Page 86 of The Lies We Conjure
“What do you mean?” I hear myself say as something frays within me.
“Perhaps that’s what the threat was—maybe Luna told Ursula she was cutting the Celestial Line loose.” Lavinia nods to herself, pieces locking into place as the words come. “Luna saw it as something necessary for the way her line was going, but Ursula saw it as a defection—a threat.”
That thought nearly stops my brain straight in the tracks.
“I—you know, yes,” I stumble, my brain whirring forward. “That’s possible.”
Winter snags my fumbling answer. “Those two were as close as sisters and if anyone would have had the balls to broach defection with Ursula, it was Luna.”
She’s right.
“But then why would she have come at all to the meeting?” Evander asks. “We know dropping a bombshell like that into Ursula’s lap wouldn’t have made business as usual plausible.”
Winter sighs. “Infinity could shed some light but I’m not about to barge in on them.”
After a long, silent moment, Lavinia begins to fiddle with her napkin. “I’m not saying it means anything, but Infinity went out of their way to tell me that she thought Ursula did this to herself. They could’ve been planting seeds to drive the investigation away from their grandmother if for some reason we figured out Marsyas was set up.”
“And then what? Someone murdered Luna rather than have her submit to interrogation? Or to the potential embarrassment it would cause their line?” Winter asks. “If you’re back to implying Infinity could’ve done that to their grandmother, I know you don’t know them, but no.”
Lavinia holds up her hands. “I didn’t say that.”
Winter stands, shoves her chair back, and gets a bar of chocolate we stole from the kitchen stash from where it’s piled between Evander’s chips and the scotch glasses. “This is just such bullshit. None of this is worth it—what happened to Ursula and Luna is not worth it. Not for any of these moldy relics or for the Four Lines.”
Kaysa clears her throat and enters the conversation with a much more serious tone than she’s used before.
“Perhaps we put a pin in that and look at the idea of threats in a more immediate sense,” Kaysa says in a way that’s stiff—almost like she’s reading from a script. Lavinia’s brows knit. For all their closed-circuit nonverbal understanding, it’s clear she’s not sure where her sister is headed with this. Maybe it’s not as rehearsed as I imagine, then. “A murder is a threat completed—we have two of those. The knife incident is a threat in itself.”
“Yeah, a threat that almost made it four murders.” Winter tosses the remaining chocolate bar onto the sideboard so hard it slides and skids off onto the rug. “Someone killed Luna, and it wasn’t Ursula’s fucking ghost. Evander and Auden, I swear to God, I’ll kill you a second time if either of you manages to get murdered over a meaningless title.”
Evander stands too now, his chair nearly tipping. “The title isn’t meaningless; it keeps thousands of witches safe in this country—”
“It didn’t keep Ursula safe!” Winter shouts. “It didn’t keep Luna safe! It didn’t keep our parents safe! In fact, it put them six feet under! Can you believe—”
A loud knock snuffs Winter’s anguished voice.
We all turn to the door. This isn’t a hotel, there’s no peephole.
Evander shouts, “Who is it?”
There’s a pause, whispering between the wall and us. Not Infinity then. Which leaves—
“We have information you need to know.”
Hex’s voice is as clear as a bell.
“Unless it’s the third master, it can wait until morning,” Evander answers.
Magic sparks at my fingertips. Magical defense is allowed, not offense—despite the evidence of Luna’s murder, I have no interest in testing Ursula’s rules about using magic against each other and spending twenty-four of our remaining hours frozen like a statue.
Rising, I grab the nearest blunt object—a massive decorative rose quartz bookend on the sideboard. It’s sized like a bowling ball and just as heavy. I cock it, prepared for a quick-release lob if the Cerises force their way in.
Finally, Hex’s voice comes again, quietly but plainly, “Our parents weren’t with us the whole day.”
We all go collectively still.
“Are you confirming they were unaccounted for?” Evander calls.
“Are you confirming you lied?” Winter yells too before they can address Evander.
