Page 34 of Traitor Witch

“Tried, charmed, threatened.” He shrugs, and I get the sense we won’t get much more out of him.

That doesn’t stop Val from trying. He names almost every witch we’ve ever met, and some I’ve never heard of. But no matter what name he comes up with, Kier just keeps shaking his head to say he’s already tried.

I can feel the fae losing his patience as the captain rages on, but it’s only when our breath starts to mist in front of our faces that I intervene.

Val is a relentless bastard, but the last thing we need is Kier encasing him, and therefore the ship, in ice. I hold up one hand, silencing the captain, and turn to my oldest friend.

“How long have you been cursed?”

He shrugs again.

“Did it happen before or after we met?”

He still hesitates before answering. “Before.”

I took a step back. “Three centuries?”

Kier’s older than all of us by a large margin, but usually that age gap seems insignificant. After a few hundred years, age becomes irrelevant. We’ve travelled together, fought together, and almost died together for so long that I've always seen us as equals.

All that time, he’s been keeping such a big secret from me.

Kier won’t look at me. He just frowns at the horizon, searching for answers in the blurred line between sky and sea.

“Nilsa will help,” I finally say. “She’s our mate. Surely that means something.”

Val scoffs again. “She’s your mate. Not mine.”

It’s my turn to snort. “Tell that to the boner you’ve been sporting since she came aboard.”

Vampires and mages are both impotent from the time we settle into immortality at twenty-five until we meet our mates. The only difference is my erection will eventually go away, Val’s will last until Nilsa claims him.

Of course, knowing Val, he’ll be insufferable until that happens.

We’re saved from his retort by Cas hauling himself over the railing. The shifter drips water all over the deck before flopping onto his back beside us and staring at the sky in silence.

“Good swim?” Val bites out.

“Fuck you,” Cas mutters, lifting his head to survey the deck with keen eyes. “Where’s Nos? Nilsa?”

His brother hasn’t come on deck with us, but Val’s link to the ship lets him feel where everyone is. He closes his eyes with a frown, opening them again seconds later.

“The witch is in her cabin, and your brother is hovering outside trying to get up the guts to knock.”

The disgusted look on Val’s face makes me frown, but Casdoesn’t notice as he pushes himself off the deck and heads towards the hatch.

“How much longer is her novelty going to blind you all to the fact she’s a dangerous stranger whom we know almost nothing about? She’s already turned half of our ammunition and the storm sails into fucking furniture, not to mention she’s suspiciously locked herself away in her cabin where she’s been carving Goddess-knows-what into my ship!”

I smirk. “What harm can one little witch do to five immortal males twice her size?”

Chapter Ten

NILSA

I’ve just climaxed when I hear the quietest knock at my door.

I freeze, one hand still in my panties, my robes dishevelled, and my neck still arched to one side from imagining Rysen’s fangs sinking into my vein.

Ah, Goddess. Immortal noses will definitely be able to smell what I’ve been doing in here.