Chapter 12 #2
At the end of the short hallway, I lift my hand to push aside a hand-dyed curtain hanging over an arched doorway but pause at the sound of voices.
Who is Mara talking to? It’s supposed to be just the two of us.
Out of sheer instinct, I activate the concealment spell, and the stone in my pocket warms. My wolverine ears pop out, twitching before angling towards the small patio space beyond the curtain.
There’s the tiniest gap between the fabric and the door frame, so I lean forward.
The patio is small and cozy with six-foot cinderblock walls painted a moody black.
Cedar latticework serves as a ‘ceiling’, and the sky peeks through the warm wood.
A giant olive tree takes up the far-right corner, and leafy vines creep up the walls.
There are only three tables back here, and Mara sits at her usual seat under the tree facing the curtained doorway.
A growl builds in my chest, and I clench my hands to keep from releasing it and tearing into the patio.
Circe sits next to Mara, her profile like something you’d see on an ancient Greek statue, her long black braids cascading over her shoulder and down her back. She’s still in the same dress she was wearing at Leonora’s palace.
I’m vibrating with rage. How could Mara do this? I trusted her!
My beast spins in a tight circle, pressing against my insides as she insists, “Let me out. I’ll tear them both to pieces!”
“Hush. I can’t hear what they’re saying.”
I focus my beast’s ears on the pair, practically holding my breath as Circe says, “I gave myself a week, but hopefully you and I will have what we need sooner than that and we can move forward with the plan. ”
“Fuck.” There are equal parts rage and sorrow in my beast’s voice. I can’t believe Mara has betrayed us, the witches, the Leos …
The deer shifter who I considered to be a good friend up until now takes a sip of her red wine before saying, “I think we should be ready in two days. Three at the most.”
Circe nods, popping a marinated olive into her mouth. “And you’re sure about this enforcer you have on the inside?”
Mara takes another sip of wine, waving her free hand. “Oh yes. Amri is very good at her job.”
I smirk through the anger. Damn right, I’m good at my job.
So, I can’t help but wonder what Mara is actually up to?
She knows I’m coming here this evening to fill her in on what I saw in Leonora’s palace.
Why is she meeting with Circe here? Now?
Did she want me to overhear this? And if so, what the fuck am I supposed to do about it?
My beast cocks her head, scratches her ear, then shakes her head. “What if Mara doesn’t have a choice here? What if Circe has something on her and is blackmailing our friend? Maybe Mara is hoping we’ll overhear this and warn the witches?”
“That’s a lot of maybes.”
Mara sets her glass down, fingering the stem as she asks, “And you’re sure Leonora will give you Malik once the job is done?”
Circe smirks, uncrossing and recrossing her legs, just like she did sitting at Leonora’s table.
“It wasn’t as hard of a sell as I thought it would be.
The witches have struck a cord of fear within her.
” She purses her lips, then shakes her head.
“Well, maybe not fear. Leonora is too much of a sociopath to feel true fear, but she’s concerned.
I certainly wasn’t expecting her to summon Malik and dangle him in front of me like a jeweler showing off his prized diamonds to a potential buyer. ”
Inside me, my beast snarls, and my claws prick my palms as I try to stay calm.
Mara nods, picking up a toothpick to spear a piece of cheese and a sliver of thin Iberico, and pops them in her mouth.
“Good. That’s good. I was worried about that.
She holds onto that panther like—well, your analogy was spot on—like a prized jewel.
” She cocks her head to the side, eyes on Circe. “But I guess now we know why.”
I silently beg them to keep talking. Why is Leonora so possessive of the brothers?
Circe picks up her glass of sparkling white wine, more than half of which is already gone.
She tilts back her head and swallows the rest before setting the glass on the table and says, “Is your enforcer coming or not? I need to go back to my island to prepare if we are going to act sooner than later.”
Mara glances towards the curtain I’m hiding behind, then looks up through the lattice at the sky. She frowns. “She should have been here by now. Maybe she got held up at the palace.”
Circe tsks . “I still can’t believe she was there the whole time. I didn’t feel her presence at all.” She crosses her arms, eyeing Mara. “And that concerns me. What other spells are the Council keeping secret?”
Mara just smiles, sampling more from the tapas plate. Once she’s swallowed, her lips dip into a serious expression. “Will you attempt to keep Malik on your island past the three hours, or will you return him?”
Circe raises her arms over her head, stretching, and the motion shows off the perfect curves of her body through the drape of her dress. Relaxing back into her chair, she says, “Of course I’d prefer that he stays with me …”
I spin on my heels before I give in to my rage and kill them both …
or die trying. I clench my teeth, trying to figure out how I misjudged Mara so completely.
I deactivate the concealment spell before I step back into the main room.
Adan is standing at a table, and he turns his head towards me from where he was having a conversation with a human couple.
He frowns at my expression, but I shake my head.
Adan knows me well enough to understand when I don’t want to talk, so he opens his arms, and I slide into his hug, kissing each of his bearded cheeks before patting his shoulder and leaving.
I ache to run to Malik, to find a way to get him out before Circe gets her claws into him.
Stars, I’m just so angry! I need to get that fucking collar off him, but also, I need to go to his brothers and fill them in.
I need to warn Sadie. We need to get Hela back to the coven, now.
But if that spell is still cloaking Sadie …
I find a quiet street, checking then double checking that I’m alone. My hands shake from adrenaline, lack of sleep, and fury, but I quickly weave the tracking signs.
“Yes!”
Sadie’s signature pops up within my magic, and I focus on her. Egypt. Her location pings in Aswan.
I grin at my beast. “Pack your bags. We’re going to Egypt.”
She leaps in my mind, hopping in a quick circle. “Let’s go!”