Page 50 of Traitor Witch

“Pink.” Nos is grinning so hard it looks like his face might break, gasping for air between chuckles.

Everything in me stills. Beast and man fascinated by what we're seeing.

My brother hasn’t laughed so much since Fate touched him at sixteen.

“It’ll wear off in three days.” Nilsa’s completely unrepentant, her cat wound around her neck like a scarf. “But for three days he’ll be the pinkest captain in the kingdom.”

I watch them both silently, my beast fascinated by the perfect, carefree moment. Jealousy rears its head for an ugly second; I want to be the one putting that expression on their faces. But that feeling is gone as soon as it arises. My beast is too content with their happiness to let me ruin it with our selfishness.

Nilsa catches sight of me then, the laughter still in her eyes as she pries her cat from around her neck and sets her on the ground.

“Well, this is where I leave you,” she says, flipping her hair out of her face. “I’m grateful to you both for getting me out of Coveton. Maybe someday I’ll repay the favour.”

Nos just smiles and winks at her. “See you round.”

See you round? How can he be so casual about the fact that our mate is leaving us?

I want to throw myself on the cobbles in front of her and beg her to stay. I want to shift and wind her up in my coils so she can never go. My beast writhes under my skin, throwing himself at the fractured cage I stupidly thought might help me contain him.

Nos is so fucking calm.

The realisation slams into us like a punch to the face.

The only way my brother can be this calm is if he knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that Nilsa will be back.

My theory is proved right when the Solar disappears and Nos just smiles.

“When does she come back?” I demand. “You’ve seen it—don’t deny it—or you wouldn’t be so fucking calm about her walking away.”

I instinctively take a few steps in the same direction as our witch, but my twin’s cane snaps out, thwacking me across the shins in a painful reprimand.

I turn back to find Nos’s white eyes fixed on me. “Kier and Rysen are both following her. She’s well defended. We need to supply the ship for her return.”

I grimace, my beast thrashing in my mind. “How long?”

Nos shakes his head, refusing to answer. “Come on, while the others are protecting her we can get a head start on improving her cabin.”

My beast raises his head at that. The stupid creature wants to preen at the opportunity to show our mate his ‘nest building’ skills. I just want Nilsa to have something better to come back to than a half-furnished storage cabin.

If she comes back.

No—there is no 'if'—when.

NILSA

We arrived at the port a lot later than I thought we would. Rysen said dawn, but it’s nearly noon by the time I step off theDeadwoodand back onto the blessed, solid earth.

I almost kiss the dusty cobbles in relief.

The streets of Port Evert are narrower than Coveton. It has no crystal mine or temples, so the whole town is centred around the docks and the crowds naturally draw close to the safety of the waterfront where the majority of the shops are.

Opal and I wander for hours until we inevitably conclude that Alletta’s shop isn’t here. Opal doesn’t catch even a whiff of magic until we’ve strayed far from the main street. Even then, the scent is so faint she loses it twice more before she’s certain we’re going in the right direction.

Her nose takes us deeper into the seedier areas of the port. Away from the safety and anonymity of the crowds and into the dingier streets.

Eyes watch us from every alley. Fingers twitch as I pass.

This is not the sort of place a Solar should go. My white robes, which afforded me respect on the docks, now paint a target on my back.