Bane of the Wild Hunt (Heart of the Tithriall #2)

19. THE WITCH CAPTIVATES YOU

Chapter nineteen

THE WITCH CAPTIVATES YOU

Orion

I t did not take Riordan long to get the coordinates for the village that had been attacked. We flew hard, Riordan, Iris, and I going ahead of Theo who went to Ergastiri to recruit some backup and retrieve the Winter fey survivor. The young male, a warrior among the Oighear Pixies, had reportedly collapsed upon reaching the closest outpost to his ravaged people. Not all fey could travel through the Tithriall the way that insufferable dryad could. The flight had taken the young warrior all night with his delicate dragonfly wings, but it only took us a couple of hours to reach the ice pixie village.

We saw dark plumes of smoke rising into the midday sky in the distance which guided us to a lake frozen solid in Winter’s thrall. The wet stench of rotting leaves, such a distinctive smell of death among Unseelie fey, was heavy in the air even before we landed on the ice.

The Oighear village was comprised of domed ice huts all built at the edge of the lake beneath the overhanging branches of giant pines. Many of the huts had been melted when the Fuath set fire to all the sleds that the Oighear used to move across the lake between ice fishing holes. Most of the sleds were bigger than the huts and had to be pulled by teams of gaotha: the large wolven creatures with blueish-white fur that barked when we landed.

The Oighear Pixies were nomadic, living in small tribes of only sixty to a hundred individuals, so I’d known before we arrived that the attack would be devastating. Such an assault might even wipe out the tribe. But my heart still plummeted into my stomach when I saw only a handful of adults were left. They did not even rise from the grieving circle they had formed when we shifted into our two-legged forms to approach them.

I shivered in the terrible cold as soon as my fur and feathers had receded. A biting wind howled across the iced lake and assaulted my bare biceps. Iris was the only one who seemed to have thought to bring a cloak.

Riordan did not appear to feel the cold as he strode across the ice to where the Oighear and their gaotha knelt, crying and wailing over the leaves and ashes.

A tragedy. One that could have been easily avoided if so many of the watchtowers that Riordan had erected in each of the Seasonal Quadrants had not been abandoned. There had been no one near enough to help and no one to raise the alarm in the capitol in time.

Nikos was personally responsible for this.

“Your Majesty,” said one of the Oighear in complete shock when she finally raised her head.

The wings of her companions all fluttered in surprise as they raised their heads. Their short, thick hair and leathery skin were a similar bluish hue to the frozen lake. They dressed in heavy furs and leather armour despite the fact that Winter fey did not feel the cold.

I stayed back, but Riordan went to kneel with them, seamlessly joining their circle. He even bowed his head and kissed the side of his first knuckle in the traditional expression of grief among Oighear tribes. Something he had learned during the first wars with the Fuath.

“Your warrior reached us safely and will return to you soon along with the rest of our reinforcements,” he said.

“The watchtower was abandoned,” whispered one fey, and Riordan inclined his head, shouldering the burden of the implied accusation without complaint.

“A decision that should never have been made and that will be rectified immediately,” he assured them.

“We know it was not your decision,” interceded one of the older females, someone who might have known my king during the first wars. “We remember how you drove the Fuath from these lands long ago,” she confirmed.

“He only returned home yesterday,” I added to one of the younger males who still looked angry at my bonded. Honestly, I didn’t care that their anger with our people was completely justified. This was not Riordan’s fault.

“We are here to provide what help we can,” the king told them calmly.

“You are too late!” burst the younger male, sending a flurry of snow rushing from his wings as they rippled with glistening waves of his magic.

I stepped forward, but Riordan shot me a forbidding glare before the young fey shot to his feet and rushed away from the circle, disappearing into the dark forest.

“I apologize—” began the elderly female.

“You will do no such thing,” Riordan interrupted her. “He is right to be angry. I was gone too long.”

After Helena tried to stop Riordan, I had questioned the wisdom of helping these fey pick up whatever shattered pieces of their lives that could be salvaged. Rather than attend Riordan’s first meeting with all the oligarchs of the city-states. A meeting which I was secretly hoping might finally change Riordan’s mind about mating with the witch, even though I knew the likelihood was small.

But it did not take me long to understand the immense value in Riordan’s presence. He took the time to talk to them and understand all the changes that had been made since he was cursed. He wanted to know how their lives had been impacted by his absence.

I finally caught up to him after a few hours of helping the survivors sort through the rubble of their village. Reinforcements arrived, returning the male who had come to warn us and bringing supplies. Then Riordan sent our scouts hunting across the lake, tracking down the Fuath to determine where their lair might be. Discussions were had on what the survivors would do next, which tribe they would seek to join. Riordan sent an emissary ahead to announce their imminent arrival and their circumstances so their people would be ready to receive them.

There was not much else we could do.

My king stood alone watching the handful of survivors set off into the storm that was gathering. They had not allowed us to help them travel.

“This is an enemy I defeated so soundly and so long ago that they should never have been able to resurface. Now they are back because of the incompetence of those who want to tear down everything I built,” he said when I reached his side.

“None of this was your fault. It was the fault of the blood witch who killed your brother and cursed you.”

Riordan stiffened slightly, and I guessed he must know exactly what I was insinuating about witches.

“Jade was a monster to be sure. But this tragedy is the result of greed and bigotry. Nothing more,” he insisted. “Our people failed these fey as their trusted defenders.”

I did not disagree with him, but his response irritated me all the same.

“Riordan, just tell me what it is,” I pleaded with him when I could contain the agitation no longer. “What is it about this witch that captivates you so unconditionally?”

Riordan tensed, his wings drawing defensively closer to his back, but he remained quiet for some time. I could not see his face, but I could feel his frustration with me seeping down the bond.

“I have not told you how I met her,” he recalled.

No, he had not, because I had been rather careful not to encourage him to share about her. But it occurred to me now that if I wanted to drive a wedge between them then I would need to learn.

“Tell me,” I invited him reluctantly, doing my best to swallow the bitterness.

Riordan turned from the retreating fey and checked to ensure that our warriors were still engrossed in preparing to return home. Then he faced me, leaning against the tree behind him and lifting his head in a way that exposed the tall column of his throat. For a moment, I was distracted by the thought of licking him. Of dragging my tongue up his neck and losing myself in the scent that seemed to live under my skin.

“I had been in Uile Breithà for so long, and Jade and her vampire lackeys had been hunting me since I returned to their world. I had to move constantly or they would inevitably catch up to me. She must have been able to track me or otherwise sense my magic,” he mused.

“Probably it is a similar signature to all the magic she took from Adonis,” I pointed out gently, and he nodded.

“One morning, I got tangled in a fishing net left out in the water while trying to hunt. I am still unsure if it was from a careless human or if the vampires put it there to trap me. But I was unable to get free once I hit the water and the netting got stuck in my wings. I thought I would drown. It took every bit of my strength to get to the shore, but I finally managed,” he told me.

I shuddered. Griffins were not fond of water, especially in our animal forms, and the thought of him alone and afraid made a fresh burst of guilt bloom in my chest.

“Even after I reached the bank, I was sure this was the end for me. I still could not get free of the net, Jade would soon catch up, and then I would be dead,” he said with a hint of the resignation he must have felt on that bank. “Then I saw her watching me. Amira,” Riordan clarified, breathing that name with enough reverence to make me want to recoil. “She had a knife in her hand, and I initially feared that she would try to kill me. Even if she was not a minion of Jade, I knew ordinary witches can still make great use of griffin feathers. But I had seen enough violent intentions reflected in the eyes of strangers to know it was not in hers. She just… kept reassuring me of her desire to free me and begged me not to kill her,” he recalled with a fond smile. “I was desperate enough to be free that I let her get near enough to prove herself, and she released me. I flew away, but I was intrigued with her. You may recall that I went to see the enuksha after I was cursed, and she said that I needed to remain in Uile Breithà. She told me that it would be a witch there who helped me break—”

“And you forgot that it was a witch who cursed you to begin with? I do remember you going to see the enuksha ! And I also remember you swearing that you would find another way rather than trust a witch,” I reminded him.

Riordan tilted his head forward to level his golden eyes on me with a solemn frown.

“It was twenty years for you, Orion, but it has been two hundred years for me,” Riordan reminded me firmly. “My anger and rage, all my pride, was crushed long ago beneath the impossible weight of despair and desperation. Had my animal instincts allowed it…”

He stopped and released a shaky breath as he looked away from me in shame.

“What, Riordan?” I demanded, even though I was sure I knew what he meant to say.

“I would have taken my own life so my magic could transfer to Rhea. So she could care for our kingdom.”

I was so horrified by his unexpected admission that I couldn’t bring myself to speak. Not even to remind him of all the reasons why his sister was not a good option for our queen and why he was the only choice for our ruler. Much less tell him that taking his life would have been a death sentence for me too because I simply refused to live in this world without him.

“All I wanted was to get home, and I wanted it so bad that it was worth the risk that she was not what I hoped. She would either free me or kill me, and I was content with either outcome by then. So I stayed near to observe her and allowed her to get close to see what she wanted.”

“And what did she want?” I asked him suspiciously, finally finding my voice.

“She is a… photographer,” he said, the foreign word sounding rather blunt and strange on his tongue. “It is a person who makes portraits with a tool called a camera. They can capture any moment instantly and perfectly with this device. Honestly, I cannot explain it. But she would spend hours setting up scenes for it and make these tiny portraits of birds and other animals. She loved it and her passion is a contagious thing,” he reassured me with another sweet smile. “She was desperate to make me the subject of these portraits and… I was so alone. She was the only other creature in that world who genuinely just wanted to be close to me. And once she was, once she had come to know me not as a subject of interest but a friend, she stopped taking my portrait. All she wanted then was my company, and I think… She may be the only person I have ever known, besides you, who has found such a simple joy in my presence. She does not want or need anything more from me. Just… me ,” he admitted.

“Riordan—” I began to console him automatically.

“You are above trying to coddle me, Orion, so do not,” he forbade me. “I have always known that I am little more than a tool for the kingdom. Much as I might have always hated it, I have never turned from that duty,” he insisted.

“But you couldn’t even communicate with her, so how could you feel so connected?” I demanded. As connected as he felt with me , evidently, which only increased my sense of displacement and jealousy.

“Words are not the only way to communicate. She was able to use hers, and I used my body the way all griffins do when they are unbonded,” he pointed out.

I turned my head away from him so he could not see my frustration when I could not think of a response.

“The vampires that followed Jade were a gang called the Dominus,” he continued. “To cross them would be like crossing the Feallfola,” Riordan told me, referring to a tribe of ogres that were notoriously cruel and vindictive. And I understood right away what he meant.

“A death sentence,” I acknowledged with a nod.

“One of them had been watching me and knew Amira could get close. He ordered her to help him catch me or face the consequences,” Riordan revealed.

If these Dominus vampires were like the Feallfola, then I knew the consequences of her refusal would have meant imprisonment and torture and lifelong slavery.

“She killed him,” Riordan advised me quite proudly. “Rather than hand me over, she risked her own safety and freedom to protect me. And that was when I knew for sure that she was who I had been waiting for. I made a vow to myself that I would protect her until she could work out how to break my curse.”

I did not speak. I did not want to acknowledge it, but I could not help feeling just a hint of grudging appreciation for the witch after his disclosures. She had saved his life, not just the one time but several times, and there was no denying that in doing so, she had also saved mine.

“The more time I spent with her after that, the more of my heart she began to take. I know you think she is weak and naive because she is not a griffin, but she is so powerful in her own way. You think she is untrustworthy because she is a witch, but she has proven kind and brave and selfless,” he praised the witch until my jaw began to ache from clenching my teeth so hard.

It did not matter how much I appreciated what the witch had done. I hated to hear him speak well of anyone . He had been mine and mine alone for so long.

“Even if all of that is true, she still does not know our ways well enough to be the consort of a king.”

“She can learn those things, but her kindness, bravery, and selflessness are not qualities that could be taught,” Riordan insisted calmly. “And besides, I am not choosing her merely as a king, but also as a man who is enraptured wholly by her,” Riordan said, voice deepening in earnest.

“Which does not seem to have been enough for her to choose you back!” I snapped, succumbing to the anguish when his words twisted the dagger deeper in my heart. “You will lose your kingdom over her before you can even fully take it. Is she really worth all that, Riordan?”

The moment the words were out of my mouth, I knew that I had gone too far, but there was no taking it back. Not with all this emotion festering so uncontrollably.

Riordan looked as if I had struck him. The stunned silence in which he stared at me as if I were someone he did not know weighed on me heavily.

“I… should not have—”

“You always professed to care for me. To want what was best for me before anyone else. It is why I chose you to be my guardian so that I may be the guardian for so many others,” he advised me.

“I do care—” I hissed.

“You do not ,” he asserted furiously, his voice growing louder in his disappointment, and then he turned as if he would walk away.

My heart plunged into my stomach. It had been many decades of companionship since he walked away during a disagreement, but thankfully, he stopped. He hesitated as he seemed to reflect on our conversation a moment before turning to look at me again as if in confusion.

“I know I am not above reproach. I do not presume to know everything. Nor do I resent the necessity of keeping my mind open in the event that I am proven wrong. But I do trust myself to know what is good for me. I trusted my choice of you, and in spite of your evident determination to break my heart now, I trust it still. So tell me the truth, Orion. Why do you hate her?” he demanded.

“I do not mean to hurt you,” I murmured, balking in the face of such unapologetic denunciation.

“Yet you persist, so tell me why,” he commanded.

I debated whether to take advantage of his profession of trust and try to make him understand that I truly had his best interest at heart. Or to obey the sinking feeling in my gut that warned me not to abuse his trust.

I looked at him, my precious friend whom I had loved so fiercely in complete silence for so long. I tried my best to conceptualize the future he wanted in which I would stand by and watch him love someone else. A future in which I would have to watch him give all of himself to someone else. I tried desperately to reconcile my anguish in such a fate with their happiness and simply could not do it. My chest felt like it was collapsing, and I couldn’t draw breath. I felt sick with heartache at the thought of a world in which I was not his and he was not mine.

Helena had tried to warn me about this when I agreed to become Riordan’s skiá , but I had been driven by this same jealous and possessive love for him. I could not allow anyone else to have him then, and I just could not bear the thought of sharing him with anyone now.

“If you trust me, then believe me. Taking a witch is the wrong choice for your mate.”

I did not think it was possible, but he somehow looked even more angry with me. Offended.

“You have never treated me like a fool before, Orion,” he growled in utter disbelief. “Have you lost faith in me? Has my absence made you question me?”

“Absolutely not!” I hissed.

“Then tell me the truth of things. And do not claim to have some wisdom on the matter after careful judgement. You have been against me in this from before you had even set eyes on her. In fact,” he added in realization, “you have been adamantly set against the concept of my mate from the beginning. You declined interest in helping me choose one and now you refuse her without even the opportunity to get to know her. And without so much as a word on the truth of your aversion to her,” he accused me more angrily than I had ever seen him with me before.

I opened my mouth to say something, but I could not muster the words. I was losing him. I could feel it.

He turned when I did not respond, and this time he did not stop or look back, and all I could do was watch him stalk furiously away from me. It felt like my heart was breaking, tearing out of my chest to go with him, and I did not know how to stop it. I did not know how to swallow this bitter hatred and jealousy before it cost me my friend. Cost me my skiá and my heart. Cost me everything .