Page 29 of Pirate Witch

She grabs the back of his shirt, rips him away from Pierce, and yanks him after her, caging him the same way that she did with the rest of us.

Only Cas remains.

As if the bargain can sense he’s the last hope, the leviathan fights harder against the two familiars keeping him on the floor. But Pierce and Reva spring into action, holding his legs as Nilsa staggers over to them.

Our mate’s skin has taken on a chalky pallor, her arms visibly shaking as she falls to her knees beside Cas.

It takes her so long to pull Cas through the darkness and into the cell that—at first—I don’t think she can do it. I’m not certain if it’s because she’s low on power, or she’s lost too much blood, but she’s struggling.

But our witch has grit. Something she proves when they both disappear.

Cas appears on his back in the middle of the cell, flips onto his side and then promptly adds to the pile of vomit beneath him.

Nilsa reappears on her knees beside her unconscious siren, meets my eyes, then collapses.

ChapterTen

NILSA

The humid ocean breeze makes the chimes around Sade’s patio tinkle, breaking the oppressive silence that hangs over our group as Elsie finishes healing the wound through my abdomen.

The Solar whispers prayers to the Sun as she works, but they’re broken up by a litany of distracted sighs. Every few seconds, her eyes dash to the cellar door, and then back to me.

Despite the beating he took, Klaus was fully healed by the time I woke up. He stayed to make sure I was okay, then disappeared back into the cellar to keep an eye on the rest of my men. I miss his presence, even as I understand the need to keep the others under watch. According to Reva, the second I passed out, my pirates started trying to break out in earnest, compelled by the bargain to try everything to get through the bars.

Our magic won’t hold against that onslaught for long.

Cirio and Pierce left as soon as they were patched up, heading up to the main palace so they could update Sade. Their absence leaves me sitting with Elsie, Reva, and Cooper at the table across from the cellar door. None of them seem to wipe the pitying expressions from their faces, and I’ve taken to staring at the bay to avoid meeting their eyes.

I knew this was coming, but part of me didn’t believe she’d actually manage it. Some fanciful part of me stupidly thought they’d be able to do the impossible and fight against a fae bargain. Foolish hope convinced me that love could rewrite the laws of magic.

I can’t stop fingering the piece of hair which Cas’s claws sliced short. It’s a decent enough chunk that it stands out from the rest of my locks. Cut perfectly in line with the centre of my throat.

If not for Opal and Niki—Reva’s familiar—it would have been my windpipe that was severed, not just my hair. He was so close, and I was almost powerless to stop him… Goddess, I’m actually shaking.

Elsie has noticed, and she rubs a soothing hand over my back as she works. Silently supporting me while she shifts her focus to the scratches on my arms from Rysen’s first attacks.

The physical pain of my wounds isnothing.

As much as I wish otherwise, the memories of today are burned into my brain. I’m pretty sure I’ll have nightmares about this for years.

We might have won the battle, but it doesn’t feel like it. We can hear them trying to find ways out of the cell, and theDeadwoodin the harbour is drifting aimlessly in response to Val’s agitation. For a while, we were worried the ship might try to bombard the coast to free the captain, but the containment enchantments on the bars seem to be holding.

The separation of the mage from his ship makes me loath to leave Val’s immediate vicinity in case he starts to sicken. We still don’t know how far I can go from him without him feeling the effects, and I don’t want to find out, even if heiscurrently trying his best to kill me.

I track theDeadwood’serratic path with tired eyes, watching as the other ships in Cirio’s fleet try to tether it to their anchored vessels to no success. It’s as stubborn as Val is, and it clearly doesn’t want to be tied down.

“We need to get rid of that bargain before they figure out a way to break out of there,” Reva mutters.

“Dawn,” Elsie agrees, letting her hands drop as she finishes her healing. “If we start just before the sun is in the sky, it will make drawing them into the space between life and death easier for Reva. Then sunrise will give me the boost I need to bring them back.”

I swallow, my mouth suddenly drier than the desert. They’re really going to do this. Bring my men to the Goddess’s doorstep and hold them there until the bargain is fooled. What if it doesn’t work? What if something goes wrong and I lose them?

“Hey,” Elsie murmurs, rubbing my arm in soothing circles. “It’ll be okay. We’ve got this, and you can stay in the spirit realm to monitor things. If they’re struggling, or it looks like they’re going too far, you can tell us.”

I grind my teeth together, loathing the passiveness of my role in all of this. I’d rather be doing something practical. Anything but watching, waiting, and praying.

Trusting anyone with the lives of my harem goes against the grain, but both of them are powerful and capable. Reva is a spirit worker and Elsie—though she doesn’t yet know it—has been marked by the Sun Goddess as a future Mother Solar.