Page 15

Usually, using one’s Knowing on other people, and especially other witches, was frowned upon.

To use one’s magic to interpret someone’s intentions or uncover things about themselves they may not want you to know was considered a severe violation of privacy, so Ena rarely did it.

Of course, sometimes she Knew things without intending to, and when that happened, she tried her best to ignore it or keep it to herself.

But this time, she absolutely intended to Know more about her kidnappers, so she read their signs.

She turned her head surreptitiously to watch Steig where he rode his large, dapple gray horse to her left.

She concentrated on his movements, the way he swayed in the saddle, the way his hands gripped the reins.

She watched the way he breathed and the direction of his gaze.

She took in all the signs she could and she felt…

nothing. There was no sense of his intentions, no sense of his presence at all, really.

There was just nothing. A void where her sense of reality should be.

It was eerie now that she focused on it.

She’d never felt that from anything or anyone before. He must be a daemon too.

And Ty… She slowly turned in the saddle and glanced back at him out of the corner of her eye. She saw his eyebrow quirk up as she looked back at him intently.

“Your Knowing won’t work on me, witch,” he said gruffly.

“And why’s that?” she replied, facing forward again, feeling slightly perturbed at having been called out on what she was trying to do.

“I think you know.”

“No, I don’t actually. My Knowing doesn’t work on you, remember? You just said it.” Wow, what a childish comeback. But Ena didn’t care. He was annoying her with his cocky bullshit.

“I know you don’t Know, ” he replied, leaning closer to her to whisper in her ear, “but you’re smart enough to figure it out.”

As his breath coasted over her face, his woodsmoke and honey scent hit her again. The feelings and memories it stirred in her were instantaneous, and they were followed quickly by a sharp pang of longing in her chest. It was him , after all this time.

But as quickly as that feeling came, it was replaced by a wave of intense anger.

How many years had she spent pining for that scent?

Longing to see him again, to hear from him?

Too long. And now all of a sudden, he was here—only he wasn’t.

This wasn’t the boy she remembered. This man was someone else entirely.

He’d obviously lied to her all those years ago about who he was.

And, on top of all that, she clearly meant nothing to him.

Less than nothing. He didn’t even remember her.

She had always assumed that something had prevented Ty from returning.

She’d worried for years that maybe he’d been hurt or killed on the journey over the Chasm Mountains.

But now it was painfully obvious that wasn’t the case.

Clearly, their time together had just meant much more to her than it did to him, since he had given no indication that he knew her name or recognized who she was at all.

Ena’s heart ached with betrayal, but she knew that feeling would not serve her now, so she shoved that hurt to a deep, dark place inside her, and instead she latched onto hate.

“You’re a daemon,” she said with conviction, spitting the word out as her lip curled.

“Iblis take me, I think she’s finally got it,” Ty replied mockingly, huffing a laugh.

The four of them fell back into silence for a while until the sun started to set.

Ena wasn’t sure if they were keeping quiet for her sake, afraid of revealing any further information to her, or because they were still concerned about being followed.

But either way, Ena was grateful for it.

She couldn’t take hearing his voice any more than necessary.

She briefly considered calling him out, telling him she knew who he was, forcing him to remember her, but no matter how angry she got as she stewed in her feelings, she couldn’t do it.

She just couldn’t expose that small, vulnerable part of herself.

She could never let him know how much this hurt.

So, if he’d forgotten her, then she would forget him too. Or at least, she’d appear that way.

Her feelings of bitterness and hatred were all that fueled her as the sky turned dark once more, her body long since exhausted from minimal food, water, and sleep. When Ty made them all stop to make camp, Ena whispered a silent prayer of thanks to Gaia.

“We’re far enough away from her village now. I think we’ll be safe to stop here for the night,” he explained to the others.

Once again, he lifted her off the horse and placed her on the ground. Then, gripping her elbow, he led her over to a large tree and pointed to the ground at the base of it.

“Sit here where I can see you while we make camp,” he said gruffly.

Eternally grateful to be off that fucking horse, Ena sat down as she was told and leaned back against the tree.

She watched while they loosely tied up the horses so they could graze on the ground plants in the area, and gathered sticks and downed branches to make a fire.

Of course, the younger-looking man’s Power made the starting of it extremely easy.

She wondered briefly how his Power worked.

It was so similar to the way witches used their spellwords to create fire, but his magic clearly didn’t require a spellword and instead came directly from his body.

The advantage of that was clear, given how limited Ena had been with the gag in her mouth.

She briefly considered using a spellword now to make the fire blow up in their faces; even though her magic wouldn’t work directly on them, maybe she could use it near them as a distraction to escape.

But she decided that a momentary distraction wouldn’t help her cause, not when there were three of them and they had much longer strides than her.

And besides, she still hadn’t gotten her bearings enough to know which way to go.

The sun set quickly this time of year, and soon it was pitch black and cold where Ena leaned against the tree.

She watched enviously as the three men sat huddled around the fire, their voices low as they discussed something intently.

Were they going to leave her over here all night?

She would freeze. She was only wearing her woolen Samhain dress since none of the men clearly had had the decency or forethought to grab her a goddamn cloak before they kidnapped her.

After a few minutes of staring murderously at them, they seemed to come to an understanding in their conversation, and Ty stood up to approach her. Reaching towards her, he held out his hand as if to pull her up.

“Come by the fire. It’s warmer there, and we need to talk.”

Ena eyed his outstretched hand suspiciously, like it was likely to bite her.

“Don’t be stubborn,” he said. “If you cooperate, you’ll be free of us all the more quickly.”

Ena really didn’t want to do anything he asked of her, even though she was freezing.

She was exhausted and sore and so sick of being dragged around by these daemons.

Daemons! She still could not believe, after all these years of hearing stories about them, that they were here in front of her and they held her captive.

Her anger rose again, and she strongly considered remaining where she was, making them drag her to the fire if need be.

But she also really, really wanted to go home.

And if cooperating with them got her out of here, she’d do it. Grudgingly.

She lifted her tied hands up to his as he grabbed one and pulled up.

She winced as the ropes chafed her wrists again.

They were nearly raw in two spots where they’d rubbed all day, anytime she’d shifted positions on the horse.

The handfasting ropes were of a high quality, but were decorative, and only meant to be used in ceremony.

They were certainly not meant to be worn continuously or used to restrain someone.

Noticing her reaction, Ty paused. “Here,” he said, reaching for her joined hands and gently untying the rope from her wrists.

She clasped her raw wrists to her chest, relieved to finally have her freedom of movement back. She looked up suspiciously at him. “I’d say thank you, but you’re the ones who put them on in the first place, so I think fuck you is more appropriate,” she said bitterly.

She expected her words to be cutting and maybe provoke his ire, but Ty just stared at her as a reluctant smile lit up his face and he huffed a small laugh.

For a split second, she was transported back to those warm summer days nine years ago.

Her eyes widened slightly in shock as Ty’s face lit up with the motion, softening the harshness of his features.

“You got me there,” he said wryly. But just as quickly, that vision of the old Ty was gone. His smile died as quickly as it had come and his eyes turned dark and aloof again as he turned back toward the fire, gesturing for Ena to follow.

She joined Ty and the other daemons around the roaring fire.

Sitting next to its crackling warmth and light centered her.

She stared at it and Knew its intensity, its desire to burn and consume until nothing was left.

It soothed her somehow. Fire was always a necessary part of Gaia’s plan, clearing dead trees to make space for new life, the ashes of the old feeding the soil.

Only when fires were amplified by daemons to become more destructive than they should did they upset the balance.

Right now, this fire felt like a kindred spirit; its destructive desire mirrored her own as she sat with these daemons, waiting for them to tell her what the fuck they wanted with her.