“He has a tail! And there are no marks of the living wood on him,” I continue.
The leader shakes her head, cutting me off. “Human, I do not know where you come from, but you seem confused. Elves have been testing our barriers for three days. Our sisters have caught them at the edges of the islands, searching for weaknesses. And now you arrive, with an elf-not-elf at your side. What is your true intent?”
More memories bubble up, this time of Arion using my body to kill. To run. To leave. And then, to speak.
I will find her, no matter where you run. Any city that harbors you will burn.
A wave of cold fear settles in my chest, but my tongue is loose. Compelled to speak.
"I mean no harm," I say quickly. "We came for help." I feel my heart pounding against my ribs. "I wasn’t sent here to attack you."
The witches exchange quick glances. The leader leans down. Her gaze is piercing.
"Help?" she repeats, as if testing the word. "Or are you here as a scout, sent to find weakness in our defenses?"
Normally, I would hesitate, but whatever they have given me loosens my tongue again.
“I was cursed,” I confess, the words coming slowly but resolutely. “By an elf,the Elf King. He wants me to be his wife. He gave me anobject with dark magic—magic like what the witches on the mainland use. It burned that mark onto my ankle, and now it… it makes me run to him after I sleep. Makes me dangerous. I came to have it removed so I can sever his hold on me.
A heavy silence fills the cavern. The witches’ expressions shift, their eyes flicking over the dark mark on my leg, which is already burning faintly.
The leader leans in, her fingers brushing lightly over my ankle. The contact sends a sharp jolt of pain up my leg, and I wince, pulling back instinctively.
“We have been studying this,” she says sharply. "You carry the taint of Abhartach, but we have muted it.”
The words freeze me. “You have?” I manage, my voice small.
“For a short time, nothing more. The demon god is not welcome here.”
“Is he welcome anywhere?” I ask before thinking. It seemed to me that he was hated by most, but a necessary tool of power.
Another witch steps forward. I am surprised to see she is considerably older than the rest. Her hair is streaked with gray, and her hands are weathered, rough from a lifetime of work.
"Abhartach. The betrayer, the hungering void. His power seeps into the veins of kings and gods alike.” She gestures to the ink scrawled across her throat. “There were some of our sisters who strayed from our path, turned their backs on the sisterhood. They were bound to him. The last we heard, they fell."
“Then you’re not like them?” The question slips from my lips before I can stop it, and the witch who spoke before narrows her eyes at me.
“No,” she answers, her voice thick with something ancient. “Unlike those who serve him willingly, we funnel what remains through our own goddess. A human goddess.”
Her words land heavily. A flicker of recognition hits me like a jolt. "Ashra," I say quietly, unbidden—the name of one of Estela’s patron deities.
The leader’s expression darkens at the mention of the goddess. “Yes. But Ashra’s power is worn thin. She is not enough to shield usfrom the gods who wish to claim us. Or the men who seek to cross our barrier. Your curse is a complication we cannot afford. We should cast you away.”
The words hit me like a physical blow. My chest goes concave.
I remember being in the Sisterhood’s Enclave.
“What if we get to the island and the witches refuse?” I had asked Mrath.
That is what they are doing right now.
“Then you had better learn how to be persuasive, little ruby.”
A rush of heat floods my body, but I keep my voice steady, focused.
“You’ve been here, hidden away, untouched by the world for how long?” I ask, my voice low and fierce. “While I, and those I’ve known, were slaves. You’ve had your peace, your safety. The only time those I live with have seen dark magic in recent years is from your sisters. The tainted ones you mention. It is because of them that I am here at all.”
The leader’s eyes flicker with protest, but she doesn’t interrupt.