Page 4 of Traitor Witch (The Deadwood #1)

Chapter Four

NILSA

T he market is even busier than I expected, so I’m not surprised when I slam into someone.

I have just enough presence of mind to notice the hardness beneath me is male before he grabs my white robe in a surprisingly sure grip.

Ugh, I don’t have time to deal with snippy humans! I’m about to shove him away when I feel the erection against my ass and indignation takes over.

Men are all the same.

I’ve just raised my hand to slap him when he starts to speak low and fast.

“Guards with crossbows are waiting on the rooftops along the main-street, you need to stop running and blend in until you reach the temple. The boat will be here at nightfall, waiting to take you to safety. Ask the fishermen for the Deadwood .”

His voice is beautiful and deep enough to make me shiver. It’s enough of a distraction that his words take a while to sink in. My eyes scan over his strong jaw and up past his cruel cheekbones to those pure white eyes.

Shit, he’s a seer.

Most people only remember that there’s a third goddess when they’re confronted with the evidence of Fate’s handiwork.

I’m no different.

The little gasp that escapes me is embarrassing, but I’ve got just enough presence of mind to remember my manners.

“Thank you, Seer.”

“Go!” He grabs my thighs and flings me off him.

I can’t help glancing behind me at the gorgeous, Fate-touched man before he’s swallowed by the crowd. His sun-kissed bronze hair is the last thing I see before I duck behind a stall and out of sight.

It takes hours of checking over my shoulders and taking detours through back alleys, but I speed up when Opal finally finds me. My familiar helps me look around corners for guards and Solars and for the hundredth time I’m grateful she’s not the traditional black of a Lunar familiar. She blends where I don’t and lends me power when I need to disappear into the shadows.

At the end of the day, I’ll need to refill the reserve of magic she keeps for me, but once the moon’s out that won’t be a problem.

It’s nearly dark when we reach the temple.

The place is eerily silent, even though it’s nearly moonrise. Most of my coven are still in their rooms, sleeping off the party of the night before. But Glenna will be awake. Like Felicity, she likes to start her prayers early. If she’s staying true to her habits, she’ll already be in the central courtyard with her men.

I leap up onto the roofs with just a little more magic to the sigils on my legs. Scurrying through the rooftop gardens without coming across another witch is usually impossible, but the Goddess is on my side.

The thong hanging from a tree branch and the empty jugs of wine scattered around indicate last night’s party got even wilder after I left, meaning the rest of the nocturnal Lunars will be sleeping off hangovers well into the night.

I slip through to the balcony overlooking Glenna’s courtyard undisturbed, congratulating myself for my own good luck.

What I find is worse than I could have dreamed.

Five bodies lay face down in the pool of water turned red with blood. None of them are Glenna, but I recognise the distinctive long, braided hair of one of her harem.

I’m silent as I drop into the courtyard but my gut churns as I bend down and check for a pulse.

All dead. Their throats slit.

“This is not good,” Opal whispers in my mind, hopping up onto my shoulder for a better look.

“Nil…s…a.”

The gurgle fills me with dread and I whirl to face the sound.

Glenna is huddled in the corner, silver dress stained with blood. Her haunted eyes stare out of a face so pale it blends with her dress and a slender dagger sticks out from between her ribs. Blood spreads outward in a macabre splotch over her abdomen, growing bigger by the second.

“Mother Lunar!” I rush to her side, dragging her into my arms, trying to stop the bleeding with my hands.

But her gaze is already ghosting over, her eyes fixed on the corpses of her husbands.

“We are betrayed…” she whispers with her last breath.

Her hand falls open. A ring I’ve never seen before tumbles onto the floor, still attached to a broken chain .

“No. No, no, no.” I push magic at her corpse, but it does nothing.

The Goddess has called Glenna home.

Two high priestesses have been killed within twelve hours, and I’m the only witness. My brain freezes as the possibilities start to filter in past my grief.

If the Solars believe I killed Felicity, this will only confirm it. If my Lunar sisters defend me, there will be war between the two covens.

War neither of us want. War which would devastate Coveton.

And that's only if the Lunars believe me over the damning evidence. If they don’t, I’ll be hunted by both.

My only chance at redemption is to exact vengeance for Glenna and Felicity and hope that, in doing so, I manage to clear my name.

“I’ll find them, I swear,” I promise Glenna’s body, scooping up the golden ring and shoving it into my pocket. As an afterthought I grab the dagger, examining the blade for any sign of who might have made it.

It’s Glenna’s own ritual athame, the black handle carved and inlaid with silver and moonstones.

The doors burst open, slamming against the walls with the force.

“Mother Lunar, you must come—” Danika and Ophelia skid to a stop as soon as they cross the threshold. There’s a moment where I realise how it must look, me crouched over the body of our dead Priestess, dagger in hand.

The weapon clatters to the floor, but the damage is done.

“Nilsa!” Ophelia looks horrified. “Sweet Lady Moonlight, why—?”

“I didn’t!” I protest, but she’s already turning on her heel and sprinting away in tears. I turn my attention to the remaining witch. “Danika, you know me. You know I would never…”

But Danika doesn’t look so sure. She’s backing away, sigils already glowing with defensive power.

“I want to believe you, Nilsa, but you have to admit, this looks bad.”

I can’t believe this. We were raised together; we learned hexes side by side when we were just ten years old. We even met our familiars together.

“Glenna said we were betrayed. I would never kill a servant of either Goddess. You have to believe me.”

Danika shakes her head. “…I’m not sure what to think.” She pauses, looks down. “You’re the Shadow, Nilsa…”

How can she even consider this? “I serve the Goddess!”

“I know that!” she snaps, then her anger falls away into despair. “I’m just telling you what this looks like. If someone’s set you up, you’re the perfect person to frame. No one will question a fucking assassin killing people.”

“I’m innocent and I’ll prove it.”

Yells start to echo from within the temple. The clatter of footsteps drifts closer.

“And I’ll help you if you need it,” Danika swears. “But for now, let things die down. Do you have somewhere to hide?”

I nod, my mind drifting back to the Seer’s words as the sound of pursuit draws closer.

“I’ll send word when I have a lead.” I grab Opal, who hisses in indignation, and turn to leave.

Danika’s hand on my arm stops me. She stoops, grabs the athame that killed Glenna, and presses it back into my hand.

“Stay safe.” Her bottom lip wobbles. “May the Lady bless Her Shadow and guide your blade true.”

A lump forms in my throat. “If you can talk to Ophelia…”

The other witch has always been a bit highly strung, but we have the same history together as I do with Danika. All three of us have been together since we were old enough to learn magic.

Danika moves back towards the doors.

“I’ll try, but the evidence is… and now you’re running away.”

Does she think I don’t know how this looks?

“Can you see any other way?” I demand, turning my back on her. “Glenna was the only one who could have sorted this out.”

Danika shakes her head, but I know she’s being na?ve if she thinks otherwise.

“I heard the whispers when I was running here. I know the whole city thinks I’ve gone rogue. Unless I can prove I’m innocent, they’ll kill me on sight.”

The truth stings, but not as much as how quickly they all turned on me.

Opal has just enough magic left for me to jump back onto the balcony and out of sight.

I make it out of the temple before I realise I’m now covered in the blood of both high priestesses and clutching a bloody murder weapon. I don’t have enough magic left to activate the sigil at the base of my spine which would let me blend into the shadows and the Moon is still absent.

The first person who sees me will run straight to the guard, or the covens. I’m not sure which is worse.

There’s no other option but to grab one of the white robes I have stashed around the town and change quickly. I pull the white, hooded cloak over my face before I step out onto the street, tucking Glenna’s athame into my boot, and hugging Opal to my chest as I go.

There’s nothing more I can do but keep my head down and pray.

“I don’t mean to question this great plan you have, but where the heck are we going?” Opal’s sarcastic tone makes me wince .

“I met a Seer. He told me to go and find this boat…”

“Which boat?”

“The Deadwood.”

“You can’t swim, have no money, no broom, no cauldron, and hate water more than I do,” she objects. “But, let’s put all that aside and pretend it’s a good idea, even if it’s just one suggested by a complete stranger. Why are we running away to prove our innocence?”

“And I suppose you have a better idea?” I demand, my voice rising.

A vampire couple walking past gives me a strange look, and I grimace, pulling my cloak closer around me before I have to turn my focus to dodging a family of shifters on their way home.

When we’re alone again I continue, voice quieter this time. “I can’t go back until I can prove—somehow—that it wasn’t me. The easiest way to do that is to find the people who killed Glenna and Felicity.”

“Yes, but why that boat?”

I ignore her. The truth is, I have no idea why. My mind keeps flashing back to when my eyes connected with the Seer’s white ones. Something in my gut is telling me he’s genuine.

I want to believe it’s the Goddess, helping me. Mother Moonlight only speaks to her High Priestesses, but I have to hope that perhaps she gives little nudges to lost, lonely shadows too.

It’s either that or a year of celibacy has made me a sucker for a pretty face.

The Goddess is just rising as I reach the docks, and I clutch the white cloak around us both as I realise what that light means.

I’ve lived to see my twenty-fifth winter solstice moon.

I’m now, officially, an immortal.

It doesn’t grant witches the same amount of strength, speed, or healing that most other supernaturals gain upon freezing into their immortality, but the coven still celebrates with a huge party. Danika and Ophelia should be spending the evening screwing the brains out of their new harems. Even I had envisioned picking a lover from amongst the revellers to break the dry spell my fostering forced upon me.

The moonlight tingles as it touches me. It’s a cold feeling, not unlike being sprayed with icy water. I know that’s the Mother’s magic settling into my cells, freezing them.

I have to physically shake off the sensation before I approach the fishermen tidying their nets on the side of the dock.

“I’m looking for the Deadwood ,” I venture.

They look at each other, then at me, and then back at each other. “Lady Solar, they’re up that’a way.” One of them jerks his head left. “But, if I migh' say, you don’ wanna be messin' with those pirates.”

Pirates. Just great.

Maybe this gut feeling is just indigestion.

But it’s too late to turn back now. I bow my head and mutter my thanks before scurrying off in the direction they indicated. The wood of the dock groans under my feet and I send a silent prayer to the Goddess to keep me from falling into the murky depths.

Opal’s right. I can’t swim. Just looking at the cold, dark, unforgiving water makes me shiver.

Goddess, what am I doing? Me, getting on a boat?

I don’t have long to second guess myself before I catch sight of the two men whose presence dominates the space at the end of the pier.

We were horizontal the last time I saw the Seer and now that he’s standing, I can appreciate how tall he really is. Witches are naturally shorter and more delicate looking than a lot of other immortals, but he and his twin absolutely dwarf me in height and bulk. I feel tiny in comparison and I’m not even close yet.

The wind shifts, blowing my hair forward, and they both stiffen, their eyes flicking turquoise and back again.

That kind of instinctive reaction means they’re shifters, and I swallow the momentary fear that they’re going to eat me.

Shifters—and everyone else, for that matter—usually worship the Sun Goddess. These twins have no reason to believe I’m not a stuffy Solar.

But what kind of shifters are they?

Most of the land-based shifters were wiped out by the wraiths, their need to roam either driving them insane as they fought their animals to stay within the city walls or betraying them as they crossed the salt and found themselves cornered. Only a few of the smaller species and the aquatic ones remain in Coveton, and most of those are rabbits, seals, and sharks who can stand the small streets and cold waters.

These men lack the creepiness of the sharks, and they’re definitely not rabbits.

“Lady Solar,” the twin who isn’t a Seer speaks, dropping into a half-bow. “Casimir and Noster at your service.”

“Nilsa,” I whisper, doubting myself more and more as I stare at the unforgiving waves. “My name is Nilsa.”

“We need to leave,” the Seer—Noster—interrupts, white eyes flashing as he looks straight past me. “They’ll be here soon, and the ship needs to be out of the bay before they figure out where you are.”

I grimace as I examine the small boat. It seems practically tiny in comparison to some of the waves I’ve seen. “Is this… safe?” I ask, picking up Opal once more.

“Of course,” Noster says, his calm, deep voice oddly reassuring. “Cas will help you in, don’t worry. ”

As if in answer, Casimir jumps down into the boat and holds his arms out for me. “Jump. I’ll catch you.”

My eyes dart between him and the black water. Inside me, everything clenches as my mind revolts and dredges up memories of the cold waves surrounding me, stealing my breath. It’s overwhelming, but Noster’s voice pulls me out of a panic spiral.

“Our beasts would never let you drown.”

Funnily enough, I believe him.

I clutch Opal tightly against my chest, take a deep breath and jump.

My foot hits cold water, the shock of it eliciting an embarrassing squeak from me before I can quell it. But Cas’s strong arms clamp around my waist before the sea can claim any more of me. His body presses against mine as he lifts me into the boat, warm, hard, and temptation-incarnate to a Lunar coming off a year of celibacy.

Opal obviously disapproves of the way she’s being squished because she leaps out of my arms and into the bottom of the boat, hissing distastefully at the small puddle of water she finds there. Her abandonment leaves me crushed against Cas’s chest and I feel him take a deep breath, as if memorising my scent. It’s hard not to notice the pole pressing into my stomach, and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a very tempting package.

A Solar witch wouldn’t dignify even the most impressive cock with a reaction, and I have no idea if these men will still be willing to help me if they learn I’m not a revered sister of life.

“Thank you,” I whisper, pushing away and promptly falling on my ass as the boat rocks beneath me.

Noster jumps in too, almost falling over before Cas grabs his wrist and pulls him back. The Seer’s grimace and Cas’s worried frown tells me much. They aren’t just brothers; Cas is trying to be Noster’s caregiver, and from the looks of things, Noster hates it.

My stomach rumbles embarrassingly loud and I groan as I realise I haven’t eaten since yesterday. With shifter hearing, there’s no way the twins have missed the noise, and they prove it a few seconds later when Cas speaks up.

“When we’re back at the ship, we’ll find you something to eat.” He takes a seat on the bench opposite as Noster settles in beside me. “Valorean—our captain—wants to meet you first, but I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Noster snorts, and I glance up at him questioningly.

“Who else is there in your crew?” I ask.

“Not many of us,” Noster mumbles. “Val’s a bond mage, the Deadwood ’s his bond ‘item’ so we don’t need a full crew to keep her running.”

“Besides him, there’s Kier, an ice fae, and Rysen, our resident vampire,” Cas finishes, picking up the two oars and starting to row us with powerful strokes that make his muscles bunch enticingly. “Don’t worry about them, though, you’ll rarely see them.”

Five pirates. That’s manageable. They think I’m a Solar witch, so if they turn out to be vicious murdering scoundrels, I have the element of surprise on my side. Our first meeting will be under the watchful moonlight. As long as my Goddess is in the sky, I should be able to handle anything they throw at me.

“This is a stupid idea,” Opal grumbles, “They could be anyone, for all you know. They could be working for— oooohhh.” Her tirade cuts off as Noster identifies her head by touch and scratches her behind the ears. “Good pirate… ah, left a bit.” Her purrs fill the silence, making me smile.

“You’re safe with us,” Noster reassures me and, looking into his big, white eyes, I want to believe him. “They’re good males, all with honour. And Valorean will relent and give you your own cabin after you shock him by accepting his terms.”

Casimir just shakes his head. “Terms?”

Noster smiles. “Wait and see.”

His predictions are beginning to freak me out, but Opal, the traitor, is happily purring away on his lap.

A particularly large wave splashes against the side of the boat, and I stiffen. Of course, Cas notices. It would be too easy if he didn’t.

“You don’t like the sea?”

I want to tell him to shove his curiosity up his ass, but that isn’t what a Solar would do.

“I don’t like the cold,” I lie.

They don’t need to know I can’t swim. It’ll leave me even more at their mercy than I already am. My excuse makes Noster move closer, his body radiating warmth that’s so tempting. I want to curl into him and never leave, but that’s a stupid idea, so I settle for just soaking it up from a distance.

“I’ll keep you warm,” he promises.