CHAPTER FOURTEEN #2
‘Not necessarily,’ said Elowen.’ I don’t know where the orb is located, but I have an old friend, Rhydian, who might.
’ Elowen wrung her hands in front of her, a gesture she often made when she felt anxious about something.
It wasn’t much of a stretch to guess what that something was: whoever Elowen was talking about was a member of her old clan.
‘Well, Elder Rhydian is his proper title now, I suppose. His father was the leader of my old clan, but he passed a few years after I left, so Rhydian has now ascended to take the role of Elder. I never understood why we had to perpetuate the structures of inherited power. It always seemed unfair to me.’ Her voice was quiet as she added, ‘It was something Rhydian and I fought about before I left. But …’ She took a breath, smoothed her fingers out against her knees. ‘I will try to arrange a meeting.’
Nyssa fought the urge to reach out and take her hands in her own. ‘I can do it. If you give me their details, I’ll write to them.’
‘No, I should be the one to do it. They’re … elusive, and very distrustful.’
Nyssa didn’t know how much the others knew of Elowen’s past, so she bit down on her tongue, holding her words for when they were alone. But Elowen was frustratingly perceptive. She offered Nyssa a gentle, reassuring smile. ‘It’s fine. They may be distrustful, but not of me, nor am I of them.’
‘All right, but let me come with you. To the meeting.’ She didn’t want to overstep, but whenever she’d had to face her past, having Elowen or Liora or Alaric at her side always made her feel stronger. She wanted to offer that sort of strength to Elowen, if she could.
And if whoever this contact was turned out to hurt the elf, then, well, Nyssa’s grandmother’s grimoire had plenty of creative curses she could try.
‘Okay, let’s meet again in—’
A strange sense of foreboding washed over Nyssa and at the same time Nyx, who until now had been happily curled up in a ball beside the fire, let out a long hiss.
Her familiar jumped up on to the table beneath one of the tavern’s beamed windows, her tail swishing furiously as she let out a low warning growl.
The hairs on Nyssa’s arms stood on end. She rushed to her feet, her heart thudding as she joined Nyx at the window.
At this time of evening, Nighthaven was awash with shadows, and the normally bright, open town square was eerily still.
Normally, there would be a gentle breeze through the bushes and trees, or the faint lights of pixies dancing through the square fountain.
But tonight it was so still that when a flash of movement finally did catch Nyssa’s eye, she almost jumped out of her skin.
A large, white owl was perched on the roof of Madame Jeanne’s bakery, its wide, unblinking eyes staring directly at Nyssa.
At first, she thought it was the same owl the coven had been sending to deliver her letters, but – no.
There was something off about it. Its beak and talons were too long, too sharp, and the predatory tilt of its head made Nyssa’s spine tingle.
‘Nys, what is it?’
Alaric stood at her shoulder, his eyes narrowed as he squinted to see in the darkness.
‘There’s an owl,’ she said, hating how her voice shook, ‘up on Madame Jeanne’s roof. It looks … I don’t know, wrong, somehow?’
Nyx let out another hiss in agreement. The druid followed Nyssa’s line of sight, his lips pursing as he took in the creature that had Nyssa so rattled.
‘Mmm, it’s a little larger than usual,’ he agreed, ‘but the animals around Nighthaven can be a bit different. Something to do with all the magic here. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, but if it is, I shall endeavour to protect you and Nyx with my life.’
He stepped back and gave a dramatic bow as he said this, and despite her unease, Nyssa couldn’t help but laugh. You’re being paranoid, she told herself as he led her back to the table.
‘Now, how about another round of drinks?’ Alaric said as Nyssa sat back in her seat.
‘And when I get back from the bar, you must remind me to fill you in on the story I heard about an old friend of mine and their unfortunate incident with a wolf that took a liking to him when he shifted into lupine form to rescue her from a very angry bear.’
Nyssa forgot all about the owl over the next few hours, her thoughts instead filled with Alaric’s stories, Elowen’s quiet laughter and Liora’s beautiful, soothing voice as she gave in to the druid’s demands for an impromptu performance.
The comfort of being surrounded by friends, combined with the subtle effects of one too many Spicy Gnomes, left Nyssa feeling pleasantly drowsy as she finally declared it was time for her and Nyx to head home for the night.
‘I’m going to head off, too,’ Elowen said. Alaric and Liora were still deep in a game of cards, with no sign of leaving any time in the foreseeable future. Elowen shook her head. ‘I suppose we’ll see you at the café tomorrow?’
‘Yep!’ Liora said, not looking up from her hand. Alaric let out a sound somewhere between a ‘sure’ and a ‘mmmhmm’, before slamming down a card with the illustration of a sceptre on it.
‘I win!’
Nyssa stepped closer to Elowen to be heard over Liora’s shouts of protest and tried to ignore the way her stomach flipped as their shoulders brushed. ‘We should get out of here before this gets ugly.’
‘Agreed.’
Elowen didn’t replace the distance between them as they walked together out of the tavern and into the dark, winter night.
The cool kiss of air against Nyssa’s flushed skin was like a balm, and she shook off the returning weight of foreboding that came when she looked at the roof of Madame Jeanne’s shop.
The owl she’d seen was gone, and above, the sky was filled with dozens of brightly shining stars.
‘The sky is so beautiful here.’ She sighed. ‘Back in London, you can barely see the stars through all the smog.’
Elowen didn’t respond, and Nyssa looked over at her to find the elf’s gaze not on the sky, but on her. The expression on her face was so soft, so … admiring, that it took everything in Nyssa not to pull Elowen into her arms and kiss her right there beneath the stars.
Because as much as she wanted to, it wouldn’t be fair to Elowen.
Nyssa still hadn’t spoken about the trials with Elowen and how she was still hoping to return to her coven.
She’d been too afraid of pushing her away entirely, but now, with the alcohol in her system and the guilt almost too much to bear, Nyssa said, ‘I heard from my coven. They want me to undertake three trials, to see if I’m worthy of being let back into the coven.
And then there’s a final test, to determine if I should be reappointed as head mage. ’
‘Oh …’ Elowen’s cheeks turned pink as she said sheepishly, ‘I actually …’ she hesitated, looking up at the sky, as if searching for the right way to say whatever she was thinking.
‘I may have overheard you talking about the trials to Liora, that day in the café when I was in the back room … but I didn’t want to pry if you weren’t ready to talk about them with me.
’ Though her expression betrayed nothing, the pitch of her voice was a little too high to be considered natural as she went on, ‘I had just sort of assumed you weren’t actually doing the trials, since you hadn’t mentioned them since … ’
‘Oh,’ Nyssa said softly, fiddling with a loose thread of fabric dangling from the sleeve of her coat. ‘I’ve … already passed two of the trials.’
‘That’s … wonderful news.’ This time, it was Elowen’s turn to study Nyssa’s expression, and her brows drew together when Nyssa couldn’t bring herself to smile. ‘Isn’t it?’