Chapter 10 What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?
Hazel rose from the ground and dusted herself off. Well, that was humiliating… and terrifying. Who was that creep? She shook her head and brushed herself off, noting a few bruises blooming from the fall.
“Haze? You okay?” a voice called from behind her. She’d know the voice anywhere. It was Zeke.
“Yep, totally fine.” So not fine. “Just hanging out on the ground in the middle of the road for the Hel of it.” Her hand found the locket and pulled it from beneath her shirt. She flipped it between her fingers.
Zeke eyed her warily, his eyes falling to her hand on the locket. “Okay, so… you’re not fine. Hazel, what happened here?” His dark eyes shone with genuine concern as he looked her over, in the fashion of a worried parent.
“Oh, this?” she asked. “Nothing.” It was definitely something. “Just some castle prick trying to run over a little kid because he can, I guess. No biggie.” Liar. No biggie? You almost lost your head.
“Hazel, don’t you know who that was?” he asked, looking over her shoulder in the direction the men had gone.
“The biggest, most pretentious asshole in all of Aeos?” She crossed her arms in defiance.
“Hazel, I’m serious.” He put his arm around her back and led her out of the road.
“So am I, Zeke. I seriously don’t care.”
He looked around as though worried someone would overhear, then grabbed her arm and pulled her close.
“Hey! Take it easy.” She yelped, pulling away.
“Look at me.” She did. “That was Slaide Elias.”
“Okay… and?” Hazel all but rolled her eyes.
“You really have no idea who that is, do you?” He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. Clearly this was more serious than she thought.
“Nope, and as I’ve already said, I don’t care to.” Hazel made to pull away from his grip again, but he held tight.
“Hazel.” It was a command. “He’s a witch hunter for the High King. In fact, he’s the witch hunter. The best of the best.” Fantastic. Hazel Grace, you have impeccable timing with men.
“Worst of the worst, you mean. He’s a brute.” Even if he had incredible amber eyes. Stop it. You literally just pissed off the kingdom’s most infamous witch hunter and you’re fawning over his gods-forsaken eyes? He would kill you in an instant if he found out. Get a grip.
Zeke sighed, realizing the conversation was going in circles. “Well, all I’m going to say is, it’s best not to get in his way. He’s not exactly forgiving. If rumors are to be believed, he’s done some questionable things for the High King. Things that usually stay off record.”
Well, consider her interest piqued for more reasons than one. “If it’s off record, then how do you know about it, exactly?”
“That’s why I was coming to find you, actually. I was promoted.” His look of concern faded into a half smile, although it was clear he was still worried about her encounter. His face was riddled with a combination of concerns and secrets.
“What? No way! So, you won’t be reporting to that dunce Carys anymore?” She asked hopefully. Finally, some good news.
“No, I won’t. And what’s even better is this promotion puts me in Collin’s garrison.
He’s my immediate superior now.” He was proud.
She could see it in his eyes. “So, yeah, that’s how I learned about some of the unsavory stuff going on.
It’s kind of unsettling, Hazel. I’m not sure I even want to know some things I’ve learned recently. If I could unlearn them, I would.”
Her eyes rolled all the way back. “Spill the details then, Zeke. You sound like a little girl bragging about some boy she kissed without actually telling me anything.”
“That’s the thing. I can’t. Not right now. There’s some dark stuff going on in the background, but I promise if any of it concerned you or your family, I would let you know. It’s just safer for you not to know right now.”
Well, that’s the least you could do. She huffed. “Can you at least give me a hint of what it’s about?”
He hesitated but then whispered, “Witches.”
She leveled him with a bombastic side eye and almost scoffed, momentarily forgetting Zeke wasn’t aware of Agnes’s… talents. Of course he would find the topic groundbreaking.
“I made the same face when I was told. But apparently there are some folks in the Outskirts practicing magic again. Either they’re getting stronger, or the wards are weakening. And both are bad news for Aeos.”
“Bad news for Magnus, you mean,” Hazel quipped.
“Hazel.” He shushed her. “You do not know how serious this is.”
“No, I don’t. How can I when you’re keeping it a secret?”
“Trust me, please. It’s better you don’t know. Just trust me.”
“I do. You should know that by now. But witches? Really?” She thought about Agnes and what this might mean for her.
Agnes was, after all, a green witch. She was harmless, as far as Hazel was aware, her practice primarily aiding her around her home and in the garden.
The most extensive magic Hazel had ever seen her use was the warding around her land, the one thing keeping her safe from outsiders.
Zeke knew about Agnes, but he didn’t know about Agnes.
Not in the ways that mattered. And despite trusting Zeke, she knew she could never really trust him with Agnes’s secrets, especially not while he belonged to the King’s army.
As long as he took part in his duty as a man of fighting age, he was subject to her suspicions.
If nothing else, he could be whipped or beaten for the information.
And then what? No, it was better this way.
An awkward silence spread between them.
“Zeke?” Something crossed her mind. Perhaps it didn’t matter, but she was curious. His alliances might be evolving the more involved he became with the High King’s militia.
“Yes?”
“You have to report suspected witches, anyone suspected of practicing magic, worshiping the old gods, and whatnot, right?”
He raised an eyebrow. “I mean, technically, yes. I guess I do. Why?”
“No reason.” Definitely not because of some weird energy that exploded out of my hands in a fight against a monster from beyond the Border. Nope.
“Seriously?” He raised a brow in question.
Yeah, that was probably a stupid thing to say. Now, salvage this, Hazel, because telling him is out of the question.
“Not so fun when the tables are turned, is it? Well, you’re going to think I’m a stupid twit, but I was wondering…” she trailed off. Am I really about to ask this? What if he figures me out? She took a deep breath. “What if I was a witch? Would you turn me in?” That was so not smooth.
He rolled his eyes. “You’re not a witch. So, it’s a ridiculous thing to even ask me.” Erm… that was not an answer. Nice side-step, Zeke. She swallowed hard, considering her next words.
“And if I was?” she pressed, curious now that his answer was uncertain.
“We’d find a way out.” We? What ‘we’? He made it seem so simple. As though it wasn’t an act of treason to help a witch.
“You wouldn’t report me?” The question was pointless, because of course he wouldn’t report her. But hearing him say it aloud without any coercion on her part, she might be okay after all.
“How could I? If something happened to you because I turned you in, you’d surely haunt me from the Otherrealm.” She punched him in the shoulder. “Ow! Hey, you asked the ridiculous question, not me.”
She groaned obnoxiously. “Ezekiel Bertram, you take your job too seriously. You’re not special, you know.
Every boy who comes of age gets conscripted to His Majesty’s militia.
If anything, it’s his pretty little spin on slavery.
He puts you in a fancy uniform, gives you purpose.
” She shook her head. “Don’t lose sight of what’s really important. ”
Hurt flashed across his face.
Okay, that might have been a little harsh. “What I mean is, don’t let them take advantage of you. You’re a good person.” She put a gentle hand on his arm. “I just don’t want to see one of the few nice people left in this kingdom be destroyed by the sadistic assholes who run it.”
“I know. I get it.” He withdrew from her touch. Then, clearing his throat, he said, “Say, not to change this gods-awful subject, but did you hear about the Tourney?”
“Prince Tristan’s birthday party, you mean?
Of course I did. It’s what got me into this mess.
I came to the market to grab some supplies for the tavern kitchen while Pa…
” She faded off there, unsure how much she should share.
Zeke was the only trustworthy person she could confide in.
Running her hand through her hair, she continued, “Pa went off to see if he could track down Jonas.”
Zeke, to his credit, didn’t look surprised.
“He said it didn’t matter what people thought, but that the right thing to do was to find him.” She sighed. “He’s all I have, and he works too hard to have to go through all this trouble.”
“If anyone will find him, it’s your father. I just hope…” He didn’t meet her eyes.
“Hope what? What are you not telling me?” She grabbed his arm so that he had to face her.
“Right now, it’s not important. The only thing I can say is that it concerns the Border wards. My advice is to make sure you keep things locked up at night.”
Weird. “Thanks? I guess.” Does this have to do with the Striga? Gods, how she wished she could ask. But there were too many questions she didn’t want to answer.
He cleared his throat as if to shift the subject yet again. “So, speaking of Connall, who’d he hire in your place while you come check out the Tourney?”