Page 136 of Traitor Witch

What he did...

If we lose Nilsa forever because of it...

None of us will ever forgive him. Mistake or not.

"We can't leave her," I insist.

Nos shakes his head. "We have no choice."

"No games, seer. Do we find her again?"

Nos says nothing.

That worries me more than I care to admit.

A distant roar echoes across the water, making Titan's ears prick. Cas's leviathan is still searching for his mate.

We've sailed the full length of the coast, but brooms are faster than boats. She could be anywhere by now.

Goddess, she spent her last moments with us terrified because of the asshole we call captain.

I'll never forget the look on her face as she flew over the side of the ship. Or how tiny she looked in Cas's arms, coughing up seawater, eyes dark with nightmares.

She should never, ever have that look again.

"I didn't see the mage-tech in my visions," the Seer admits. "I always assumed we'd just—"

But he cuts off, dropping to the ground like a puppet with his strings cut.

The jerking of his limbs is awful to watch, but I know from experience not to restrain him. Instead, I fall to the deck with him, using my lap to cushion his head until the worst passes.

Wordlessly Kier joins us, keeping both eyes trained on the Seer as he fights an invisible battle against his gift. Even Val stops his pacing and climbs the stairs to help keep watch, his dog at his side.

"I didn't mean to do it," the captain mutters, the dawn light glinting off his white hair. "It must have been her presence affecting my powers. I'm sorry, Nos. I swear to the Goddesses, once we finish up in Cawshome we'll come back. She's on this island somewhere. We'll find her."

His voice seems to calm Nos, even if it's only enough to stop the worst of the seizures.

I glance up, frowning. That whole sentence was so unlikeValorean that I don't honestly believe it was him who said it until I see the sincerity in his dark eyes.

"Don't get me wrong," Val adds, noticing my look. "I only want to find her so I can yell at her some more for lying to us."

"She had her reasons," I glower at him. "It's not like we can talk. We'repirates."

"So you don't care one bit that we had an assassin sleeping across the hall the entire time?"

I shrug. "Assassin or not, dark witch or not, she's still a tiny female who was running for her life and in need of our protection. She's our mate, created forus. Proof that maybe something we've done in our fucked up existence made us worthy of her. If she wanted to kill me..."

I would probably have let her. I let that truth show in the glare I keep levelled at him.

"The mage-tech was a tracker," Val grumbles, scanning the horizon for the hundredth time. "The Castlemans could be on their way here right now."

"That wasn't Nilsa's doing, and the tracker is now far away from us," I snap. "They had no way of knowing the Solar would end up on our ship, so put a lid on your damned paranoia already. The mages have forgotten about you."

Valorean snorts but has the good sense to not argue. I almost wish he'd given Nilsa a trinket like that. It would certainly be useful right about now.

The silence reigns as we all stare at Nos's prone form.

"I can't hold back much longer," Val rubs at his arms. "The deadline is too close. We're going to end up sailing for Galmere in an hour. The bargain—" he spits the word out—"demands it."