A Book of Spirits and Thieves - Morgan Rhodes Page 0,111

sweet, perhaps I shall reward you for this. I may need you again in the future, after all.”

Suddenly, all the guards gasped in unison and then crumpled to the ground.

Valoria’s insidious grin fell at the sight. “Was that you, child?”

“No,” Maddox replied, stunned, as he searched the area for the answer.

Becca’s surprised gaze swept over the fallen guards. “Then how on earth—?” she whispered.

Sienna stood nearby, her arms out to her sides. “Apologies, Your Radiance, but this crusade ends now.”

Valoria cocked her head. “Sienna. You did this? I’m impressed. You must be more powerful than I thought.”

“Don’t flatter me. I didn’t do it alone.”

“That’s right,” said a familiar voice. Maddox turned around to see Camilla, walking toward them from the cottage. “I helped.”

Valoria raised a brow. “I thought this vile woman was dead.”

Barnabas laughed, then struggled to crawl over and cut his ropes on a fallen guard’s sword. “Imagine that. Mere witches, fooling a goddess as powerful as you.”

Valoria stiffened, and the book fell from her hands, tumbling to the ground in a flutter of delicate pages. Bands of translucent, airy swirls wrapped themselves around her shoulders, waist, and knees, trapping her arms at her sides. “Yes, with your puny powers combined, your air magic is quite impressive.”

Barnabas approached her. “Just to enlighten you, Your Radiance, this has been our plan for a long time. Sienna gave up two years of her life to work her way into your good graces and earn your trust. But, like you said, without that magic dagger of yours, you can’t be sure of anyone’s loyalty, can you?”

The goddess’s lips thinned. “And what do you mean to do with me now?”

“That’s the beauty of it, Valoria. Without your determination to open this gateway with Maddox’s magic, we couldn’t have done any of this. You yourself have given us the means to rid ourselves and Mytica of you, once and for all. From this point forward, you are exiled. You’ll never find a way back here. You are now free to spend eternity searching for your thief friend and that dagger you’re so desperate for.”

She shook her head. “Barnabas, you can’t do this. You can’t simply shove me through a gateway and have me disappear!”

He laughed again. “Oh, I believe I can.”

He clutched her shoulders and fixed a wild-eyed, victorious stare on her. Then, pushing back on his haunches to harness more strength, he shoved her backward.

She didn’t budge an inch.

A slow smile snaked across her face. “Didn’t you hear me? I said you can’t do it.”

And with her words, the earth beneath Barnabas’s feet swiftly turned to mud, and he immediately sank down into it to his waist. He fought to free himself, but he was in too deep.

He continued to sink farther, now just a little at a time. The more he struggled, the faster the enchanted mud drew him downward.

Valoria examined the air magic binding her. “These wispy chains are impressive, but let’s not be silly.”

With a violent flick of her wrists, she brushed off the spell, the translucent binds sputtering out into specks of dust, and strode toward the witches. “I hate to repeat a trick twice in the same day, but you both deserve a nice, slow death.”

Again, the earth gave way to muck beneath them, and they swiftly sank into mud pits identical to Barnabas’s.

It appeared as though Barnabas’s brilliant plan—which was a complete secret to Maddox until now, of course—had failed. Rather spectacularly.

“Whatever you’re thinking of doing,” Becca said, her voice strained, “think faster.”

She believed he had a plan at the ready to save them all. She couldn’t be more wrong.

But I have to do something, he thought frantically. Something. But what?

The goddess might be many things—vain, greedy, impulsive—but she wasn’t stupid.

Was it possible that he could reason with her?

As Valoria approached the shadowy gateway, Maddox stepped in front of her. “Wait. We could make a bargain,” he said, attempting to keep his tone as calm as possible, given the current life-and-death situation. “If you spare the lives of Barnabas and the witches, I will gladly work for you.”

“Oh, you poor boy. Yes, you will work for me,” she agreed. “That was never in question. But they’ve already chosen death by crossing me.”

She shoved him out of her way. He lost his footing, and when he dropped to the icy ground, the silver ring holding the dark forest spirit, which he’d nearly forgotten about, tumbled out of his pocket. Steadily and as if in slow motion, the ring