Chapter 21

Great, now she's going to play twenty questions. "No. No, nothing at all. Just, oh, kinda restless, I guess."

"Restless?" Uriel answered Arhyvhynne with a shrug. The High Witch let it pass. "I am sorry I have not been able to spend much time with you lately. There is so very much that occupies my time now that I am High Witch, most of which is routine and a bit tiresome. It seems I have little time for the more important things. Have you been able to involve yourself with anything?"

Really? "Yeah, I've been doing a good deal of reading," he answered in an uninterested tone.

"Anything in particular?"

Damn. "Uh… histories, pretty much."

Arhyvhynne was surprised. "I thought you had been working on your magical skills."

"No!" Uriel answered immediately, then tried to soften his reaction. "Where did you get that idea? You know how I feel about that."

"Well, I know you had begun to look into it a while ago and it was mentioned to me that you had been spending some time with Eyrmysse." Uriel looked stricken, Arhyvhynne thoughtful. "It would probably be wise for you to augment your knowledge and skills in that realm," the High Witch remarked. "And Eyrmysse is, as I am sure you are aware, gifted. But as I have mentioned before, you should exercise caution with her. She is overly fond of power and can be rather… seductive—in more ways than one." Uriel's face was drained of all its color. "Perhaps you should seek out Xenyssa. She is very wise and her Path is probably more closely aligned to your own."