Page 158 of Traitor Witch

I'm naked and have been since they searched me for weapons. The lack of clothes only makes me feel more vulnerable, but I don't dare to let it show.

Their constant stares will pick up on even the slightest weakness.

The one time I scaled the side, they noticed immediately. I was beaten and broken, then pissed on.

"You killed my assistant." The voice is harsh and unforgiving, but I can't see the Alchemist for the blinding sunlight behind her. "You killed a defenceless Solar witch. Explain yourself."

"You're both traitors," I spit past my swollen lip. "You're going against the will of the Goddesses, slaughtering hundreds to give the Queen unnatural life."

The woman above me snorts. "The Sun Goddess never intended for her subjects to die. Death itself is an imposition, forced on the world by the Moon. Immortals are the Sun's attempts to fix the flaw Moon has created in an otherwise perfect world."

"Then why kill so many of them to prolong the life of a few?"

"To save the original creation. Humans were denied their immortality, they're suffering under the wraiths. I'm just fixing things."

"You're insane."

"I'm enlightened."

"Then kill me and be done with it." Death would be better than sitting at the bottom of a pit, starving slowly. "I welcome the embrace of my goddess."

Even as I say the words, I know they're not true. I have too many things left unfinished. Questions unanswered. I want to fix things with my pirates, save Klaus, argue some more with Valorean, and listen to Opal berate me for being stupid enough to get caught.

Just the thought of dying before I get to do all of those things and more makes rage bubble in my veins.

"The Queen forbids it. If you die, the Moon Goddess will just start again with a new Shadow and we'll just suffer this whole scenario all over again in twenty-five years."

"I will find a way out of here."

"I've no doubt you might. Perhaps you'd even do it fast enough to warn Sanctum about the fleet headed their way. But you're not staying here."

As she speaks, the grate over the top of the pit is slowly dragged back.

Now's my best chance.

I drag myself to my feet, ignoring the pangs in my still-healing body, and prepare to fight. But the number of guards streaming into the pit is just too many. I tear at them, dodging, clawing like a wildcat.

All I get for my efforts is more pain.

I don't even see the guard who smashes into me, tackling me to the ground from behind. Multiple males pin my already broken body to the damp earth, each limb wrestled into cuffs while their knees on my back immobilise me.

The Alchemist stands over me, monochromatic robes swishing against the dirt.

She bends down, bangs falling into her unusually pretty face as she stares at me with big, brown eyes.

I spit a glob of saliva straight at her.

Other than a slight frown, she doesn't react. She simply wipes the dirt and slobber out of her eyes and carries on.

"You'll be mining crystals for the cause. After all, no immortal has ever escaped the Claw."

I thrash, but the motion just sends my broken bones into orbit.

The pain knocks me out once again.

A blaring horn jolts me back to consciousness. A quick inventory reveals I'm still naked and strapped to a chair, dangling over a pit so dark I can't see the bottom.

The rope is creaking behind me. My wrists encased in heavy cuffs that make my attempts to access my magic completely futile.