She felt something settle inside her, something that had been haunting her sleep lately. She turned to face her cousin. “Yes, I could. If that’s what it took to protect my family or the Old Place or the Small Folk…yes, I could.” She lifted the hand that held the bow. “It would be easier to do that using a weapon made by human hands than break the creed I live by and use the power inside me to do harm. But I would do that, too, if there was no other choice.”

“We’re of one mind about this,” Fiona said. “I’ve lost my mother and my grandmother. My father, too. And too many aunts and uncles. We’re a large, sprawling family. Or we were. Sometimes I think we should have fought back, should have stood up to the baron when he started making decrees that took away so much. But we couldn’t have done that without doing harm, and the elders held by the creed—and didn’t understand the cost until it was too late for them to do anything but save those they could by sacrificing themselves.”

“It was more complicated than that,” Breanna said gently.

Fiona sighed. “I know. But some days it’s easier to blame those I loved for dying to save the rest of us than to admit that breaking the creed wouldn’t have made any difference. Not then. Not there. The Inquisitors already controlled the baron, and the baron controlled the people. What good would it have done to wither the crops in the fields or make the wells dry? All that would have done is hurt the common folk and prove witches are the evil creatures the Black Coats accuse us of being.”

“You don’t know the elders are dead.”

“Breanna.”

Fiona’s voice held so much knowledge and pain. But not acceptance. If the Inquisitors rode into this Old Place, at least some of the witches here would use everything they could summon to fight back.

Breanna took a deep breath, let it out slowly. “My primary branch of the Great Mother is air. Yours is earth. It would help to have fire and water as well if it comes down to a fight here.”

“Not everyone will break the creed. Even with what they know, with what they’ve seen.”

“I know.” Breanna tucked some strands of dark hair back into her loose braid. She looked at the bow in her hand. Even if they didn’t use their power as a weapon, there were still ways for the witches to fight back. “Do you know how to use a bow?”

Fiona made a rude noise. “Of course I do.”

“We might as well get some practice in before our ‘instructors’ show up to give us some practice.”