“Whoa, ladies. No way am I helping you with this,” she said.
“What?” The marmot witch’s voice sounded strangled. “You have to.”
“No.” Esha shook her head and turned in a circle, taking in the sight of the twelve frightened witches surrounding her. “No, I really don’t. Were you going to tell me I was locking up another soulceress?”
Esha could see in their faces that they hadn’t intended to. Did they think she was stupid?
“Right, then. I think we’re done.” She turned to leave, the Chairman already ahead of her and waiting impatiently at the door.
“But… why?”
Esha didn’t bother to turn around to answer the question. “Please. She’s probably no more evil than I am.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
In his office, Warren paced in front of the fireplace. Despite the autumn wind that howled against the mullioned windows, the hearth lay cold. His mind was a jungle of tangled vines, the only thought he could grasp was that of Esha’s coming task. He hadn’t been able to eat or shower. The duties of managing the Praesidium had fallen by the wayside.
His job—managing the Mythean Guardians and maintaining the balance between earth and the afterworlds—had been a form of atonement. For the last two hundred years, it had been more important than anything else in his life. With Aurora’s potential return, it was but an afterthought, and he despised that.
Footsteps charged down the hall, followed by the patter of smaller feet. He strode toward the door and swung it open.
Esha pushed through without slowing down. “Do you have any idea what you sent me to do?”
The cat hissed.
He wanted to growl back. “Your job. Why the hell are you so angry?”
Her eyes blazed, their amber ignited to fire, and her chest rose erratically with her heaving breaths. He dragged his eyes away to focus on her face.
“You sent me to bind another soulceress to eternal prison. Using magic that would forever forfeit some of my power.”
“Did you?”
“No!”
His head spun as he watched her fling herself into the chair across from his desk and bow her head into her hands. He took a step toward her, then stopped himself abruptly. She’d screwed him and hadn’t completed her assignment. Why was he walking toward her in comfort?
But the magic would steal some of her power? Shite. He hadn’t known that. “You can regenerate.”
“Yeah, unless I give it away freely through a blood ritual. Then I re
generate less.” She shook her head and dragged her hands through her hair. “But that’s not the point! You sent me to hurt another soulceress, Warren.”
“She’s a monster. You should be distancing yourself from her, if anything.”
She lifted her head from her hands and looked up at him, dawning horror on her face. “I’ve never met another one. I’m the only freak like me. Why would I do something to keep her locked up? Why would I want to stay away from her?”
Blood pounded in his head, and his fists clenched uncontrollably. “Because she’s fucking evil!”
Esha didn’t flinch, but her face paled.
“What the hell does that even mean? People say I’m evil too. How am I supposed to believe that in this case, she is super evil and not just like me?” Her hair began to float around her head, eerily juxtaposed against her pale, shocked face. Her anger and disappointment were so deep that they manifested themselves through magic.
“I’ve never said you’re evil. And despite the way I’ve put my foot in my mouth, I doona think it either,” he said.
Skepticism flashed in her eyes.
“I gave you this assignment for the greater good, Esha. If it were up to me, I’d kill her. You’ve got to trust me on this.”