Treason and Treasure by Brie Tart

Author:Brie Tart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brie Tart

CHAPTER 13

The portal in my mirror turned between a vision of blue-tinted flowers and solemn pines and my own shuddering limbs and fading glow. My eyelids were great weights wanting to fall. Once they did, my legs would come down with them. I couldn’t sustain the portal long enough to push myself through.

The pounding steps of guards thundered behind me and one called to the others. My end was at hand. They would catch me. Whether they took me prisoner or submitted me to my family, I would rot in a dungeon pit awaiting Samhain’s final hour.

A crimson-stained hand, my only indication of Maya’s presence, broke through the remnants of the portal. Two strong, solid limbs seized my tunic and pulled.

I tipped over and fell into the mirror. I lost purchase on one end of the frame. My fingertips caught and held fast to the other. The soft liquid magic closed over me, and by extension the mirror I grasped. I closed my eyes and girded myself for whatever happened next.

A firm, but cushioned surface with a stiff frame absorbed my fall. I opened my eyes to find myself hovering over the courtyard’s rough-hewn stones rather than laying upon them. Something tightened and shifted under me. Muscle? A body?

“M-Maya?” I stammered as my face filled with heat. What parts of her did I lay on? Her chest, her stomach, her thighs? I would’ve scrambled off, but my limbs slumped as if the bones had melted and all they left was loose bags of flesh and joint-less sinew.

Maya’s smeared hand cupped under my arm. The rest of her pushed me up and dragged me toward the grass. The green stalks tickled, but served as a far less embarrassing pallet than my full-figured friend.

After long moments of deep breathing and rest, I lifted my mirror to my face. I had seen and spoken to her through it earlier because she had its twin in the dream state with her. I tapped it once to trigger the connection, but nothing happened. That portal had drained my power to the final drop.

“By Danu’s bosom.” I borrowed Aunt Brigid’s favorite curse as I fumbled through the haze clouding my mind. How else could I remedy this?

Maya’s red hand rummaged in the air where her chest should be. Through her brassiere? The bronze ivy leaves on my mirror’s frame flashed. Of course! If she initiated the enchantment, I wouldn’t need to expend energy sustaining it. Maya’s crooked grin appeared a moment later.

“That plan…sucked,” Maya said, her voice hoarse. “How are we burying this thing?”

“I’ll need your help for as long as your shape lasts.” I pushed myself upright. “I can’t make my flowers do anything in this condition. We will have to dig with our hands, I will need to rest, and then I can muster the power to properly hide the Cauldron.”

“I’ve got the time, I think.” Maya sighed but something firm thumped my back. “Catch your second wind. I’ll start digging.”

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