but she’s more powerful than Ilsa. She’s a purebred witch of the Hecate bloodline, and something else. She’s something frighteningly close to that murderous bastard who hunts us down and takes our heads. I watched her fighting men like they were child’s play, ending lives without blinking while she slaughtered them, dancing around the street like she was merely playing. So, again, I ask you, what other witch has done these things?”
“None,” I admitted, considering what she was saying.
I studied Esme’s eyes, noting she didn’t back down. If this Aria was that powerful, could she kill Ilsa? Or would she end up dead like all the others who had tried and come before her?
“Stop that shit,” Esme snorted. “Stop thinking she’s like the others. How many have taken in witches? How many have brought keeps held by Ilsa to their knees, single-handedly? Aria has and continues to do so. I know because I didn’t trust Aria either, so I followed her. She’s strong, Soraya. She’s so fucking strong that I have never seen or met anyone like her before. If Aria Hecate combines her magic with the King of Norvalla, and together they go against Ilsa,” Esme paused, whistling with a smile burning in her eyes, “it’s a sure win. I guarantee you that together they will change the world, but they’re fighting each other. We need to change their focus and move some parts together.”
“And do what together?” I snapped, glaring at her. “My sister is still inside the palace, and if I fuck up, Ilsa will add Julia to that grid. And your girl is currently the King of Norvalla’s newest fucking pet witch. If I were her, I’d stomp his ass and end it.”
“So don’t fuck up, Soraya. Do as that evil bitch instructed you, but don’t give her information to harm the one bitch who may be our savior. If she’s not, we’ll know soon enough. I have to get back to the castle, but find us if you need someplace to hide. Aria has gathered enough of us to start a small rebellion, and she put me in charge of collecting witches worth saving.”
“Aria may be smarter than she looked. She faced off against King Oleander,” I muttered.
“What?” Esme gasped.
“Yeah, your girl took the lightning magic into her soul, and she lived.”
“I can’t believe she would do something so stupid!”
I snorted, studying the look of worry in Esme’s eyes as she sucked her plumped lip between her teeth. “If you don’t believe in her, then why should we?”
“I do believe in Aria, but I also don’t know her well. She challenged the Queen of Nymphs and slaughtered the warriors sent to remove the unmarked witches from their land when I took her there. She made them float and then splattered them while standing beneath them. Nymphs are no joke, and Aria popped them. Of course, she also showered in their entrails, which was disgustingly cool.”
“And then abandoned the witches to their fate? She sounds like a great savior.” I tapped my fingers on my thigh, watching the guards moving through the terrain toward the palace.
“No, she took them to her sanctuary and has gathered those who aren’t evil as shit. Tell me any of the others we trusted who did that? Aria’s new here, that much is a given. She’s so strong and powerful. She stood up against the King of Norvalla, to his freaking nose, and smiled in his face. I’ve seen no one with enough balls to do that, ever. She’s fearless. I think she’s backed by her family as well, or at least some of them.”
I slid my eyes to the palace where Julia would bathe in the black tar to renew the darkness within her. I could believe Esme, and risk my sister’s life by rolling the dice with Aria, or I could tell Ilsa where Aria was, and who had possession of her.
“If Aria took the power of the land, then she might also be able to pull the darkness from people,” Esme mused, chewing her lip before her eyes locked with mine. “If she can do that, she’s not our savior. She’s the monster we need on our side to battle against the ones slaughtering our kind without prejudice or reason.”
Twigs snapped behind us, and we vanished, disappearing into the veil between worlds before escaping through separate portals. If Aria was what this world needed, then she’d need to prove it to me.
I wouldn’t chance my sister’s life on