Page 63 of The Lies We Conjure
“We know that we can trust them,” Auden says, “and that’s valuable to them and to us. We know the Blackgates aren’t planning anything nefarious with Marsyas. If anything, they’re pawns and victims like the rest of us. That’s what we learned.”
“Thank you,” Wren says, pointedly to Auden. “Now can you all stop looking at both of us like we’re walking landmines with excellent hair?”
She squeezes me one more time before freeing me to stand on my own. But I feel like my knees are about to give out.
Hector scowls. “I wouldn’t go that far. These two could’ve cooked up plans to kill Ursula as revenge for their father’s death, and Kaysa’sanswers would’ve pulled the same results from those close-ended questions.”
“No,” Evander says, definitive. “If they were involved in Ursula’s murder, the answer wouldn’t have come out so clear. We all know there are shades of truth, and every answer was definitive. I felt Kaysa’s intent in each answer. She and Lavinia are not involved in Ursula’s death.”
That declaration is a small relief as my nerves jump with the thought that he could feel Wren’s intent through their connection. Could he feel her lack of magic too? Her lie? Our lies?
We’re threading the needle here with a margin of error so small I can’t believe we’ve made it out with all our blood on the inside. My anger flares at Wren. This was too close.
It wasn’t worth it.
“Then it was Marsyas,” Luna concludes. “You saw her—she walked to the table with Ursula. Had plenty of time and opportunity to spell her with something during that stroll. It took near a millennium for them to approach the table—Marsyas is nearly as slow as me and she has her original knees!” There’s some nodding—Hector and Sanguine bobbing like marionettes on the same string, the twins a half step behind; Evander, Winter, even Auden. “Then she killed this man for his car and drove off.”
I meet Wren’s eyes because it all makes sense… except for the fact that Marsyas already had the man’s keys. We’d both seen her drop them in that wretched raven’s-body clutch.Jangle, thud, zip.
But to everyone else, it adds up.
It should.
Neither of us says a word about Marsyas’s key possession. I can’t explain why, but I want to keep that bit to myself. I don’t trust them with it. Not yet.
“Now, hold on. Wait.” Hex’s features are scrunched up like he’s eaten too much ice cream too fast.
“Get that thought out or your face’ll stay that way,” Winter mutters under her breath.
Hex’s eyes shoot to the youngest Hegemony, but not with disdain, that flirty smirk back for a ghost of a second before he asks, “What if this is a diversion?”
“It’s a mess is what it is. A hurried, panicked mess of a murderer.”
“But what if it’s on purpose?” he asks, gesturing indulgently at the man on the ground. “We all know talented witches, like, say, members of the High Families, can all disguise our magic tolooklike another line’s.”
My gut twists—that’s why my instinct was to hold back about the keys. If someone imitated Marsyas to set her up for the driver’s murder, they both don’t know about it and they’re likely standing right here.
“Yes, and the best comp to Death magic is Blood magic, genius,” Ada seethes, punctuated with an elbow to her twin’s kidney. They’ve confirmed what we learned in the reading room last night—a fact I’m sure these other witches know. “Are you saying me, or Mama and Papa did it? Or you?”
“What? No. But I am saying we can check the magical signature.”
“Oh,” Winter exclaims. And it’s a surprise when she clarifies Hex’s thought for him. “You mean, glean the magic and see if the person who cast the spell on this man is still on the grounds?”
“Yes?”
“Why can’t we do that to Ursula?” I ask slowly, trying to sound as magically incompetent as they expect me to be. “Wouldn’t that be the best way to make sure Nona did it?”
“Because of the victim’s shroud,” Infinity answers, not unkindly. “That sort of magic is considered tampering when it comes to another witch. But a normal old dead guy? Should be fine.”
That does not make sense to me, but I don’t probe more. What I’ve broached is already dangerous enough.
“Go ahead, son, let’s see what you’ve got,” Hector says. Sanguine gives an encouraging nod, while Ada stews silently next to her. I’m getting the idea that chances for both compliments and opportunities are few and far between in that household.
“No—it should be someone who can’t mimic the magic so easily,” Auden suggests. Hex’s mouth drops open to argue, but Sanguine grips his wrist and he immediately steps back into line with the rest of his family. “Luna? Infinity?”
Luna dislodges herself from Infinity and stands on her own. “Go ahead, child.”
As Infinity steps forward and kneels to the man, I find Wren’s pinky and twine it with mine. I don’t know what this magic will do or how it will work, but this is the best I can do for the pendulum to swing the other way after her success with the truth spell.
