Page 91 of Liar Witch

I shouldn’t be surprised. Siren song has always been able to draw anyone into the water. Although, Klaus’s isn’t doing anything for me right now.

I wonder, briefly, if they’ll take it any further. Klaus and Cas were eager enough to get her to this point, after all.

Right now they seem pretty content. It’s not amazing progress, but it’s better than the witch who first boarded theDeadwood.That Nilsa was terrified just spending time up on deck, so I suppose it’s something.

I can’t deny I feel a grudging kind of respect for her.

Not that I’m going to congratulate her.

Not that I evenshould,considering we’re all spying on a private moment.

Fuck, the witch ties my head in knots on a daily basis, and I’m getting tired of hating her for it. She has enough fire to match me insult for insult and never backs down.

Not hating her doesn’t mean I trust her. It doesn’t mean the crew should either.

Our bargain with the Eagle means our mate has to keep secrets from us. Big secrets. I have no doubt that she has something planned for when we reach Fior, and all I can do is pray to the Goddesses that she doesn’t do anything that forces us to act against her.

We don’t even know what the limits of the bargain are. Yes, we figured out pretty quickly that we can’t discuss the terms with anyone else, thanks to the geas. But we’ve never let anyone else come close enough to test the other parts of the bargain.

Certainly not an assassin who openly opposes the Queen.

“We will serve and never betray or harm you if you let us all live.”The words—Rysen’s words—haunt me to this day.

He should have let me die rather than force the others to go through with this bargain. I was ready to when they dragged me away from my ship.

At any moment, the bargain might see us harbouring Nilsa as a betrayal. Will my vow to allow Nilsa to stay cancel it out? Will staying wilfully ignorant of what she’s up to make any difference?

Fuck. I don’t know.

I’m scared to push it.

It will tear the others in two if something happens to that witch. It will be worse if something happens to her because of us.

Worse than my anger at the bargain is the feeling of helplessness that it brings. I can’t help Nilsa. I would give all my gold to be able to go against the Eagle. Yet, it’s impossible.

The sound of Cas’s beast moving smacks me out of my grim thoughts. Nilsa’s coming back on deck, and she won’t be happy to see me here when she does.

With a last frowning stare at the horizon, I allow myself to sink back into my sanctuary.

The room with no door is always lit. The huge crystal suspended in the centre fills the space with a soft light at all times of the day.

It’s the size of Titan and easily the most valuable thing on my ship. One of my best and earliest stolen treasures, taken from the very fucking mages I hate the most. It emits a gentle, constant hum, pulsing with a living light despite having no transmutation circles engraved onto it whatsoever.

It’s pure crystal. No mage magic whatsoever. Just light.

It’s the reason I call this space the Heart of theDeadwood.

There was a time when its glow was necessary. When every shadow could have hidden a pair of grasping hands, ready to tear me out of my bed.

It took decades to stop jumping at every lingering piece of darkness.

Now I keep the crystal uncovered because shadows remind me of her.

The bed sits unmade in one corner, but I don’t bother trying to rest. I haven’t slept properly in weeks, and that’s unlikely to change. Especially if Klaus continues to sling his emotions around every time Nilsa lets him into her bed.

My dick still aches at the memory, and the ropes, which hang from the ceiling, writhe in sympathy.

I ignore them and head for the four cluttered desks that are pushed together along the wall of the room. They’re littered with half-engraved crystals and pieces of mage-tech, and I settle in to tinker with my haphazard attempt at creating a proximity detector. Something small enough to fit in a pocket, but powerful enough to warn Nos if he’s about to crash into something away from the familiar confines of theDeadwood.