I drew one of the knives, then glanced across to Darby. “Be ready, because I have no idea what will happen when I kill the spell.”

She nodded and flexed her fingers. I carefully touched the flat of blade against the exposed portion of the woman’s chest. Light ran down the fuller, and energy crackled briefly around the blade’s edges, but for several seconds, nothing else happened.

I sheathed the knife as Darby leaned across and pressed her fingers either side of Alinda’s temples.

“There’s nothing’s physically wrong,” she said. “Heart, pulse, brain activity all normal. There are a few final spell cobwebs in the process of being dispersed—”

She never completed the sentence, because Alinda drew in a sharp breath and her eyes popped open. Her gaze was blank for a second or two, then she blinked, and awareness returned.

She glanced quickly around but stopped when she came to me. “Bethany Aodhán. It’s about fucking time you showed up.”

Chapter Eight

To say that was not the first thing I expected from her would be the understatement of the year. Century, even.

“I’m sorry—”

“So you should be,” she said, somewhat crossly. Which seemed to be a reoccurring theme when it came to my interactions with fortune tellers or old goddesses. “The stones said you’d be showing up weeks ago. Why didn’t you?”

I raised an eyebrow. “If it was so damn urgent, why didn’t you just walk across the road and speak to me?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” She pushed into a sitting position. Darby must have stripped off her wet clothes before placing her into the bed, because she was now wearing one of my old T-shirts. “And where the hell am I?”

“You’re in my living quarters above the tavern across the road and just down from your shop.”

“Would have been handy if the stones had clarified that little detail. So why am I here?” She waved at Darby and Lugh. “And who are these people?”

I introduced them, then explained what had happened.

“And the shop? How bad is it?”

Her manner was matter-of-fact rather than angry, and that surprised me.

“The front of your shop has been gutted,” Lugh said, “but from what we’ve heard, the rear portion was untouched by the fire and only has minimal water damage.”

“Which is something of a miracle, given the amount of water they were pouring in,” I added.

“No miracle but rather good spelling. I had an inkling there would be a flood and piled on countermeasures.” She wrinkled her nose. “Didn’t foresee anything about a damn fire, though.”

“It wasn’t an accident,” I said. “It was the result of a blue dust explosion.”

Her gaze sharpened on mine. “And how do you know that?”

“Smelled it in the smoke.” I pulled the chair a little closer and sat down. “Why would anyone want to destroy your place and kidnap you, Alinda?”

“Perhaps for the same reason I was expecting to see you—they were after information on the goddess’s sword.”