Page 40 of Traitor Witch

“She okay?” Nos stumbles through the doorway, panting. “I didn’t See anything, but I heard the commotion and came as fast as I could.”

I stare down at the woman in my arms. The stress has eased from her face, and now she could be sleeping. “She is now.”

I’m reluctant to relinquish her to the bed. My beast whines at the loss, but he’s instantly pacified when I climb in beside her and pull her close to me.

Purely for warmth, of course.

She’s still cold to the touch, her skin damp from the ice.

Nos feels his way over and climbs in on her other side, sandwiching her between us while Rysen stands vigil at the end of the bed. All of us remain tense, wondering if whoever came after her will be back to finish the job.

I’m pretty sure we’re all silently begging for her to wake up too.

Hours pass before she starts to stir.

Kier, who’s spent the time patiently removing the ice from her room, disappears into the shadows the moment hereyelids start to flutter. She’s silent as she wakes up, no stretching or moving. Nilsa takes in all three of us and the open door to the bathroom before her whole body stiffens.

“What happened?” Her voice is scratchy as her eyes find the cat, still sleeping on the covers at the foot of the bed.

“Your familiar helped us find you,” I answer. “Opal sank her claws into everyone until we got the hint. Kier broke you out of the ice, and Rysen gave you a bit of his blood to keep you alive until we got you warm.”

She pushes up and noticeably pulls away from both of us. The moonlight from the window makes her skin glow as she rubs at her temples.

“Who attacked you?” Nos whispers.

Nilsa is silent for so long I think she won’t answer. “My coven.” Her voice has a tiny, broken hitch at the end, and I have to force myself to stay where I am and not hug her. “I was stupid. It won’t happen again.”

“Are you safe now?” Rysen demands, arms crossed over his chest.

“I think so. The ship is a moving target and harder to get a lock on now that I’ve gotten rid of my trace magic.”

She may as well be speaking another language for all the sense that makes, but Rysen nods like he understands before turning and striding from the room.

Nilsa stares after him for a moment, but I draw her attention back to me with a small smile.

“Val wants to see you when you’re feeling up to it.” Keeping my hands to myself when she’s next to me is harder than I’d like to admit, and it’s only made worse by how sleep-mussed and adorable she looks right now.

I can’t help pushing a stray lock of dark hair out of her eyes.

The creature within me doesn’t see the point in waiting. No. My beast would rather I mate her here and now. He seesclaiming the other half of my soul as natural and resisting as stupid.

I try to express how upset it would make her, but I don’t think the point makes it across. We’re so caught up in our mental argument that when she pushes my shoulder, I instantly let her out of bed rather than insisting she rest a little more.

Despite my concern, she doesn’t wobble as she heads for the bathroom. The steel in her spine as she turns to face us in the doorway makes me question, again, how she can belong to a coven of healers yet be made of such warrior fire. Her white robe, stained with Rysen’s blood, only adds to the impression and I find myself getting hard as my mind summons the image of her in nothing but leather and the blood of her enemies.

I shake away the fantasy with a mental eye roll. Our mate is a gentle—albeit stubborn—Solar. Not a fighter. Definitely not the leather and blood type.

“Thank you for your help.” I can see her eyebrows crease with a frown as she considers her next words. “I owe you a debt.” Her expression is carefully blank, but her closed-off body language tells a different story. Our witch is uncomfortable by the admission.

“You owe me nothing,” Nos interrupts. “I didn’t foresee this, I didn’t help free you…”

Nilsa shoots him a glare he should be grateful not to see. “I owe the debt. That’s final.”

I shrug, downplaying the entire thing. “Can I use the debt to get you to come out on deck with us? The fresh air will do you good after what happened, and you can find out whatever Val wants.”

Plus, the deck is one step closer to the swim my beast will soon demand of her.

Her face doesn’t change, but the powdery sweet smell offear fills my nostrils as soon as I finish speaking. My beast shudders in displeasure beneath my skin, demanding we kill whatever has spooked our mate.