“Damn it, Esha, you need to take this seriously.”
“Whatever, you have to admit that was funny.”
When he said nothing, she shrugged again and said, “Fine. But I don’t have a damn radar like our furry friends. That’s not going to work. Give me a minute to think.”
Tension thrummed beneath his skin as he waited. Of course this wasn’t going to be easy, but even if he could get her to cooperate, he’d be in close proximity to her for the duration of their search. He’d been so obsessed with getting Esha’s help in finding Aurora that he hadn’t thought of the logistics of actually being near her for so long. In the past, he’d avoided her for a reason. His control, something he’d always prized in himself, was shot around her.
Even now, just standing near her lightened something within him. He’d never met anyone like her, someone who saw him. Hiding the darkness within, the lives he’d taken, had become second nature to him. Mytheans killed all the time, but he wasn’t one of them. Death didn’t come so easy. Yet she knew that he’d done evil things, could see it on him, when no one else could. Esha could see the shadow of his past, and she didn’t hold it against him. It unsettled him. Intrigued him.
“I can’t sense her,” she said. “If I can’t sense her, then it has to be something we have in common that will allow me to find her. What do we share?”
“The way you reap power.”
She glared at him. “What, we’re supposed to track all the poor, temporarily weakened Mytheans and find her that way? It’s a needle in a haystack, and you could do that without me.”
“Good point.”
“Anyway,” Esha said. “If she has her familiar, she can aetherwalk. Does she have her familiar?”
“Aye, a black cat like yours. Sleeker looking, though.”
The Chairman hissed.
“Right, needle in a haystack plan is out.”
“What kind of mythology do soulceresses have? Maybe it’s related to that.”
Every species had stories about its origin, books that contained its history, bards that recorded its songs. The soulceresses would too.
“I don’t know much. There was never anyone to teach me about soulceresses specifically.” She looked away. He swore he caught a glimmer of sadness, but then it was gone. No, that was ridiculous. Esha was tough, one of the toughest Mytheans at the university. “I don’t know a lot about it. I’ve never tried to learn. But there’s a place that was once vaguely mentioned in history class. The howf.”
“Isn’t that a pub?” He hadn’t heard the word in ages.
“Can be, but howf also meant meeting place. For debates and that kind of thing. Ours was enchanted, and since we were the only ones who could enter, it was also used to store the documents and books that we didn’t want falling into the wrong hands.”
“That’s got to be it. She said that only you can find her, and if you’re the only one who can enter the howf, that’s got to be it.” Aurora was smart. It was a surefire way to make sure he brought Esha. “Let’s go there.”
She laughed. “Yeah, right. It sounds totally badass, so don’t you think I would have gone there before?”
“You doona know where it is?”
“Not exactly, I’ve got a pretty good idea. Wouldn’t take too long to find. But it’s not the location that’s the problem. It’s the guard. If you don’t know how to get in, or the rules once you’re there, it’s as dangerous as trying to get out of hell. Soulceresses won’t have anyone stealing our secrets, so they enchanted the place. Older soulceresses taught younger ones how to get in.”
Damn it. “This is our only lead, and you’re telling me you canna get in?”
“Basically.”
“What kind of cut-rate soulceress are you?”
She merely raised an eyebrow. The cat didn’t even bother to hiss at the insult. “Please. I’m an awesome soulceress. You aren’t going to goad me into this.”
Damn it, she was always going to be one step ahead of him. He liked it. Though it was proving to be a pain in the arse.
“Is this really our only lead, then?” he asked.
Esha looked away. Minutes passed before she spoke again, during which time the first snow of the season began to fall lightly around them.
“Yeah,” she said. “It’s the only thing I can think of.”