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“Isolte might be derived from Isolde or Iseult,” Guillaume said. “Which makes me think of the medieval tale, Tristan and Isolde. Some of the characters also appeared in Arthurian tales. As most stories from that period, it was a tragic tale that ended with both lovers dying.”

“Her magic was a blueish green, like Excalibur’s blue flames. Is it possible Janelle was part fae?”

“Absolutely. Her goddess is Brigid,” Kevin said. “An Irish goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann pantheon.”

Guillaume nodded. “Children of Danu are fae.”

“Do we know when Janelle swore to Keisha?”

“I can find out by going through the old Skye records,” Kevin offered.

“I don’t think the timing is crucial. At some point, Keisha had her use her magic to place those runes in the hallway. Then they carpeted over it, perhaps even decades ago. Did people use that floor very often?”

“Ezra said the entire floor is a labyrinth with lots of dead ends,” Mehen said. “My guess is we might find other traps laid into the other hallways.”

“Though they may not activate without Janelle’s presence,” Guillaume added. “Surely people have walked on those carpets in the past. There were offices on that floor.”

“Not a lot, though,” Kevin replied. “Too much foot traffic might have disturbed the chalk. The carpet was thin and cheap.”

“Very true.”

“Sounds like a good reason to have extensive renovations done on every single floor,” Gina said. “We rip up everything. Even tear down the walls to the studs if you think more runes might be hidden underneath.”

I sighed. “Honestly, I’d rather just tear the whole building down.”

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll make a note⁠—”

“Wait, really?”

Her lips quirked and she shook her head. “Your Majesty, if it’s your wish to tear down a building, we tear it down.”

“But it’s a hundred-plus story skyscraper in New York City.”

She shrugged. “So? We’d need to house the siblings elsewhere until you built or purchased something else, but that’s a minor inconvenience for Isador’s protection.”

“Most of the building is empty now anyway,” Kevin added. “Keisha used to lease out entire floors to other businesses, but now all of the lower levels are empty.”

“It’s tempting,” I admitted. “But I do have the tree in the basement.” Which led to what else Janelle said. Though after the way she’d whispered it to me, I hesitated to mention it out loud. Even here.

I closed my eyes, seeking deep inside myself for the goddess. Is it safe to speak of it here?

A crystal-clear chime rang through my head.

I opened my eyes, keeping my voice low. “What’s Occulta?”

“Latin,” Guillaume replied. “It means hidden.”

“Like a hidden group? Another queen, hiding in plain sight? Sort of like Janelle.”

My own sibling. Trying to kill me. And I’d had no clue until it was too late. Though she’d said she couldn’t risk me getting a deeper hold on her. So maybe drinking deeply and forming solid sibling bonds would have revealed her secrets to me. Yet another reason to drink deeply from the remaining Skye siblings, though it was too late to discover Janelle’s treachery.

“I don’t know,” Guillaume said. “I’ve never heard it used in reference to another queen or organized group.” He shook his head slowly, his eyes narrowing. “Why?”

“Janelle said, ‘Look where they don’t want you to see. Remember what died here. They want you dead before you can do something about it.’ Then she leaned in and barely whispered that word to me. It felt… forbidden. Like saying it out in the open could get us all killed.”

Rik started to tighten his arms around me, but then quickly reminded himself of hurting me earlier and settled for letting a growl rattle his chest. “What died, not who.”

“Exactly. So not Keisha, but maybe Tanza. There was something else inside her. Something… demonic. Not in the Christian sense, but other. Something evil. Whatever it was, they don’t want me to find it.” I blew out a sigh. “Whoever they are.”