Then one word reverberated, and the shadows stirred in response.

Ninkil.

The spell was bringing into being the god of rats and destruction.

The knife flashed down. I glimpsed red hair and green eyes but no clear features. Then there was darkness and chaos, and I was sucking in air, suddenly desperate to breathe and survive...

The white blinked and receded, and awareness returned. My breathing was ragged, and Lugh’s hand was on my arm, his grip so tight it felt like he was holding me upright. But my attention remained on the benignly smiling woman on the other side of the table.

“What the hell was that?”

She raised a pale eyebrow. “I am never privy to the visions given in the translucence. What you saw... might be nothing more than a possibility. One of many paths that might yet lie before you.”

“If I don’t do what you and the old gods want me to, you mean,” I said, voice flat. Angry.

At her, at fate and the old gods, and even at Mom for not teaching me about the Eye, second sight, or anything else that might have been useful to help save the lives of those around me.

Castell cackled again. “I am merely a vessel for the whims and messages of the old gods. What I want is neither here nor there.”

Lugh was still gripping my arm, so I smiled and squeezed his hands to let him know I was okay and that I’d explain later. His eyes narrowed—a warning that I had better—and then he released me. I returned my gaze to Castell. “And is the vision I saw what you were sent here to tell—or show—me?”

“No.” She finished her whisky in one long gulp, then raised the glass and wobbled it slightly in demand. Her hands might be twisted, but she seemed to have no trouble holding that glass.

It was also notable that, despite her earlier comment, she seemed in no hurry to leave.

Ingrid—who was a short but fierce-looking pixie with curly green hair and deep brown eyes—came hurrying over from the bar and cast a questioning look my way. I nodded, and she plucked the glass from the other woman’s hands and hurried off to do the refill.

“Then what message are you here to deliver?” I said.

“And what information did you have for Nialle?” Lugh added.

Her gaze flicked across to his. “I was told to warn him the Looisearch watch his movements and plan to snatch what he finds in France.”

“Who told you to warn him?” I asked, once again before Lugh could say anything.

“That would be Beira.” She wrinkled her nose. “She’s rather cantankerous, that one.”

I frowned. “Why would she go through you? The hags have sent us messages before.”

“Yes, but Beira had only just heard the whispers brewing on the wind and, given the urgency of the situation and the fact she had no desire to reveal her presence to anyone else because her enemies rise, she had no choice but to avail herself of my services.”