Page 93 of Liar Witch

I smirk. “Opal’s hurt that you don’t consider her my backup.”

“I don’t get hurt, I get even.”My familiar slinks between Klaus’s legs and purrs, her actions the total opposite of her words.“I shall inform him of this myself as I obviously can’t rely on you to translate.”

She strikes fast, tiny fangs digging into his ankle and drawing blood. Her feline body goes airborne as Klaus yowls in pain and automatically tries to dislodge her.

He’s a little bit too successful.

Opal goes soaring over the edge of the ship and into the open air beyond.

“Opal—!”

My gasp is cut off as Klaus realises what he’s done and plunges over the side after her.

I rush to the side, leaning over it as I try to spot them in the deep water below. My men, who until now have been conspicuously avoiding our space so as to not trigger the bargain, rush over all at once.

“Finally,” Val mutters, even though he’s right beside me. “That bloody feline decided it likes someone even less than it likes me.”

Titan whines behind him, jumping up until his paws are on the railing, massive head searching the water below.

When Klaus’s head breaks the water, I groan in relief.

“Oh, you’re going to regret this!”Opal’s indignation hits me at the same time that I spot her clawing Klaus’s arm bloody while he holds her as far from his body as possible while keeping her above water.

“You tried todrownme! No amount of delicious fish will be enough to save you now. I will hack up hairballs on your pillow, I will knock every precious thing you own off tall places. You may laugh now, fish-man, but wait until you have moulted fur in your hideous man-skirts!”

Her tirade has me barking out a half-laugh even as Val lowers a rope to bring them both back on board.

At least she’s unharmed.

The cat launches herself onto the deck as soon as she’s within jumping distance. Her soaking wet fur makes her head seem too big for her body and the speed at which she dashes for the hatch is hilarious.

So much so that the twins and I break out into bouts of laughter. Even Kier manages a half-smile at the sight.

Titan huffs at the rest of us, almost as if he’s scolding us for laughing, before plodding faithfully after her.

“I think,” Klaus pants, as he drops onto the deck, still bleeding from his scratched up arm. “We should all be grateful that Opal can’t speak to us on a day-to-day basis.”

“I don’t think you’ll ever have to worry about her wanting to go near you ever again,” I say, as Rysen offers him an arm to help him up. “Come on, she got you pretty bad. I might still have some enchanted bandages in my study.”

My siren needs to tread carefully. It doesn’t take much for my familiar to decide she dislikes someone, and Opal’s grudges are legendary.

“We have to alter our plan to account for one of us taking out the ships,” Klaus murmurs, distracting me. “I’m still not comfortable with this…”

Just like that, the momentary levity that Opal had brought is wiped away, replaced with the weight of the task before us. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve been working alone for most of my life.”

“True. Yet your Goddess gave you a harem of six,” Klaus says. “Maybe you’re not meant to be as alone as you think.”

I blush as I look away. “Perhaps,” I admit, leading the way down to the hatch.

We make it to my workroom, and I quickly clean the blood from the slashes on Klaus’s skin. It’s unnecessary really, as they’ve already been sealed by his immortal healing, but it makes me feel better to ensure my familiar didn’t gouge out too much of his flesh in her panic.

Opal, however, is not so easily dealt with.

It takes a ridiculous amount of time to calm my familiar down. By the time she’s dried her fur and forced Klaus to beg her forgiveness, the smudge on the horizon has become a looming, dark island which takes up the entirety of my cabin window.

I can’t see any kind of building, which makes me suspicious. I was expecting such a large facility to be a heavily defended fort, but beyond the blockade of warships, the volcano seems uninhabited. No structures dot the barren landscape, and I can’t see any roads that might lead to one either.

Is it hidden by magic? Or simply below ground?