Page 28 - UnderEarth

their faces. They had painted their cheeks pink, and drawn dark lines on their eyelids, and darkened their plucked and arched brows with kohl.
“Mistress Storm!” The man – who must be the dangerous Talon – rolled the words on his tongue as though they were wine. “Welcome to Bellum Town. We are honoured to greet the greatest witch of our generation.”
Storm could not help noticing that all three strangers watched her with a greed that even the thick layers of paint could not conceal. “The honour is mine.” She fixed a formal smile on her face. “But I am called simply Storm, not Mistress. I am a non-sex.”
“As you wish, Honoured Storm. Let me present you to my colleagues. This is Waffa, who keeps the tally books for the whole of the Pact.”
The woman stepped forward. Narrow eyes stabbed at Storm.
“And Almond, who has taken himself away from the trading floors to meet you! The youngest member of the Pact.”
The second man bowed gracefully, like a dancer, and when he raised his head Storm was struck by the symmetry of his face, made more striking by the
blankness of the paint.
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