”
She watched me for a long moment, and I almost thought our slim chance of defeating Egar was slipping through my fingers. Seeming to come to a decision, she said, “I will tell you, but my price still stands. There is a secret to you, something you hide. It makes you different from him.” She gestured to Steifan. “Tell me what it is, then I will decide whether or not I will help you with the Nattmara.”
My stomach seemed to turn over completely within me. I had spoken this secret three times now, but no time had been any easier than the prior.
“Ask something else,” Steifan interjected. “Anything else.”
I turned to him.
“We have only just met her,” he pleaded. “This secret can be a danger to you. If she tells anyone . . . ”
“I am well aware of the danger, but we cannot leave Egar alive. He will kill many, and he will eventually kill us.” My mind made up, I turned back to the woman who had already shared a dangerous secret with us. I had to trust her. “I am a vampire’s human servant. If the Helius Order were to find out, I would be executed. If you can tell us how to break the Nattmara’s glamour, I will take your secret to the grave.”
Her dark eyes scrutinized me. She took a long slow breath, then exhaled. “I will teach you, and only you. You will share this with no one, not even him.” Her eyes flicked to Steifan, then back to me. “And we will swear an oath, we will take each other’s secrets to the grave. As a hunter you should know what it means to swear an oath to one of the Sidhe.”
I did know. I knew that if I betrayed her, the spirits of her ancestors would haunt me for eternity. But I would take the risk if it meant slaying the Nattmara. “I will take your oath, and together we will defeat our enemy.”
She smiled then, another real smile that lit up her face. “Send your companion outside and we will get started.”
“Lyss, think about this,” Steifan cautioned. “She has glamour too. She’s dangerous.“
I placed my hand on his shoulder and gave an encouraging squeeze. “Egar intends to kill me eventually. I cannot wait around for that to happen. I must learn to break his glamour.”
He looked to Ryllae. “If you harm her—”
She smiled indulgently, like one would at a child. It made me wonder just how old she was. “I will only harm her if she harms me. If her intentions are pure, she is safe. Do not fear.”
He didn’t look like he quite believed her, but he squeezed my hand on his shoulder, then turned away. He
