Page 69 of The Unbound Witch

He planted a heavy hand on my shoulder as he checked the small corner room Kirsi slept in. Moving like a snail, as if he fought the demands of the witch, just as I had. “They are, my girl. More so now than ever. You will do well to remember that.”

I dipped my chin, a tear sliding down my cheek. My father, the victim. “I’m safe. I promise.”

His eyes said everything his mouth could not as he nodded and walked out of the door. It would be only moments before Nikos followed, I was sure of it.

Turning to Kirsi as my hands shook, I placed the kettle atop the stove. “Go to Bastian, tell him my father is under Nikos’ spell, and if I had to guess, he will be here any minute.”

Casting, I lit the wood within the oven and straightened my back.

“No,” Kirsi answered.

“Kirsi, you have to make sure they don’t come rushing in here. It’ll ruin everything.”

“Flicker your candle or do whatever you’re doing, but there’s no way in hell I’m leaving you alone right now. You wanted Bastian to stick to the plan, you have to do the same.”

A low bird call sounded from the back of our old home. We locked eyes before hustling to the window. A magical owl with a billowing tail glowed within the tree line behind the house. Kirsi shot through the wall, dashing toward Torryn’s shifter form.

The front door creaked open.

“Raven?”

His voice was like the hiss of poison dripping into freshly ground salt. Like the stink of rotting fish lying on the riverbank in the summer sun. A weapon steeped in lies and power. I let steel move through my veins as I walked down the hall, facing the man I’d sworn to murder.

“Thank the goddess you’re here, Nikos. I thought you’d never come.”

He looked around me before shutting the door. I circled, placing my back to the candle as I extinguished the flame for one second and lit it once more. Ten minutes. That’s all I had before Bastian came barreling through that front door. I just had to stay alive, alert and in full control until then.

“Are you alone?” he asked, though he certainly knew the answer.

A brush of cool pressed into my neck. Kirsi. I was not, but he would never need to know that.

Making my voice shake with what seemed like fear while truly it was suppressed rage, I answered. “Unfortunately. I’ve been hiding for days and days. I managed to see my parents today, but that was all.”

He shoved the dark blond hair from his face as he sat on the couch, eyeing me carefully. “You killed the Dark King.”

“Just as you asked me to.”

“No!” he shouted. “If you had done it like I’d asked, it would have happened the night of the ball beneath the blood moon. When I was there to get you out.”

I moved to the stove, pulling the kettle away before the whistle blew, hands shaking, the quiver in my voice wasn’t entirely for show. “A lot of things happened all at once, Nikos. We were together, and then we weren’t. You were so demanding, and then you were so kind. And then you helped the coven leaders force the death spell on me, and I didn’t understand. But I do now.”

I poured the hot water into two cups, lifting the tin box from my pocket with trembling fingers. My mother’s herbs. Strong enough to put a horse to sleep, gentle enough to leave the victim unharmed. Though I could make no promises once that door flew open.

I let the fear of Bastian’s next kill sink into my voice as I whispered. “They’re after me, and I have nowhere to hide.” Cool magic fell over my skin as he tried to calm my nerves. I jerked away, nearly spilling the tea, lit only by candlelight in our old home. “Please,” I whispered. “Don’t use your magic on me. You know how it makes me feel.” I shoved the tea toward him before taking a swig of my own hot water.

He looked down at the cup in his hands, shaking his head. He knew. I wasn’t sure how, but certainly he did.

“Sit down, Raven.”

“I don’t want—

“I said sit down!” he shouted. “You like your men controlling, do you not? Isn’t that what you found so irresistible about the Dark King?” His green eyes glimmered with hatred. “Why should I believe that suddenly you want my help when the last time I tried to help you, you ran off withhim?”

I brought the teacup to my lips, hoping he might follow out of sheer habit. “He twisted my mind, Nikos. He spent hours showing me things that were not real until I couldn’t determine what was true and what wasn’t. He was the devil in disguise, and I fell victim to his lies. You cannot fault me for that. I know you don’t. You wouldn’t be here if you did.”

“No,” he said, falling back until he sunk in the couch. “I cannot fault you for being an imbecile. You come by it naturally, it seems.”

He didn’t even glance up to see the reaction I swallowed with the hot water. But as if the goddess heard my plea, my cheek warming where she’d touched me, he brought his cup to his lips and drank as well. I had no idea what my mother used for such a small cup, but I’d wager to bet, I overcompensated.