Page 23 of Traitor Witch (The Deadwood #1)
Chapter Twenty-Three
CASIMIR
T he look on Nilsa’s face is priceless.
She’s shocked, yes. But she’s aroused too. Her pupils have dilated, almost eliminating the pretty, stormy blue of her irises, and her lips have parted subconsciously.
Nos must have known all along. Sneaky bastard.
I’ve never wanted to throttle my brother as much as I did when Elsie mentioned that Lunars have harems.
I thought it was crazy, her having five mates. I was prepared for her to try to reject the idea. Or worse, reject me in favour of one of the others.
But with this new knowledge, it all makes sense.
Of course we’re meant to be hers.
The only thing that concerns me is that Nilsa won’t tell us what happened to her human harem.
They’d better be dead.
That darkly possessive thought comes straight from my beast. He’s felt no such possessiveness toward her other mates, his own crew. But humans? He’ll rip them to shreds.
In fact, if any man but us touches her, there’s a good chance I’ll end up shifting and flattening the city.
My beast rears his head at the thought, and I have to force my brain back on track.
“To the Solar temple then?” I hold out an arm.
Nilsa ignores it and turns to stride after Elsie.
She’s all female confidence and independence now. The side of her which peeked out during her rows with Val now out in the open for both of us to see.
Damn, it’s sexy.
My beast lets out a rumbling purr, but I force him down and hurry to catch up with her as she takes the right turn at the fork.
“As much as I admire your fine ass walking away from me,” I begin, seeing no reason to hide the truth any longer. “Wouldn’t you rather be going in the right direction?”
“This is the way Elsie went,” she retorts.
“This is the way Elsie fled to avoid talking about whatever that ring means,” I correct, stopping in front of her and sweeping one arm out. “The fastest way to the Solar temple is to go left.”
She rolls her eyes and turns on her heel, heading towards the salt wall already looming in the distance ahead of us. Ilyani’s wall is close to twice the height of Coveton’s, and still barely a third of the height of the kingdom’s capital, Cawshome.
“Why would they build it so close to the wall?" she mutters, so quietly a human wouldn’t have picked up on it.
My mate is about to get a rude awakening, but I don’t think anything I can say will soften the blow.
So I just direct her across the city, toward the wall.
When we reach the square, she just stops .
The Solar Temple of Ilyani is a crumbling ruin. Its white, salt-brick walls are greying and the golden paintwork around the entrance is peeling. One of the door handles has fallen off and the other hangs drunkenly from the wooden slab.
They have no eunuchs standing guard in livery. No constant shuffle of passers-by popping in for herbs and tonics.
No pilgrims sitting quietly in prayer before the great statue of the Sun Mother in front of us.
“They have forgotten us…” Nilsa’s face is as pale as the moon. “How could they forget us?”
She’s sprinting for the door before I can stop her.
Kier and I share a look, but follow at a slower pace, already knowing what we’ll find inside.
The cobwebs are nothing new to us. The dirt across the walls and floor expected.
But Nilsa looks at each like it’s a crime.
I suppose to her, it is.
But the mages of Ilyani believe themselves capable of everything a witch can do. When the witches aren’t needed, the Goddesses aren’t needed.
The mages have left the ‘outdated’ ways in the dust.
Cawshome is the same, but I won’t tell Nilsa that if this is her reaction.
The heart-rending expression on her face makes my beast roar in my head.
He wants me to fix it.
But sometimes, you can’t fix things. Sometimes, all you can do is show someone the truth, and offer them a helping hand so they can fix it themselves.
So I stand there, behind the living centre of my universe and watch, waiting to follow her lead.
As I always will .
When she turns to face us, her shock is already gone. Replaced by grim determination.
“Where is the Mother Solar?”
At the same time, Elsie skids around the corner, another witch right behind her.
“See! I told you it was her.”
The witch behind Elsie is older, but not by much. Her eyes are almost too wide for her thin face, her mouth pressed into a line as she examines Nilsa. Her robes are greying, stained in places, and she carries herself with a little less enthusiasm and a little more caution as she approaches my mate.
“Why have you come, Shadow?”
“My Goddess sent me,” Nilsa answers. “I beg the privilege of an audience with the Mother Solar.”
“After what you did to the high priestesses of Coveton?” The reply is scathing, and my beast bristles.
“I swear on the Moon Mother I mean no harm.” There’s a pause, before my beautiful mate kneels on the floor. “I’ll submit to whatever magical binding you see fit.”
I take a step forward automatically, but Kier holds an arm out, stopping me.
My motion catches the attention of all three witches, who freeze.
“We wait, outside.” Kier’s hand latches onto my arm and steers me out into the empty square with a surprising amount of strength.
The door slams behind us and my beast roars in my head.
Separating him from Nilsa directly after seeing her in such distress is finally too much for him.
“Water.” Is all I manage to get out past the roars taking up all the space in my mind.
Kier takes one last, fast glance at the door, rightly concerned for our mate, then hooks our arms together and launches us into the sky. His dragonfly wings beat furiously as he flits us over the rooftops.
I can see the golden sparks of my transformation flying around my body, but I fight it like hell.
If we shift now…
I can see the blue of the bay ahead.
All we have to do is hold it together for a few more moments.
The blackness is creeping over my vision.
We clear the port just as I lose myself completely, and Kier drops me.