Page 36 of Traitor Witch (The Deadwood #1)

Chapter Thirty-Six

RYSEN

“ W e have no choice," Nos mumbles. "The bargain will compel Val to sail soon, whether he wants to or not."

The mage in question has been pacing the lower deck for hours. Waiting. Searching. Like the rest of us.

Our mate is gone. There's no trace of her around the coast. It's almost like we imagined her, except her perfect scent still lingers everywhere on the ship.

Teasing me with the future Valorean destroyed.

We've all taken our turn yelling at him for his stupidity. Even Cas, who hasn't managed to shift back since we lost her, stuck his scaly head out of the water to roar in Valorean's face.

What he did...

If we lose Nilsa forever because of it...

None of us will ever forgive him. Mistake or not.

"We can't leave her," I insist.

Nos shakes his head. "We have no choice. "

"No games, seer. Do we find her again?"

Nos says nothing.

That worries me more than I care to admit.

A distant roar echoes across the water, making Titan's ears prick. Cas's leviathan is still searching for his mate.

We've sailed the full length of the coast, but brooms are faster than boats. She could be anywhere by now.

Goddess, she spent her last moments with us terrified because of the asshole we call captain.

I'll never forget the look on her face as she flew over the side of the ship. Or how tiny she looked in Cas's arms, coughing up seawater, eyes dark with nightmares.

She should never, ever have that look again.

"I didn't see the mage-tech in my visions," the Seer admits. "I always assumed we'd just—"

But he cuts off, dropping to the ground like a puppet with his strings cut.

The jerking of his limbs is awful to watch, but I know from experience not to restrain him. Instead, I fall to the deck with him, using my lap to cushion his head until the worst passes.

Wordlessly Kier joins us, keeping both eyes trained on the Seer as he fights an invisible battle against his gift. Even Val stops his pacing and climbs the stairs to help keep watch, his dog at his side.

"I didn't mean to do it," the captain mutters, the dawn light glinting off his white hair. "It must have been her presence affecting my powers. I'm sorry, Nos. I swear to the Goddesses, once we finish up in Cawshome we'll come back. She's on this island somewhere. We'll find her."

His voice seems to calm Nos, even if it's only enough to stop the worst of the seizures.

I glance up, frowning. That whole sentence was so unlike Valorean that I don't honestly believe it was him who said it until I see the sincerity in his dark eyes.

"Don't get me wrong," Val adds, noticing my look. "I only want to find her so I can yell at her some more for lying to us."

"She had her reasons," I glower at him. "It's not like we can talk. We're pirates ."

"So you don't care one bit that we had an assassin sleeping across the hall the entire time?"

I shrug. "Assassin or not, dark witch or not, she's still a tiny female who was running for her life and in need of our protection. She's our mate, created for us . Proof that maybe something we've done in our fucked up existence made us worthy of her. If she wanted to kill me..."

I would probably have let her. I let that truth show in the glare I keep levelled at him.

"The mage-tech was a tracker," Val grumbles, scanning the horizon for the hundredth time. "The Castlemans could be on their way here right now."

"That wasn't Nilsa's doing, and the tracker is now far away from us," I snap. "They had no way of knowing the Solar would end up on our ship, so put a lid on your damned paranoia already. The mages have forgotten about you."

Valorean snorts but has the good sense to not argue. I almost wish he'd given Nilsa a trinket like that. It would certainly be useful right about now.

The silence reigns as we all stare at Nos's prone form.

"I can't hold back much longer," Val rubs at his arms. "The deadline is too close. We're going to end up sailing for Galmere in an hour. The bargain—" he spits the word out—"demands it."

"We come back," I growl. "Swear it. We don't abandon Nilsa. You will do whatever it takes to find her again."

Val remains silent, casting his eyes over the cliffs .

"Swear it, mage." My fangs are out. Emotion turning my eyes red.

"I promise we'll find her." He runs a hand through his hair. “We'll start looking the moment the cargo is unloaded and if... if she wants to stay, I'll not get in the way."

Kier nods, though we all know the bargain has been struck.

"Casimir!" Val yells over the open ocean. "We've got to go."

There's an answering roar, but it's distant.

"He's lost to his beast." Nos's whisper draws all of our gazes back down to where he's laying, curled up on the deck. He staggers to his feet but smacks away Val's steadying hand. "He'll stay close, but Nilsa is the only one who will have any chance of bringing him back."

Nos grabs in the empty air for the railing, eventually finding it and clutching it to keep himself steady. He's paler than a wraith. The strain of his vision is written into the lines of his face.

"We have to go or she'll beat us there." Despite his haggardness, Nos has a new energy to his voice. A certainty that wasn't there before. "Cawshome awaits, gentlemen."

"Cawshome?" Val echoes. "Why the fuck is the witch going there?"

Nos smiles. "For the same reason all Shadows go to the capital; to kill the Queen."

"None of them have ever succeeded," I retort, gut clenching. "She'll die before she makes it over the palace wall."

Just the thought of Nilsa's body being strung up on the salt wall for the carrion eaters makes me feel sick. The Eagle of Galmere is infamous for her lack of mercy when it comes to punishing traitors.

When she caught her own brother plotting their mother's death, she had him mounted on a pike in the harbour while he was still alive.

It takes hours for a human to die that way.

Even longer for an immortal.

The Seer's secret smile stays in place. Almost like he can feel the three of us glaring at him and just likes keeping us on edge.

"He wouldn't be smiling if she was going to her death," Val says, running a hand through his hair. "Fucking Seers."

Nos's frown is instant and defensive. "Don't blame the messenger."

"Fine. Fucking Fate."