Chapter 28
“What did you do?”
She stared at the rock in his hand until the glow started to fade. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Maybe your charm is broken.”
Anger flickered in his eyes. “It’s a relic.”
She snorted and turned away. He didn’t let her get far, maybe ten paces. Then his hand locked around her arm, and he swung her around.
She didn’t know what to tell him. That his friend was dead? He’d only want to know how she knew. And there was nothing he could do about it right now anyway. Edar was already gone.
“I saw the blood on those leaves,” he said in a low voice. “You touched it—licked it—I don’t know exactly what you did, but you used that blood to cast a spell. What was it?”
“It wasn’t a spell.”
She jerked out of his hold, backed away from him, and then forced herself to stop. No. She wasn’t running away. She hadn’t done anything wrong.
He glared at her, his hands flexing at his sides. “Do not lie to me.”
“I’m not lying.”
But she was, wasn’t she? She’d been lying to him the whole time, hiding the things she could do. And what would he do now that he knew? She thought that half the reason she’d licked the blood was just to find out.
He advanced a step, stopped when she stiffened.
“I was willing to believe that you had a talent for woodcraft, that you were more familiar with the woods than you let on, but I can’t continue to ignore it.
You need to tell me how you’re navigating us around every black stretch of rot in this cursed woods without so much as a charm.
Through areas you’ve admitted you’ve never been.
I’ve worked with trained woodsmen my entire career who couldn’t have done what you have. ”
Her mouth went dry. “You should be thanking me then, for doing such a good job.”
“How did you find the trail?”
“Does it matter? I found it. Isn’t that the important thing? The trail is real. We can just follow it and—”
“You cast a blood spell!”
She’d already denied it. She wasn’t going to waste her breath doing so again.
“Have you forgotten what I am?”
“I couldn’t forget that if I tried.”
And she had tried. She’d tried so hard, she’d almost succeeded.
“I’m oath bound to report you, you know that, don’t you? That wasn’t you using a stupid charm or a potion. That was blood magic. Do you have any idea how reckless that was?”
“I know what I’m doing.”
“You have no fucking clue.” He cursed. “Do you know what the law requires of me?”
She lifted her chin. “Try to brand me. I dare you.”
“That’s not what— Fuck.” He ran a hand through his hair. “How could you do something so stupid?”
She flinched, at both the words and at the way he was looking at her, like he’d never seen her before in his life.
Like she was a witch.
“It’s just a simple tracking trick,” she told him, trying to make him understand. “It’s not really a spell. I didn’t use any incantations or glyphs or powders or candles. I only did it to help you find your men. To help you.”
“This is the Black Woods. You can’t work blood magic out here. That’s the kind of thing that will get you killed.”
She swept out her hands. “We’re both still standing here. I knew it was a risk, but I thought it was worth it.”
“It’s not worth your fucking life. I can’t go back to your mother and tell her you didn’t make it out. I won’t do that.”
“I accepted the risk when I took the job. My mother believes God called me to do it. She won’t blame you. You don’t have to worry about me. I’m not your responsibility. I’m not one of your men. I’m not your kinswoman. I’m not your lover. Not really. I’m nothing to you.”
For some reason that only pissed him off more. “You are not nothing.”
She fell silent for a moment.
“Just forget you saw it,” she said finally. “I can take you to your men. They’re so close. I can feel it.”
“You can feel it?” he scoffed. “Because of the blood spell? You can’t trust in your feelings out here. This is how women are snared by demons—by thinking they have control when they don’t.”
“I am in control. Me. Not a witch. Not a demon. We follow this trail, find your patrol, and kill the witch. Then you can leave and you can forget this ever happened.”
“You think we should follow the blood spell deeper into the woods?”
“I think we should follow the trail I found for you. What I did… It’s not even a spell. It’s just something I can do like…”
She bit her lip, catching the words. But Casrian didn’t miss that. Of course he didn’t. He took a step closer, looming over her. Catching her jaw, he forced her face up. “Like what?”
She tried to jerk away, but his fingers tightened, holding her in place.
He already thought she was a witch. He might as well know the whole truth if he was going to brand her anyway.
“Like listening to the woods,” she told him, feeling like she was baring her neck to his blade.
“That’s how we’ve gotten so far without getting trapped in the rot.
Not all of the trees are infected. Some of them are still healthy.
They’re still safe to talk to. They want the witch gone as much as we do. ”
Casrian stared at her for a moment and then swept his gaze around the woods like the trees might actually raise their woody clubs and come after them. When his gaze settled on her again, he said softly, “When did you cast such a spell?”
“It’s not a spell! It doesn’t even trigger the witchstone.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s something I’ve always been able to do.
My mother says to block it out. To ignore it.
To pray for release. But it’s still there, and it’s not evil.
I don’t care what you say. I’m not evil.
It has nothing to do with demons. This is just something I’ve been able to do since I was a toddler.
Was I a witch then? Are you going to start killing babies too? ”
He paled. “You must be nearly full-blooded fae.”
“I’m not. You’ve met my mother. I’m just me. The same as I’ve always been. I haven’t hurt anyone.”
An image came to her of the dead man, but she pushed it ruthlessly aside. There’d been no witchcraft involved in his death. Not from her.
His expression hardened. “Have you bewitched me?”
Oh, that hurt. Tears sprang to her eyes at the sting of it, but she blinked them back. “How can you ask that?”
“It would explain everything.”
“What are you talking about?”
But there was a strange look in his eyes, bemused and tormented all at once.
His thumb stroked the side of her neck. “I should be focused on finding my men and killing the witch, but all I can think about is you—the silk of your skin and the scent of your cunt, the look on your face as you come apart. It would be easier to believe you were putting those thoughts in my head.”
“Fuck you, Casrian.”
He breathed a laugh. “If I fuck you, does it release me from your spell?”
“There’s no spell.”
His hands moved up her neck to cradle her face. He tipped her head back. “Are you sure about that?” He searched her face, eyes dark with hunger. “You feel it too. I know you do.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but the only sound she made was a strangled moan as he bent his head to kiss her.
His fingers hooked under her jaw, his thumb pressed against her cheek, holding her in place while his mouth devoured her.
His tongue pushed between her lips, sending searing heat spiraling through her.
He bit her lower lip, soothed it with his tongue, and then licked inside her again, tasting, exploring.
Catching her up in his arms, he pushed her back until she hit the smooth trunk of an old tree.
When she caught her breath, she whispered, “Casrian…”
“It feels like a spell, doesn’t it?”
His knee slid between her thighs. One hand settled on her hip, the other curved lightly around her throat.
His thumb pressed against her chin, forcing her gaze to meet his.
He leaned forward, letting her feel the weight of his body, his hard cock against her belly.
“It was so hard to make myself stop last night with you slick and hot, spread open and begging for my cock. And then all day today, watching you and wondering if I’d made the right decision. Knowing I made a mistake.”
She bit her lip and his attention fixed briefly on her mouth before lifting.
“I should have fucked you then. Days ago. Every chance I had. Maybe whatever this is eating at me would be sated by now and I could think this through with a clear head.”
“I didn’t even want you days ago.”
“You did.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t want you now.”
“You do.”
She swallowed, her throat moving against his palm, but she didn’t argue the point. She couldn’t. They both knew it was the truth.
“I may not understand what the fuck you’re talking about with the trees, but that is not a natural ability.” His fingers flexed slightly and relaxed. “I saw you lick the blood. Incantations or not, that was a spell you cast. I should brand you. I should put you in irons.”
“You won’t do that.”
He gave a soft, bitter laugh. “I know you’re guilty, but I’d rather cut off my own arm than see you condemned. What is that if not witchcraft?”
His expression was tortured, like he was admitting to the foulest blasphemy. She ached for him, but she needed him to understand.
“I’m not a witch.”
“It would almost be easier if you were.” He leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers. “What the fuck am I supposed to do with you?”
She should tell him to let her go, but she couldn’t make herself form the words.
Not when she was riding his thigh and his lips were so close to hers.
She must have shifted a little. Just enough and in the right direction to make his eyes widen.
He huffed out a soft breath and then pressed harder against her.
“You do still want this, don’t you?” Casrian pulled back just enough to capture her gaze again. “Tell me I’m right.”