Page 15

“Yeah, I figured you’d need all that space for your stuff, being one of Hecate’s students and all.”

Ria grinned. “Oh, you know it. Explosions and mind melting and the like.”

They both laughed, and Elian pulled up a chair for her beside his desk. The witch plopped down into it and the two of them fell into conversation about Hecate’s training methods, comparing notes, and swapping stories as if they’d known each other for years instead of minutes.

Asterion stood by his own desk with Korinnae tugging at his arm about stickers, watching the witch lean in to show Elian something on her phone. The human said something that made her laugh again, and she put her hand on his arm while she did.

His jaw tightened.

“Uncle Asty, are you listening?”

“What?” He turned to Korinnae. “Yes. Stickers. No pink.”

“Korinnae needs another session.”

Asterion was mid-sip when the witch appeared in the kitchen doorway the following morning, already dressed. He set the mug on the counter.

“When?” he asked.

“This morning. Before lunch, ideally.”

He grunted and drained the rest of his cup. “Alright, I’ll be ready in five.”

They were in her workshop at headquarters in less than an hour. The space was already different from the day before. She’d arranged her supplies on the shelves along the walls, jars and bottles and tools he couldn’t identify. Korinnae sat on a low stool near the window, swinging her hooves while Ria knelt in front of her.

“Just like before,” Ria said. “Tell me if anything feels strange.”

Asterion watched from the doorway as they began. He’d told himself he would stay out of the way, and for the first few minutes he managed it. Ria’s face was calm, her breathing steady while Korinnae’s expression was relaxed, her head tilted to one side. Then the witch’s hands started to tremble.

It was small at first. A twitch in her fingers. A tightening around Korinnae’s fingers. But her jaw had set and her breathing pattern shifted. Asterion had spent enough years watching bodies in a fight to know when someone was pushing past what they could handle.

“That’s enough,” he said.

She didn’t respond.

“Witch,” he repeated, this time more firmly. “That’s enough.”

“Almost,” she said through gritted teeth.

The glow between their hands flared. Korinnae’s brow creased and the witch’s arms were shaking to the shoulders now. She was pouring everything she had into his niece, and she wasn’t stopping.

He crossed the room in three strides and pulled Korinnae’s hands from Ria’s grip. Korinnae blinked, startled but unharmed. Ria slumped forward on her knees, catching herself on the edge of the stool.

“I wasn’t finished,” she said, her voice weak and thin.

“Ye were about to pass out. Again.”

“I was fine.”

“Ye were shaking.”

“That’s normal.”

“That is not normal.” His voice came out louder than he wanted. Korinnae flinched, and he forced himself to lower it. “Go find Liora,” he told his niece. “She’s in the office.”

Korinnae hesitated for a moment before sliding off the stool and slipping out of the room.

The moment she was gone, Asterion turned back to the witch. She was still on her knees, one hand braced on the stool, the other flat on the stone floor. Her chest rose and fell too fast.