Page 82 of Traitor Witch

He's silent as he leaves the room.

I go to close the door, but his hand comes up, taking my chin and forcing my eyes to meet his.

The certainty there says he doesn’t think this is over.

I can only hope the grim knowledge in mine tells him that it is.

For an instant—a crazy, stupid, instant—I think he might try to kiss me.

I'm not sure I'd stop him. A huge part of me wants to inch forward and taste the ice cold burn of his lips on mine.

Then Opal slips through and kicks the door shut in his face, forcing him to snatch his hand back or risk it getting caught.

“That was…”

No. There are no words that can express the last hour of my life. I let my head fall forward against the door, then do it again in frustration.

Is it stupid that I almost wish I was the witch who could help Kier with his curse?

Of course it is.

That doesn’t seem to stop my heart.

Chapter Twenty-Two

NILSA

Kier keeps his silence for the next week, but he’s never far. He’s made himself my assistant in the galley and he’s trying to teach me to cook properly. The fae gives me a despairing look every time I just transform food, but I ignore him.

His gentlemanly gestures continue to make me smile. He opens doors for me, carries heavy plants around my study without complaint and never once starts eating until I have.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a strong, independent witch, and I could easily lift pots and open doors by myself. But dammit, those little things give me butterflies. It's nice to not be treated like an assassin first and a woman second.

In fact, I like it so much I don’t bother to stop him.

There are a lot of things that remain unsaid between the six of us. No one mentions the strange storm that tried to drag the boat under, or the compulsion I used on Val in place of a healing spell.

I’m not foolish.

They know something’s up.

Just like I know there’s something they’re keeping from me.

It’s just a feeling at first. An itch that won’t go away. Then there are the conversations which end whenever I walk into a room.

The one thing I am sure of is that Kier has kept my secret. Val would have ordered me off his ship if he hadn’t. Plus, I’ve been very careful never to outright lie to any of them.

Not that I could get away with it with Kier always around.

So when we drop anchor in Ilya Bay, with Fort Ilya looming behind us, it’s no surprise to find him climbing into the rowboat with Cas and me. Rysen is holding us up, discussing something with Valorean on the upper deck, and Nos is sitting up there with them, having fallen into a vision almost an hour ago.

“Are you coming?” Cas roars.

“Give us a second!” Val is as grumpy as usual.

When Rysen finally joins us, he’s got a huge parcel tucked under one arm with a stack of letters tied to the top of it. When he catches me looking, he gives me a soft smile.

“I’m running a few errands for Val," he pauses, eyes flashing red. “Ilyani’s a big place, five times the size of Coveton, so stick close to Cas, okay?”