Page 19 of Liar Witch

His eyes are still red, and that keeps me cautious as I draw my knife from my belt and draw on my magic to summon a cup from the galley.

A quick slice and his blood starts to flow, a steady trickle falling into the cup.

My shoulders drop infinitesimally, relief sinking into my cells.

Stupid mistake.

Rysen’s huge hand grabs my sleeve and yanks me toward him.

I brace myself, ready for the inevitable pain of his bite.

But it’s Rysen who roars in agony. His whole body jerks away like he’s been burned.

The sigils on my side flare with cold, strange magic, and I grimace as I realise that Nilsa’s power has protected me from the vampire, yetagain.

Fuck.

She’s going to be so smug if she finds out about this.

I glance at the blood in the cup. It’s sloshed over the rim, but there’s still enough there to hopefully close up the worst of her wounds.

Thank gold.

With a last lingering look at the huge vampire hissing in the corner of his cell, I head for the door.

Opal and Titan remain in place, staring at Rysen like he’s a puzzle they can’t work out.

“Don’t get too close,” I warn as I pass them.

Rysen hates drinking from animals but in this state there’s no telling what he’ll do.

I make it back to the deck, rubbing at the lingering fizzing sensation coming from the sigils at my side until it goes away.

The twins and Kier are still bent over Nilsa. Nos has her head in his lap, stroking her hair, while the others carefully look over her wounds.

Cas takes the cup from me as soon as he sees me and rushes it to her unmoving body. His hands are shaking so badly that he almost spills it as he kneels by his twin. He lifts her upper half off the ground, pressing the blood to her lips.

“Come on, Princess, swallow for me.”

Her throat moves automatically, draining the cup slowly, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Casimir chucks the empty vessel to the deck and strokes the last little escaped drop of blood back into her mouth.

The redness on her wrists fades before my eyes, and the other wounds start to seal.

Now all the witch has to do is open her eyes.

I stare at her, waiting for it to happen.

Waiting.

Chapter Six

Noster

We debate for hours about if we should leave her on the deck in the moonlight or move her into her cabin so she’s more comfortable.

In the end, dawn solves the issue for us.

Cas carries her. His beast is still so close to the surface that there are times when my brother loses his ability to speak entirely. We tear away her rough makeshift dress and it falls to the floor with a strange clunk that we ignore in our haste to clean the deep gouges on her back before they can get infected.