Page 150 of Traitor Witch

"—and give away that we're here. A missing witch is one thing, escaped prisoners and fires are another."

I can't exactly justify leaving the shifters in that state either. "If we free them, we can tell them to take the lift and swim out."

"Fine. We free the shifters and tell them to toss the barrels into the sea while we kill the bitch. Then we come back, torch the place. As soon as we’re done, we’ll go and find your male."

I nod, sparing the pile of ash on the floor a final glance before slipping back downstairs.

The shifters are barely in any shape to escape, but I manage to help most of them onto the tiny supply lift, anyway. There's a dazedness in their eyes that tells me they probably won't remember my part in this as I all-but shove them onto the wooden platform with the barrels of scales and dust. I hate myself for rushing them, but there's a tiny voice in the back of my mind telling me that Rysen is still out there, and the more time I spend on these people, the more he suffers.

One or two of them look more cognisant than the others and it’s those shifters that I trust with tipping the barrels into the sea when the lift reaches the bottom.

When they're gone, I head back past the pile of ash and through the door from earlier.

On my way past, I snag my mate's fangs and chuck them into the fire beneath the cauldron. They hit the magic-imbued flames and disintegrate, leaving nothing but ash which floats to the floor as I once again curse the bitch who mutilated Rysen that way.

They aren't using any part of my men in their stupid potions. I'll kill them for trying.

The door leads out into a dingy passageway. There are tiny grates in the wall every few metres, and a quick glance through reveals them to be spy holes.

It doesn't take a genius to realise I'm in some kind of secret passageway. I can't hear the footsteps from whoeverwas in the doorway to the lab, so there's no indication which direction is the right one.

"I'll go left, you take right," I whisper. "Call me if you find anything."

Opal nods and bounds off in the opposite direction.

I take a deep breath, bury my worry for Rysen and my hatred deep down, and call on the Moon. Her steadying presence balances my emotions like nothing else can.

I run down the passageway, frowning as it starts to take on a slight incline. The circular shapes of the rooms seems to confirm I'm in the walls of some kind of tower. But most of the rooms I pass are empty.

Until there's one that isn't.

A woman dressed in black sits at her dresser and sobs. Her eyes are red and puffy, and the glare she levels at the servant who dares to enter would've sent most people running.

"Princess, Her Majesty's Alchemist has prepared your next dose," the maid curtseys deep, but the Princess doesn't notice.

"I don't want it." Her words are muffled by her hands covering her face, but the maid and I can hear her.

"Princess Amelia, you know Her Majesty doesn't like being refused." There's a pleading in the maid's tone, but the distraught woman doesn't care.

"No. I won't take it."

The maid curtseys again, but the motion is hidden by the guards bursting into the room. They head straight for the Princess and wrestle her arms behind her back. One pinches her nose and the other forces her jaw open, tipping the blood-red potion down her throat.

Her shrieks haunt me as I back away from the tiny vent.

But there's nothing I can do. No way into the room that I can see.

All my outrage will do is draw attention to me.

So I take a deep breath, swallow my guilt for the hundredth time today, and keep walking.

"The other way leads to a door to the grounds,"Opal mutters, running up beside me.

"Good, I want you to take it. You go to the Blood Pits and find Rysen. Get him out of there."

I won't risk him remaining imprisoned if I fail.

"I should stay with you."