Read Online The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney - Free Book Online

wood-elf-in-the-workshop incident—it made her feel nauseous to even think about it. She needed to figure some things out before she could even consider going there.
    “Well?” Navin nudged her with his knee.
    “It’s complicated, but for one thing, there’s the science of it all—which would include things like the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life.” She saw that Navin was about to say something and rushed on. “Transformation. That’s a huge area of study and practice, way too huge to go into now. If you’ve read any kind of fiction about alchemy, heard the legends, or seen it in a movie … you at least get the idea. Maker’s a very powerful alchemist. He makes things—as his name suggests.”
    Navin screwed up his face. “Like, what things?”
    She blew out a breath. “Just … stuff. Lots and lots of different kinds of stuff.”
    “Magical stuff?”
    “Sometimes, yes. You saw some of it at his workshop.” She curled her legs beneath her and fixed him with a determined stare, one that dared him to interrupt her again. “And then there are the elves.”
    “So, you’re skipping over the part where you guys make gold,” Navin said dryly, “and I get to hear about the monsters. Great.”
    Ignoring him, Donna continued, wondering if this was how her tutor, Alma Kensington, felt after all those years of teaching her. She already felt exhausted, and Navin had only known about the magical reality of her life for a few hours. “So, the creature we ran into today was a wood elf, although the Order also calls them dark elves since they’re among the most dangerous beings to come out of Faerie.”
    Navin leaned forward. “‘Faerie’?”
    “Oh, right. Sorry, I mean the place. That’s what it’s called.”
    “You’re seriously telling me there’s a place called Faerie .”
    Donna wasn’t sure if Navin meant this as a question or a statement. “Um, yeah. It’s another realm that exists right alongside ours.” She caught the look on his face. “What? You thought our world is all there is? That’s so … limited.”
    “Well, excuse me for being limited .”
    “As I was saying,” Donna said loudly, talking over him, “when the faeries—as in, the actual beings —left this world and finally went back to their own realm, the wood elves got left behind. They refused to pay the tithe, you see—”
    “Wait a minute. Tithe?”
    “The tithe that Faerie has to pay to Hell every seven years.”
    “ Hell ?!”
    Donna grabbed his arm, for a moment forgetting her own strength. “Keep your voice down,” she hissed. “I don’t know when Aunt Paige will get back.”
    “Shit, chill out .” Navin’s brown eyes were filled with reproach. “I bruise easily.” He rubbed his arm and wouldn’t quite look at her.
    Donna threw her arms round his shoulders—taking more care this time—and hugged him. “I’m sorry; she just can’t find out I’ve told you all this. Ever.”
    “It’s okay, Underwood. I get it.” His arms went around her in return, and he stroked her back before gently pushing her away.
    Donna cleared her throat and decided it might just be easier to keep talking. This was getting way too intense. “It’s not like the Christian place. Hell’s just a convenient name for the demon realm—the Underworld. The tithe is like a payment. A penalty of sorts. If they don’t pay it … well, I don’t really know what happens. But the wood elves refused to pay their tithe to the demons, and war broke out between them and the rest of the fey—resulting in the elves being left behind in the human world. They got all evil and twisted, the longer they had to stay here.”
    She shrugged, trying to remember the things she’d learned from Alma over the years. According to alchemical lore, there were three main races, or factions—humans, protected by the alchemists; the fey, of which the wood elves were just one subculture; and the demons, which Donna knew next to nothing about and