Page 16 of Liar Witch

I’m taking a risk getting this close to Cawshome, but I have to trust that their attention is taken up by the tower collapsing over the top of the world’s biggest crystal mine.

The Eagle has bigger problems than my ship being in the wrong place.

I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get into the city and rescue Rysen for the last five hours. Nos’s unhelpful advice of ‘wait and see’ isn’t filling me with any fucking confidence. Kier is pacing the lower deck like a caged tiger and Cas’s leviathan is goddess-knows-where.

But if that explosion of moonlight isn’t linked to the fucking witch, I’ll eat my sails.

When the unmistakable silhouette of Cas’s beast bursts from the water with a roar minutes later, I change course straight for him. The leviathan has something glowing on his snout, and thatcan’tbe a coincidence.

Fucking shifters have no sense of subtlety.

“I’ve found them!” I yell.

Kier is by my side before I can blink, and Noster isn’t far behind. All three of us wait with bated breath, hoping for a sign that everything is okay.

The closer we get, the more apparent it becomes that something is very wrong.

Cas’s tail is thrashing in the water, his fins working hard as his body coils and uncoils as if facing some invisible enemy.

No. Not invisible. Just much smaller.

Rysen is snarling so loudly that I can hear it from the quarterdeck.

“Bloodlust.” Kier doesn’t say more than that before launching himself from the deck, wings beating furiously as he arrows his body straight at the out-of-control vampire.

Fuck.

Double fuck.

Ropes fly from theDeadwoodat my command, zooming toward the battling threesome as we draw closer. They glow the same inky purple as my magic, strengthened to stop Rysen from breaking them.

I manage to trap Rysen’s ankle, tripping him and forcing him to grab Cas’s scales for balance.

It’s all the opening Kier needs to tackle him backwards. Frost surrounds them both as they plunge toward the water.

Kier stops his descent with his wings at the last second, but Rysen isn’t so lucky. The vampire drops beneath the waves, disappearing as Kier circles above.

“Get on board,” I yell at the bleeding Cas.

For once, his beast listens.

His snout hovers over the deck, depositing the sodden pile of rags that is our mate and her soaking wet cat onto the wood with a thump before his body disappears in a shower of golden sparks.

They’re safe at least.

Kier and Rysen are battling it out in the dark sea below. Most of Rysen’s torso is encased in ice, forcing him to float awkwardly as he claws and bites at whatever parts of Kier he can reach. The fae is bloodied, but his eyes are calm as he fends off each attack.

That cold, arrogant fae logic easily wins over Rysen’s instinctive, hunger-fuelled rage.

When Kier manages to get Rysen’s arms pinned behind him, it’s over. My ropes lift the vampire out of the brine, and Kier follows swiftly after.

A quick evaluation of Rysen shows he’s wounded, but nothing too serious. So I let him sink through the floor and straight into a cell in the brig. Kier shakes out his delicate wings and ignores the whole byplay in favour of joining Casimir and Noster, bent over the unmoving form of the witch.

“Is she...?”

“Alive,” Nos whispers. “Thank the Goddess.”

Cas’s tone is more urgent. “Didn’t Elsie say she’d leave some stuff in her rooms for us? And this dagger is...”