She whirled in a graceful pirouette and I watched as streamers of fire danced around her.
“Pretty light show,” I said. “You boning up for a gig on Broadway or what?”
She stiffened and the fire died away. Her eyes narrowed on my face. “Excuse me?”
I shrugged. “Well, a few minutes ago you were all combative and serious shit. Now you’re dancing. Figured you were showing off and I might as well show my appreciation. It’s very pretty. You should add some music, though.”
“How about I show you pretty and melt your sword?”
Why in the hell did everybody always try that? I wondered. They were going to bend it, break it and now she threatened to melt it. “Think you can?” I asked, glancing down at it.
“Oh, I know I can.”
The arrogance and laughter in her eyes goaded me. “How about this—I have a couple of questions, and they are easy ones. If you can’t melt the sword in thirty seconds, then you answer the questions.”
“Fine.” Then a smug smile curled her lips. “But you have to hold it.”
“Tate…” Es stepped up. “If you harm somebody I’ve invited into my house, I’ll be very displeased.”
Tate didn’t look concerned.
Es rested a hand on my shoulder. I looked over at her and shook my head. Damon swore and grabbed me. I shrugged him off and drew my blade, holding it out in front of me.
I smelled of magic. I knew that.
But there was more magic in the top two inches of my blade than I had in my entire body. It was just a quieter magic. One nobody ever really saw.
“Have at it, firefly,” I said, smiling.
I felt the heated jolt. Three seconds in, the metal heated enough to I was starting to feel it. But the blade held up fine. Ten seconds in, my hand started to burn.
By twenty seconds, Tate was no longer smiling. I could smell my own flesh scorching. I dealt with the pain the same way I’d always dealt with it—I blocked it out. I’d block it out to survive, to get through whatever in the hell I had to get through. I am aneira—my heart is strong—
“Enough,” Es said after the thirty seconds ended. Tate kept going.
“I said enough!”
Power ripped through the air, icy and white, cutting off the stream of Tate’s power and I gasped as the backlash travelled up the blade. She was glowing—white hot. And pleased. She liked magic. Loved it.
Before any of them could notice, I banished the blade and had to clench back a scream as the hilt all but ripped away from my burnt flesh.
Black dots danced in front of me.
A hard, brutal palm gripped my arm, fingers digging into my flesh. Damon shook me a little. “Okay, witch. She won. Questions now.”
“Fucking cheat,” Tate spat out. “That was an enchanted blade.”
“I never said it wasn’t. And you never asked.”
My palm throbbed. Screamed.
Think past it—have to think past it—
“The witch,” I said, falling back on instinct. Shock was trying to settle in and I knew if I wasn’t careful, I’d pass out right there. Not good, not good. “The kid who disappeared. The car. What can you tell me about them?”
A frown darkened her face. “What do you care about them? She was unaffiliated, alone. Her dad was an asshole and wouldn’t let her come here, even when he was told it wouldn’t cost him anything.”
Green Road operated on a tuition and tithe basis. But kids who couldn’t pay to attend the schooling could still come on a scholarship basis. Many of the witches were very, very wealthy, and most of them believed in taking care of their own.
“The kid. The car,” I said again. “Anything you can remember?”
“No car. SUV. Florida plates.” She rattled off a number, one I couldn’t recall for the life of me, but it didn’t dawn on me to ask her to repeat it. “Humans with her. I figured she was whoring for money. Some of us have to.”
“She was just a kid,” Damon said, his voice full of disgust.
“So was I,” she said. “Didn’t stop me.”
“Anything about the humans?” I asked, cutting in.
“Snakes. The whole lot of them. The kind you just want to see die.” She smiled and leaned toward me with a conspiratorial wink. “They were the kind I used to burn in the backyard, up until my dad found out what I was doing. Then he tried to beat the fire out of me. Literally. So…I burned him.”