ONCE THE WITCHES’ BINDING net had been cast again, more gently this time, Shine redressed in her blue clothing from The Scale and fled. She felt slightly diminished but wondered if it was her imagination. The net was intended to keep her under some control, to stop her from unleashing waves of power or shaking down the palace, she supposed. She could break it. But if she did, the great demon of the palace would be waiting to squish her.
An attendant led Shine to a guest chamber in the third circle, saying it was to honor her as the prince had requested. But as soon as she was left alone, Shine crawled into the smoke ways and returned to the old bathing rooms where she’d slept all her life.
Removing the pear from her sash, she set it on an old stool like an altar. The fruit meat shone white as the moon, glimmering with juice, and the skin was as golden green and speckled as always. Shine could step on it and the magic would keep it whole and fresh.
She stripped and dug through the piles of old clothing she’d gathered the past few years. Untouched for nearly two months, it all smelled slightly musty, thanks to the damp air, but she pulled on loose pants and a thin tunic, finger-combed her hair, and went to the wall. Pressing both hands to it, she said, “Great demon, will you teach me to take and give and take and give?”
I am weary little demon hush You tire Me and I cannot take more without consequence.
Shine supposed it had been a long day for the great demon. So she said, “Good night,” and went to the pear. Suddenly it occurred to her the magic might not work while she had this binding net marked on her body.
She leaned against the wall, stomach fluttering, and wondered if she should ask the great demon. She had to see the sorceress! It had been days and days.
Her heart pounded, churning with heat.
Might as well find out.
Shine took a bite.
She opened her eyes in the Fifth Mountain’s library.
She grinned in silent relief, nearly falling as her knees weakened. Of course a spell made by the Sorceress Who Eats Girls could penetrate a measly net made by palace witches.
Dim blue and orange lights wavered gently from both the wide crystal hearth and globes hanging free in the air between the cluttered shelves. It seemed poor reading light to Shine, but then, the sorceress’s eyes were unnatural.
The sorceress sat at one of the long tables, elbows on the worn wood, with a large book open before her and a trim quill in hand. She frowned as she marked a notation in the margin. Her tricolored hair was pulled into two high knots, and she wore a sleeveless wrap tunic similar to what she’d had on when she’d cut the diagram into the crystal floor with Shine.
For a moment Shine didn’t move or make a sound, watching hungrily. It was strangely pleasant to observe the sorceress when she thought she was alone. Something so mundane and easy about her obvious concentration, the frustration in the line between her eyebrows. Shine wanted to know what she was working on, but she also wanted to keep staring. Both filled her with anticipation, like she was about to jump off a cliff!
The sorceress turned the page aggressively. “What?” she snapped, lifting her gaze to Shine. Pinched annoyance faded into a more guarded interest as the sorceress realized who was spying on her.
Shine said, “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
The sorceress leaned back in her chair, rather lordly. “I gave you the pear for a reason. Interrupt away.” Shadows shifted on her face, making her seem exhausted.
Shine darted forward. “Are you ill?”
“I’m fine. I’m holding the weight of an entire mountain as the heart slowly dies. I will have to hunt if you don’t return to me.”
“You can’t.”
“Then I will die.”
“I will return soon,” Shine swore breathlessly.
The sorceress did not move but to curl her fingers around the arms of her chair. Her black-lacquered nails glinted bluish. Her chest rose and fell, her eyes held easily to Shine. Green and white. Life and death.
As Shine stared, tiny cracks appeared in the ivory-white iris, like it was too dry and splitting with drought. A muscle shifted in the sorceress’s jaw, and the eye faded to its pure solid white, with pretty flecks of gray.
Distressed, Shine put her hands on the edge of the table. “How is the Selegan?”
“Quite well. They were distressed when the sorcerers took you. Those idiots were messy, and harsh.” The sorceress paused, briefly lowering her eyes. “I was worried, but The Scale told me you would survive.”
Shine swallowed. “I did.” She wanted to ask about Patience and about being a meadow of flowers, but she was nervous. She should remember the sorceress now—if they’d been married, if they’d had a strong bargain. Why couldn’t she? To distract herself, she glanced down at the book. Tiny lines of writing scrawled in columns she couldn’t read. “What are you studying?”
“Power.”
It was said slowly, with such a drawl Shine shivered. She glanced up at the sorceress again, and the sorceress said, “Have you reached the palace?”
“Yes! I came to tell you.” Shine smiled. “Just today. The great demon of the palace is unsure of me, but—”
The sorceress sat forward quickly. “What did it say?”
“It knew immediately I was no longer Nothing. Because I freed myself.” Shine laughed and it licked up her throat like pretty blue-white flames, like stars to spill through her teeth.
The sorceress stood and stalked around the table, intent upon Shine, and Shine kept laughing, but it shifted breathy as the sorceress neared. Shine turned to put her bottom against the table and let the sorceress pin her there, not touching, with only the force of her presence. Oh, Shine liked it.
“What should I call you?” the sorceress asked quietly, but not softly. A ripple of dark feathers appeared along her cheeks like a cresting fish with black scales, then vanished below the surface again. Shine reached to touch the tip of her finger there, intrigued, but the sorceress caught her wrist in a hard grip.
Shine pulled on her hand until she could slip it down to hold the sorceress’s hand and draw both to her chest. She pressed the sorceress’s palm to herself, feeling the cold skin through the tunic she wore. “Night Shine.”
The sorceress closed her eyes, and it was her turn to shiver. “Night Shine,” she said, and it was a tug of power, a breath of air on open flame.
Shine gasped. “It’s not the whole name. I’ve not told that to anyone. You can’t bind me with it.”
“I told you,” the sorceress said, pressing closer. “I do not want to be your master.”
Shine nodded; she couldn’t do anything else. Her heart pounded, and her skin was rippling too, like its own feathers desperately tried to burst free. It felt so good and right. But Shine would have scales, not feathers: bright silver-black scales that shimmered like the sorceress’s nail lacquer and like the black between the stars. She wanted to learn to shift her shape, to help her scales emerge, but could not speak it with the sorceress so near.
The sorceress drew a deep breath, her eyes taking in every detail of Shine’s face and hair and eyes, then drifted down her neck, and Shine was thrilled at the possibility the sorceress could see the thrum of her pulse. A smile like a little butterfly trembled across Shine’s lips.
She tilted her head to reveal the hollow under the corner of her jaw, then gasped as the sorceress pressed a kiss to her pulse point. Shine was melting into lava again; she could hear the clinking of scales tumbling in a breeze, like chimes. Her knees tickled weakly, and she sighed.
The sorceress whispered against her skin, “Will you marry me, Night Shine?”
Shine pushed away. “I can’t! Stop.” She moved to the other end of the table, and the sorceress did not follow. For a few long moments Shine settled herself, but her insides were too hot and she missed the touch.
“I must have a heart.”
“I know. Just wait a little bit longer. I will come back, I promise.” With effort, Shine looked back at the sorceress. “How long can you wait?”
“I do not know.”
Shine said, “Promise. I will come back; only wait.”
“Very well,” the sorceress whispered. “Come what may.”
The words gave Shine what she’d asked for, but something in them frightened her. She stepped back to the sorceress and leaned up to kiss her lightly on the lips.
She woke immediately in the abandoned bathroom, shocked and hot and gasping.