Page 17 of The Unbound Witch

“What about the people in the town?” Raven asked, her voice stronger than when I’d left her.

“No one is paying any attention to him. Feeling better?”

She nodded, pushing off the wall. “Just needed a little rest.”

“Wait here.” Grey circled the building and was back minutes later with the beast he’d freed from the post out front. “We’ll take him out of town the way we came instead of directly through, so we aren’t drawing attention.”

I kept my distance as they mounted the horse and ambled back toward the edge of the village. They would have been far more inconspicuous if not for Grey’s massive size, but at least we’d accomplished something. Or, I had, as a wraith. Stealing a horse was no small feat, and I’d helped. A tiny kernel of pride swept through me. An emotion I hadn’t experienced yet, trapped in this ethereal body. It was only a horse, but as we continued on the path toward Eden Mossbrook, I knew it wasn’t. How many people could have done what I did today? Not one. I’d passed through a wall.

7

RAVEN

“How many people have you killed?”

I whipped my head toward Kirsi’s wild question, preparing for dizziness or tracers in my vision to follow, but whatever had plagued me was fading away, thank the goddess. It felt as if I’d taken the poison from our first Trial again, but it was finally dissipating with only the faint headache remaining. Kirsi and Grey had been playing the game of questions back and forth the entire day.

We were barely out of the town, Grey confident Eden would be hiding instead of making herself known. Still, we checked our backs frequently as we moved, if not for the stolen horse’s owner, then the dark eyes of the Seeker somehow finding us.

“Thirty-two,” Grey answered casually, his voice rumbling down my back from where he sat behind me on the horse.

“You don’t even have to stop to count?” she asked from above us.

We’d learned if she stayed out of the horse’s peripheral vision, her presence didn’t bother him enough to fidget.

“No. Every death is a mark upon me. They may be necessary, but that doesn’t mean I’ve enjoyed them.”

“How many deaths do you think the Dark King had?” Kirsi pressed. “Just guess.”

I held my breath, waiting for his answer.

“Probably less than me.”

She snorted, circling above as the horse weaved around a giant oak tree. “There’s no way. Even if he didn’t kill all the witches in the Thrashings, he’s guilty by proxy for each of the deaths he ordered.”

Grey was quiet then, his hands loosening on the leather reins as he sighed. “I know.”

“What do you think we should expect from Eden Mossbrook? A warm welcome or instant tension?” I asked, staring ahead at the terrain that would soon turn to rock and a steady incline surrounded by fir trees.

“It’s hard to say. If she truly is on this mountain, I have a feeling she’ll find us before we find her. Secluded as she is, who knows how the years have changed her? The shifters that come home on rotation have their words bound on arrival, so no information gets out.”

“Listen, if I had to run away from home and found myself here, I’d probably hide in a mountain forest, too,” Kirsi said. “These humans are delightfully crazy.”

“Says the wraith that went back to study the witch hunter.”

Kirsi paused. “You knew?”

Even from behind me, I could hear the smile in his voice. “I guessed. You just confirmed.”

She vanished for three seconds before Grey flinched, shifting. “If I knew how to fuck with a wraith, I’d do it right now.”

She floated in front of us, an invisible leg hanging over each side of the horse as if she rode his neck. “The one and only perk.”

“Not true,” I said, studying her for genuine feelings. She was hiding behind her sarcasm, and I still couldn’t decide if the idea of who she was now was growing on her or not. “You can throat punch people now and not even have to show yourself.”

Her brows drew tight, lips pressing into a thin line. “I can barely flick Grey’s ear. I shoved a guy off a barstool though, so I guess that’s progress. You can stop looking at me like that. I’d still rather be gone completely than… this.” She picked at the billowing sleeve of her see-through ivory shirt, her eyes doubling. “Oh fuck.”

“What?” Grey snapped, jerking upright.