Page 30 of Traitor Witch

Nos doesn’t need them now, but the Captain takes care of his crew. Always.

My twin ducks as he enters the galley, and I have enough experience to follow his lead. That’s the only thing which saves me from a flying skillet to the face as Nilsa narrowly misses Valorean’s head.

“If you don’t like my cooking, I won’t bother to feed you anymore,” she hisses, tossing a guilty look at Nos and I before continuing to level her best glare at Val. “It’s perfectly cooked and doesn’t taste like the ocean spat in it, is that what you’re complaining about?”

“I just asked where you got the fresh fruit from!”

Rysen is looking between the two with a strange mixture of concern and humour on his face. Somehow he’s ended up holding that grey tabby again, and seeing the burly vampire cradling a tiny cat and stroking it with a single finger is one of the most snort-worthy things I’ve ever seen.

Rysen is many things, but cuddly isn’t one of them.

Apparently the cat doesn’t agree.

“You said, and I quote, ‘why the fuck are there berries on my oats?’”

Nilsa looks like she’s searching for more projectiles, so Ihastily drag Nos out of the danger zone that is the area behind Val. We end up beside Kier, who’s ignoring the drama in favour of eating the food everyone else has forgotten. I grab my own bowl and groan at the first bite before remembering to hand Nos his spoon and direct his left hand to the bowl.

He sighs happily and digs in.

Three mouthfuls later, he pauses and looks at Nilsa. “I knew this was coming, but it’s even better than it was in my vision.”

Nilsa blushes prettily, lowering the pot she’s grabbed from the stove. “You think so?”

Valorean begins to creep back towards the table, and I choose to distract our mate so that the captain can grab food and evacuate.

“It’s the best thing I’ve eaten in months,” I confess, taking an elbow to the ribs from Kier for my trouble. “But where did you find berries? Has Kier been holding out on us?”

She grins. “No, I used magic to transform the existing food. I am never eating that stuff again.”

I stare down at the honey-drizzled fruit and back at the witch. “So I’m eating salted pork?”

She rolls her eyes, catches sight of Valorean sitting at the table, and shoots him a death glare before replying.

“No. Unlike a mage, I can’t make something out of nothing. I can only transform existing materials or summon them to me if I know exactly where they are. The fruit is as real as if you picked it from a tree, it just started out as biscuits and preserves.”

I’m still dubious, but I keep eating because I have no desire to have a pan thrown at me and it still tastes amazing. Evidently that makes me wiser than Val, who prods at his fruit as if expecting it to transform back.

Which it then does, because Nilsa’s watching him with ascowl and mutters a quick spell. Leaving the captain with a bowl full of jam and soggy biscuits.

Our mate takes a spot between Nos and Rysen, dips a spoon into her own bowl, and starts to eat. The rest of the table follows her example now that she’s apparently been mollified, and a few seconds later Val’s bowl reverts to honey-drizzled porridge.

Only Rysen doesn’t eat, and I know Nilsa notices.

I manage to score a few more brownie points by offering to wash the dishes, before she turns to the vampire.

“Do you need to feed?” Her point-blank question makes us all freeze, and Rysen’s eyes flash red for the briefest second.

“Do you know what you’re offering?” he asks in return.

“Blood.” She pulls up her sleeve just the barest fraction. “I don’t know how much you need, or how often, but if you’re hungry, get on with it.”

I can tell Rysen is trying to figure out a diplomatic way to request privacy, but Valorean obviously has a death wish because he gets there first.

“You’ve never fed a vampire before, have you?”

Nilsa glares at him. “Does it matter?”

“Well, if you had you’d realise that you might as well be offering to suck him off in front of all of us.”