Page 159 of Traitor Witch

There's jeering coming from below me, and the further down my chair is lowered, the more I can see.

Cells take up every inch of wall space, reminding me of the inside of some kind of hive. The bars are frosted with some kind of white crystals, and the inmates seem to be doing everything possible to bar themselvesin.

Salt.

They've lined the bars with salt.

When the mist lining the floor comes into focus, I realise why.

"Inmates! You've failed to meet your quota again." The voice booms around the cavern just as my chair reaches the ground. "The warden is very disappointed, and he’s decided it's time to cull the weak."

Maniacal laughter from my left. A scream echoes from my right.

A single familiar dagger lands in the dirt a metre in front of me. Glenna's athame. The force of the drop means the tip has embedded itself into the earth by a few inches, the moonstones glittering in the dim light. Taunting me.

A blaring horn blasts out once more, followed by the grinding sound of metal.

I shake the chair, trying to topple it over. I have to reach the blade.

Goddess, what did they make this chair out of? I swing my full weight against it and the damned thing barely budges.

Since toppling it won't work, I start to shuffle. My feet aren't bound. If I can just get to the stupid knife.

The eerie, clawing sound of a wraith moan starts to assault my ears. Ripping into me like nails.

Just a little further.

I stretch out with my feet, bare toes straining towards the black hilt.

The mist starts to swirl in the distance. Skeletal faces bloom all around me.

My foot touches the handle as a chill whispers along my skin, spreading goosebumps down my spine.

Chapter Forty-Four

VALOREAN

Another rope rips free and slaps me across the back.

Ever since I knocked that damn witch overboard, theDeadwoodhas revolted. My own guilty conscience rebounding on me through my bond to the ship.

So far today I've tripped over every rope on board, been smacked in the face by my own cabin door, and almost crushed by a rogue cannon.

It's a miracle I got us to Cawshome from Idos without any of the others noticing.

Well, one crew-member did notice.

Titan stares at me, eyes big and guileless, from his spot on the deck. The mastiff hasn't left my side since Nilsa's tabby disappeared and spends most of his time giving me big, puppyish eyes. Almost as if he misses the crazy feline and wants me to bring his playmate back. It takes everything I've got to ignore that look as I force the ship as far from Cawshome as fast as possible.

I can't hang around to search for the witch. Not with Rysen in the Pits.

Not with a full fleet of Castleman ships sailing out of the bay behind us.

Even if I did go back, I can't even get off my ship to search for them. Our search party would consist of a mute fae, an angry leviathan who can't shift back, and a blind seer. We'd be up against the entire royal guard, searching a city three times the size of any other.

It makes me helpless, and for the first time in decades, I resent my bond to theDeadwood.

If I hadn't lost it when Elsie showed me that tracker...