It’s an illegal practice, technically forbidden by royal law, but everyone knows it happens. The great houses have always bent rules to their advantage, including keeping magical practitioners off the official records for their personal purposes.
Seth’s face hardens. “It hasn’t even been a day since I warned you about Lady Zari.”
“You think it’s her?”
“Her family is the only one that has openly kept witches in their employ for generations,” my friend says grimly. “The other noble families have their own magical practitioners, but your people have been watching them. You had their signatures catalogued, didn’t you?”
I nod and turn to the witch, who says reluctantly, “I’ve studied the magical signatures of every witch known to serve the major houses. This doesn’t match any of them.”
It’
