Reeta skeeter's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

The summons named the day. Reeta had one night to prepare the beast for the elite dealers' table. But the keeper's debt sat on her like a stone. He held her rival's name. If he called the debt in during her presentation, the board would see her marked and shamed, and she would lose every seat she had climbed toward. She rode back to the black castle before dawn. Its dark stone rose against the sky, jagged towers wrapped in red light. She meant to buy the debt back before it could be used against her. But the keeper was gone. The gate stood open, and a woman waited inside. Reeta knew her by the crown of black spikes and the cold that came off her. The witch who ruled from her castle above the world, who wanted only to pull that world down. She was not someone Reeta had ever wished to face. "The keeper served me," the witch said. "He collects names for me. Yours is here." "I came to take my debt back," Reeta said. "Name your price." "You cannot pay it." The witch's voice held no heat. "A name once given stays given. That is the rule." Reeta's stomach dropped. If the debt could not be bought, it could be called at any moment, and the table would learn what she had traded. "Then trade me a new one," Reeta said. "The debt says a name for a name. Take mine off your list. Put another in its place." The witch studied her. "You would sell someone to save yourself." "No." Reeta stepped closer to the gate. "I would give you what you truly want. You want this world to rot. The dealers' table sets the price of every rare thing across it. Corrupt the table, and you corrupt every market below." The witch said nothing. Green light crawled through the yeti's chains behind her. "Free my name," Reeta said. "When I hold a seat, you will have an ear at the highest table in Tudtar. That is worth more than one debt you can spend only once." The witch was silent a long moment. "You offer me a door," she said. "I take the door." She raised one black-nailed hand. "Your name is clear. The keeper will not call it. Reach your seat." Reeta rode back with the yeti breathing frost against its ropes. The debt was gone. The keeper could not shame her before the board now. But she had not walked away clean. She had promised the witch a place at the table she meant to earn. She had bought her big moment by opening a door to the one who wanted the whole world to fall. The presentation was tomorrow. Her name was safe. Her bargain was not.