Serpent & Dove (Serpent & Dove, #1)(18)

I whirled at the sound of her voice. She leaned against the dirty brick of the alleyway, eyebrow arched, and nodded to the ring. “I see you found Tremblay’s vault.” When I glanced toward the street, hesitating, she laughed. “Don’t worry. Our muscled blue friends are currently tearing Tremblay’s townhouse apart brick by brick. They’re far too busy looking for you to actually find you.”

I chuckled but stopped quickly, looking back at the ring with awe. “I can’t believe we actually found it. The witches would riot if they knew I had it.”

Coco followed my gaze, brows furrowing slightly. “I know what the ring can do, but you’ve never told me why your kin revere it. Surely there are other objects more—I don’t know—powerful?”

“This is Angelica’s Ring.”

She stared at me blankly.

“You’re a witch.” I returned her befuddled stare. “You haven’t heard the story of Angelica?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m a red, in case you’d forgotten. Forgive me for not learning your cultic superstitions. Was she a relative of yours or something?”

“Well, yes,” I said impatiently. “But that’s not the point. She was really just a lonely witch who fell in love with a knight.”

“Sounds dashing.”

“He was. He gave her this ring as a promise of marriage . . . then he died. Angelica was so devastated that her tears flooded the land and created a new sea. L’Eau Mélancolique, they called it.”

“The Wistful Waters.” Coco lifted my hand, scorn giving way to grudging admiration as she examined the ring. I slid it off my finger and held it out to her in my palm. She didn’t take it. “What a beautiful, terrible name.”

I nodded grimly. “It’s a beautiful, terrible place. When Angelica had cried all her tears, she threw the ring into the waters and herself after it. She drowned. When the ring resurfaced, it was infused with all sorts of magic—”

Raucous voices sounded from the street, and I stopped talking abruptly. A group of men passed by, singing a pub song loudly and off-key. We shrank farther into the shadows.

When their voices faded, I relaxed. “How did you escape?”

“Through a window.” At my expectant stare, she grinned. “The captain and his minions were too concerned with you to notice me.”

“Well, then.” I pursed my lips and leaned against the wall beside her. “I suppose you’re welcome. How did you manage to find me?”

She lifted her sleeve. A web of scars marred her arms and wrists, and a fresh cut down her forearm still oozed. A mark for every bit of magic she’d ever done. From the little Coco had taught me about Dames Rouges, I knew their blood was a powerful ingredient in most enchantments, but I didn’t understand it. Unlike Dames Blanches, they weren’t bound to any laws or rules. Their magic didn’t demand balance. It could be wild, unpredictable . . . and some of my kin even called it dangerous.

But I’d seen what the Dames Blanches themselves could do. Filthy hypocrites.

Coco arched a brow at my appraisal and rubbed some blood between her fingers. “Do you really want to know?”

“I think I can guess.” I sighed and slid down the wall to sit on the street, closing my eyes.

She joined me, her leg resting companionably against my own. After a few seconds of silence, she nudged me with her knee, and I forced an eye open. Hers were unnaturally serious. “The constabulary saw me, Lou.”

“What?” I lurched forward, eyes fully open now. “How?”

She shrugged. “I waited around to make sure you escaped. I was lucky it was the constabulary, really. They nearly pissed down their legs when they realized I was a witch. Made climbing out the window easier.”

Shit. My heart sank miserably. “Then the Chasseurs know too. They’re probably already looking for you. You need to get out of the city as soon as possible—tonight. Now. Send word to your aunt. She’ll find you.”

“They’ll be looking for you now too. Even if you hadn’t disappeared without a trace, they know you’ve consorted with a witch.” She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her knees, heedless of the blood on her arm. It smeared her skirt red. “What’s your plan?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted quietly. “I have Angelica’s Ring. It’ll have to do.”

“You need protection.” Sighing, she took my good hand in her own. “Come with me. My aunt will—”

“Kill me.”

“I won’t let her.” She shook her head fiercely, and the curls around her face bobbed. “You know how she feels about La Dame des Sorcières. She’d never help the Dames Blanches.”

I knew better than to argue, instead sighing heavily.

“Others might. It would only be a matter of time before one of your coven stabbed me in my sleep—or turned me over to her.”

Coco’s eyes flashed. “I’d tear out her throat.”

I smiled ruefully. “It’s my own throat I’m worried about.”

“So what then?” She dropped my hand and pushed to her feet. “You’re just going back to Soleil et Lune?”

“For now.” I shrugged as if unconcerned, but the movement felt too stiff to be convincing. “No one but Bas knows I live there, and he managed to escape.”