Page 105 of Pirate Witch

I scent the siren a second before he joins in on our huddle, murmuring soothing things to our mate.

But Nilsa breaks our bubble of comfort moments later, pushing out of my grip and up to her feet. She’s made of too much fire and steel to sit and weep at the words of any man—even her mate—and she proves it when she shrugs off her tears and lashes back at him.

“Do you think I wanted this?” she demands, voice trembling. “Do you think Iwantto betray my Goddess like this? I’m a Shadow, and I committedblasphemy.” There’s true horror in her words, layered with revulsion and resignation. “I’d rather die than go mad, but it’s not just about what I want anymore. Have you considered what the Eagle will do to you if we lose? If I don’t take her life? I’ll be dead, but she can still make you suffer, and I can’t—” She breaks off, takes a heaving, shaking breath, then continues. “I’m petrified of failing again. I won’t use it unless I have no other choice. I never wanted power, and I still don’t. The second the Eagle and the Alchemist are dead, I’ll rip the skin from my own back to get rid of the mark.”

There’s a tense silence. The kind that makes you nervous to speak in case you end up making things worse.

Kier surprises us all when he speaks. “You made our mate cry,” he grumbles. “The honourable thing to do is apologise.”

I don’t need to see to know that Val’s own stubbornness is about to fuck him over once more.

There’s a rustle of clothing, and a grunt, which I assume comes from the captain, before Nilsa’s scent brushes past me and the door slams.

Our mate has left. I can hear her footsteps as she makes her way up to the deck. Now it’s just her men who remain, bathing in the accusatory scent of her unhappiness.

“You can be a bastard to her when she can snap back,” Rysen growls. “Goddess knows, the two of you seem tolikebeing at one another’s throats most of the time. But you need to step up and realise that when your mate ishurting,you need to man up and comfort her rather than making it worse!”

“You deserved more than a kick to the balls,” Cas adds.

Damn, I missed Nilsa kicking Val into orbit? Fucking blindness.

Val coughs and groans. “She’s risking her mind. If she dies, we can follow her. If she goes mad…”

“We stay with her and love her,” I retort. “I told you what my visions showed me. I’d rather have a mad witch than no witch at all.”

“You don’t know for sure—”

“For fuck’s sake,” I growl, shoving out of my seat. “I’m not taking this from you today. Did you lose your sight and get stuck withweeksof fucked up visions of our mate dying? No? Then shut the fuck up and stop making excuses to hide the fact you’re just as scared as the rest of us.”

My brother’s hand lands on my shoulder, half comforting, half restraining. As if he fears I’ll actually go after the bastard. It’s tempting. I’ve never been as close to punching my captain as I am right now.

“We’re all emotional right now,” Klaus begins. “Nilsa has the mark, whether we approve or not. All we can do is protect her.”

“He’s right,” Rysen agrees. “We have a week until we rendezvous with Cirio and his fleet at the Galmeri Strait. During that time, we’ll watch her like a hawk.”

“And when she’s killed the Eagle and the Alchemist, we will take her to Marisang,” Klaus continues. “The ink-singers there will be able to remove the Solar sigils.”

It’s a good idea, but I don’t know if removing the ink will be enough. Nilsa said those sigils are made of magic, and no siren can sing that away.

“I wish I could go back to Coveton and wring Alletta’s fucking neck,” Val mutters. “She put the fucking idea in Nilsa’s head.”

“Nilsa has a point,” Cas argues. “We know we don’t have the numbers. The witches are all but wiped out.”

I bristle at the reminder of their discussion from before. The way the two older Mother Solars treated Nilsa was un-fucking-acceptable. As far as I’m concerned, they should’ve been grovelling on their knees, begging our mate to help them.

Instead, one of them promised to quit, like a coward, and the other decided to spit venom and pretend it didn’t matter. Shadows being separate from the hierarchy of the covens seems to make them a convenient scapegoat for whenever things don’t go the way the high priestesses think they should and I’m getting sick of it.

Maybe what the witches need is a complete change of leadership.

I send a silent prayer to the Goddesses that Nilsa’s next target, after Catherine, is Elodie.

“Even with my mother’s, Sade’s, and Cirio’s armies working together, we’re under-prepared.” Klaus admits, breaking my savage train of thought.

I bite my lip and turn to my brother.

“I had a vision,” I whisper. “One where I saw our father.”

Cas’s hand on my shoulder tightens painfully. “What are you saying, Nos?”