Page 125 of Traitor Witch

His turquoise eyes are full of anguish as he stretches his full length from the water to try and reach me. But we're already over the cliffs. Out of reach.

"Whoooooohoooo!" The Lunar cheers, short dark hair whipping wildly around her face as she turns her broom, following the coast. "That was epic."

"We haven't made it home yet," the Solar, who somehow kept up with us during that insane flight, mutters as the rest of the group of witches catch up with us.

"We got the Shadow, though."

My body pitches forwards, and I vomit seawater over the side of the broom.

"Ugh, I thoughttheNilsa would have a stronger stomach." The Lunar shifts back, trying to get away from me.

I barely notice.

My eyes are fixed on the shrinking sails of the ship behind us.

My mind is still repeating Cas's last words.

You're not taking our mate.

Our mate.

Mate.

Goddess. How was I so stupid?

The way they seemed to fit me so perfectly. Kier's certainty that I could break his curse. Rysen's reaction to my blood. Cas's beast's acceptance of me. Nos's certainty that they'd want me to stay. Even Valorean's fucking boner.

They all think I'm their mate.

They must have known for weeks. Which means they must have purposefully kept it from me.

And now I've left them behind so I can't even yell at them for it.

I'm riding on a broomstick with a witch who may or may not have been involved in Glenna and Felicity's assassinations. On my way to a sanctuary for witches run by the woman whose ring was found at the scene of my High Priestess's murder.

I'm not ready for this. My emotions are a wreck, my body is still recovering from my earlier panic attack, and my mind is all over the place. Flicking between pirates and duty.

I don't have a choice. So I close my eyes, take three, long breaths, and pray to the Moon for strength.

When I open them again, I don't feel much better. Not that I expected to.

Fate rarely waits until we're at our strongest to throw hard choices our way.

We follow the cliffs, staying just out of sight of the sea until finally, Petra's sanctuary comes into view.

It's built into a sheer cliff side, hidden inside a cove that curves away from the coastline, making it harder for ships to see if they're sailing close to the island.

Hundreds of homes are carved into the solid rock with magic. The architecture is stunning. Ornate in a way that Coveton and Ilyani can only dream of achieving, yet just as practical. Idos's warm climate allows for larger windows and airier designs. Public gardens, filled with edible plants, are interspersed with houses and shops, with stairs and bridges carved between them for access.

The witches have made this place their own, with mosaics set into the steps and colourful, sigil embroidered curtains waving in the ocean breeze. The homes stretch all the wayfrom a few feet above the sea, right up to the tops of the cliffs, where a few, more traditional houses are perched.

At the base, wooden, floating docks stretch outwards, small sailing boats moored tightly to the arms. At the top, cattle roam across miles of craggy grassland.

All of this radiates out from a single, central point.

A three-headed woman's likeness stares out from the middle. The head on the left wears a crown of sunbeams and the right head wears a crown of stars, but the head in the middle is the most surprising.

Many people struggle to remember that Fate is the third goddess, given the fact that she has no temples or witches to serve her. The only evidence of her existence is the Seers, whose eyes cloud over at her touch. Yet here, her blindfolded face stares out from between the Moon and the Sun.