Page 13 of The Unbound Witch

“Let them come,” Victoria sneered, eyes glued to the house once more.

I knew that look, the one of wild abandon and no regrets. She’d die here, just to prove to them they could no longer hurt her. I couldn’t say I blamed her, but the shouts of the burning people should have shaken her more than it did.

“They’ll be coming after us, no matter what,” Grey said, pointing toward the shapes of two men stumbling down the hill.

“Can you get in the back?” Henry shouted, scurrying to Victoria to pull her toward the wagon’s front.

“We’ll manage,” Grey answered, yanking me toward the opposite side.

We were no more than halfway in when the snap of the reins rang through the air and the stallion was moving, slowly to start, thank the goddess, but it was still a scramble. Crammed in between pieces of disassembled furniture and trunks with clothes, the ride would be rough and without comfort.

The voices bellowing at us faded into the distance, and only then did I realize we had no idea where we were headed, and I hadn’t thought to make sure Kir was there.

“Kirsi?” I whispered.

No answer.

I gave Grey a wide-eyed look and whipped open the cloth panel, hissing her name. “Kirsi!”

“I’m here. Watching the humans. Just in case.”

Grey sank back into the small amount of space we had, lifting a copper pot from below his elbow, and then the arm of a rocking chair from behind his back, so he could shuffle, letting me sit sandwiched between him and a crate of food. The canvas over the top of us flapped in the wind, and I had to believe Grey and Victoria would trade spots, leaving the men up front, as soon as we could stop to arrange for any comfort. Or maybe they would drop us on the side of the road, content to proceed with their plan without strangers. I would have been completely fine with that option.

Pressing both of my palms to my temple, I prayed to ease the pain of the headache that continued to plague me. So much pressure had built behind my eyes, trying to focus on anything for too long caused immeasurable agony. I swiped at a small trickle from my nose, pulling my fingers away to see blood.

Grey sucked in a breath. “What the hell, Raven?”

“I ... I don’t know,” I said, plucking a cloth from an abandoned drawer. “You don’t think it could be the Harrowing, do you? Coming back for me?”

He shook his head, swallowing hard. “There’s no magic here. The panic attacks, the headache earlier, the bloody nose now… I don’t think you’re supposed to be in the human lands, Raven.”

6

KIRSI

He was there, among the men barreling down the hill. The man with pitch black eyes who’d seen Raven in the alley seconds after she changed into the stolen dress. His towering form, larger than life, was made more severe as he strode forward, steps heaving and determined. Unlike the others, he held no lantern and did not scream. The shadows and darkness of night were a companion to his severity.

He couldn’t see me. No one here could when I chose to be invisible. But those cold eyes pierced the night as we raced away. A very small part of me wanted to stop running. To let him reach me and see what he would do with that damnation within his soul. But I worried I wouldn’t find the others if I abandoned them.

“Kir, get in here,” Grey demanded.

“Honestly, Grey. I’m probably the safe—What the fuck happened?” I jerked to a stop, darting toward Raven who held a folded cloth to her nose. It was too dark to see the color, but light enough to see the handkerchief was covered in blood.

“Something’s wrong,” Raven whispered, her voice muffled behind the fabric she pressed to her face.

“I feel fine,” Grey said. “Does it make you feel sick to be here?”

Shaking my head, I lifted my hand to her brow, worried. Just before touching her, I remembered I couldn’t feel her anyway and backed off. “I wouldn’t know the difference. I was only back home for minutes before Raven stormed the castle and...” My voice broke, refusing to say the words that might hurt her further, knowing I’d been too hard on her before. “You know.”

He nodded.

“But I feel whole. No aches or pains beyond the numbness I believe all wraiths have, and the desolation.”

Memories of Raven standing in the forest with blood pouring from her eyes, ears and nose came flooding back to me. Her shooting into the air as if suspended by ropes, her head falling back. The scream that might’ve broken the world as she hung, arms outstretched. The witches that swarmed and pushed and pushed and pushed to save her. I thought she’d die that night. A thousand witches witnessing the Harrowing strike again.

“Could it be…” my voice faded away when Grey shook his head.

“There’s no magic here at all. I can’t even begin to feel the pit of my power. The markings are all gone. It can’t be the Harrowing. It’s something else.”