Chapter 34
Casrian had always liked Emrys. He’d come from a shipping family.
Sailors all the way back as far as anyone could remember, but Emrys had turned his back on the sea.
He was a little rough around the edges compared to most who attended the Academy, but he was a good witch hunter, a thorough investigator, a smart strategist, and a deadly fighter. He was a good man to have at your back.
Emrys had only been a few years behind him at the Academy, but he’d already built a strong reputation for himself and his patrol.
Casrian had sponsored him before the council for his appointment to captain.
The respect between them was strong and mutual, but at the moment, he was having trouble resisting the urge to strangle the man.
“What do you mean you brought Rowan back here with you? I sent her to escort Sol out of the fucking woods.”
Emrys crossed his arms over his chest. “We found her dragging an unconscious witch hunter through the rot with a familiar nearby.”
“She was helping him,” Casrian said. “She’s the reason Sol was still alive in the first place.”
“That’s not what it looked like,” Emrys said evenly. “I couldn’t take the chance that she was a witch, and I had no time to secure her elsewhere. She herself stressed the urgency of the situation. What happened here?”
A shitty day is what had happened. Running a hand through his hair, Casrian gave him the quick version of events.
“The terrain is difficult from this direction. We should have backtracked to the river. We ran into several familiars along the way. Lost another horse. It took hours before we hit upon one of the old roads and that was choked with brambles. It’s been nothing but one thing after another.”
“Did you find the witch?” Emrys asked. “We heard she was cornered.”
Casrian shook his head in disgust. “It was an illusion. A cast voice and a shadow spell. We lost her. She’s probably retreated to the fort. That thing’s no longer human. It’s a nested demon. The roots are deep. It’s strong. It won’t leave this place easily.”
Before they could discuss it further, the soldier Emrys had sent to fetch Rowan returned alongside a battered young private who needed a medic to take a look at the gash in his thigh.
Emrys’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Where’s the witch?”
“She’s not a witch,” Casrian bit off, looking past the men for Rowan.
She had to be terrified, being accused of witchcraft after everything her mother went through. After the things he’d said to her.
She wasn’t there.
He turned to the young private. Shaking with pain, he still drew himself up to deliver his report to Emrys.
“We were attacked by a familiar,” he said. “My horse was cut from beneath me. Hers bolted.”
“Where is she now?” Casrian demanded sharply.
The young man glanced his way and shook his head helplessly. “I don’t know, sir. She ran away from the river, straight into the woods. She was heading east last I saw her.”
“Away from the fort at least,” Emrys muttered.
She was alone in the woods after what sounded like a hellish day. Alone. In a dark woods. With a witch on the loose.
“We’ll send Kenet to check her trail,” Daris said reassuringly. “He’s the best tracker in the service. Once we kill the witch, we’ll find Rowan. She’s smart and resourceful. You brought her here because she knows the woods.”
That had been a mistake. He never should have taken her anywhere near this place.
“She won’t get far,” the private said helpfully. “Not with the irons.”
Daris closed his eyes, and Casrian turned to face Emrys.
“You put her in irons.”
Emrys dismissed the private, who took one look at his face and scurried away. “She’s in irons because she was a suspected witch. You would have done the same damned thing if you hadn’t lost your mind. What is going on here?”
He looked from Casrian to Daris.
Daris shook his head and retreated. “I’ll find Kenet.”
Emrys stared at him, still waiting for an answer.
Casrian thought he might be sick. “How much did she tell you?”
Emrys shook his head. “Not much. I didn’t have time for a full interrogation.”
Interrogation… “Did you hurt her?”
Emrys raised an eyebrow. “I questioned her. I’ve no taste for torture. What the fuck is going on, Cas? Who is this woman to you and why the hell did you bring her out here?”
He drew in a deep breath, not wanting to have this conversation, but honor bound to disclose it.
“My patrol was ambushed by a familiar. It was stupid. We thought we were clear of the corruption. I caught a slash across my ribs. The patrol tracked down the thing and killed it, but when they turned back for me, the path was gone.”
Emrys understood what it was like to hunt a witch, especially in the woods. Paths changed. Entire patrols were lost. People became disoriented. Hunters sometimes attacked each other thinking they were enemies.
Emrys nodded.
“She found me half dead in the woods and brought me to her home. She patched me up and nursed me through a fever. She was the one who made the arrangements to get word to Sulen requesting reinforcements. She helped me locate my men. She saved Sol’s life, and she told us how to find this nest.”
“A remarkable woman,” Emrys said, with only a trace of his usual sarcasm. “She seemed…very spirited.”
Casrian shot him an annoyed glare, certain that he didn’t want to know what prompted that observation.
Emrys held up a hand. “We didn’t meet under ideal circumstances. She doesn’t like me much, but I trust your opinion of her.”
“I crossed a line.”
Understanding lit in Emrys’s eyes. He was silent for a long moment and then blew out a breath. “You’re the last person I expected to hear that from. I mean… I don’t even know what to do with it. I’m not a confessor, Cas.”
“I’m not looking for absolution,” he said. “We have a history beyond this mission. I don’t want to go into it right now, but she is important to me. I need an objective mind, because I cannot be objective where she is concerned. It’s why I sent her away.”
“I see.” Emrys leaned back against a tree and stared down at the ground. “It’s dangerous for you to stay then.”
“I can’t leave. Not until I know she’s safe.”
Emrys’s gaze flicked up. “The witch will use her against you. You know that. This affects all of us.”
“That’s why I’m telling you.”
He studied Casrian’s face. “If Kenet doesn’t find her, what will you do?”
What he wanted to do was chase her down. Drag her away to that cave and stand guard over her like a dragon hoarding its treasure, but that wouldn’t do any good even if Rowan would allow it. The true threat was right here at the center of the nest.
If they killed the witch, they sealed off the demon’s connection to this place and the threat would be gone. Rowan would be safe. Everyone would be safe.
“I’m going to kill the witch.”
Casrian shoveled food in his mouth though he couldn’t have said what it was.
He checked on his men. He prayed. He spoke again to Emrys about weapons stores and missing horses.
He tried not to think about the fact that Rowan was out there somewhere in the dark—alone, in irons—and that he was the one who’d brought her here.
He tried not to remember the way she’d looked at him when he kissed her goodbye, the chaste fucking kiss to her forehead, a blessing that hadn’t been able to cover the curse he’d already placed on her life.
He tried not to think about the way she kept giving more and more of herself to help everyone around her, while not even considering what kind of life she wanted for herself.
The way she stubbornly insisted on holding up her end of their bargain long past the point when anyone else would have run away screaming.
The way she challenged him. Challenged his understanding of the whole fucking world.
The way she wouldn’t let him retreat into the shell of a man he’d become, the perfect soldier, the coldly competent killer that couldn’t let himself feel too much lest it swallow him whole.
She made him feel… Fuck. She made him feel so many things.
He tried not to think about the way she’d felt beneath him when he slid that first finger into her tight, slick warmth, or the way her thighs had fallen open in such complete surrender, firelight painting her pale skin in gold and shadow.
He tried not to think about the way she’d felt in his arms, the soft curve of her breasts against his chest, how perfectly she’d sheathed his cock, the way her eyes flashed when she came like she’d caught a glimpse of heaven.
He’d been her first and he’d taken her against a tree. He’d—
“Captain,” Kenet called out, and he stopped walking, turned to find the big man approaching him at a run.
Emrys joined them. Kenet paused to catch his breath. Casrian resisted the urge to shake the report out of him.
“She was thrown,” Kenet said. “It was dark, but I found the spot. The horse kept going. I tracked him for a bit but I think he’s long gone.”
“Where is she? Is she hurt?”
Even in the dim light of the fire, he could see Kenet’s skin pale. “There was blood, but she wasn’t there. The spot…”
His stomach churned. “What about the spot?”
“I think the witch took her. There was some moss on the ground. Or there had been. Some blood. Not a lot. But I found tracks from a familiar, leading back into the woods. There was a grate there and I think a tunnel, though I didn’t go in.
It likely leads up to the fort. It had the feel of the place to it. ”
Casrian could only stare as he turned the news around in his head, trying to reject the conclusion Kenet had come to. Emrys laid a hand on his shoulder in sympathy.
“Captain?” Kenet asked.
He cleared his throat. “You did well, Kenet. Get some rest. We raid at first light. Be ready.”
Kenet nodded and disappeared back into the camp. He’d find a fire and a place to sleep. It’s what Casrian should do now.
“Why didn’t it kill her?” Emrys asked, staring thoughtfully into the dark. “If it had been any of the men, Kenet would have found a body. You know how bloodthirsty familiars are. Witches rarely have much control over them.”
They were like rabid, feral cats, lingering around the witch and killing at will. She would send them out to hunt, but they weren’t tame pets. They didn’t collect things.
“I don’t know.”
Emrys’s brows drew together in concern. “Maybe you should stay back tomorrow. Guard the wounded. We don’t know what we’ll find in there.”
A kind way of saying he thought Rowan was already dead or would be by morning.
“Not a chance.”
He wasn’t going to let Rowan die in that place.
Turning from Emrys, he moved back toward camp.
He wouldn’t take his men. He couldn’t demand that of them.
They could ride with Emrys in the morning when it would be safer.
It was stupid to race into a nest in the dead of night.
It was when a witch’s powers were most active.
Any familiars she had left would be guarding the place.
Emrys fell into step beside him. “What are you thinking?”
He moved to his bag and dropped to his knees. He’d need the crossbow for certain. Five bolts was all he could reasonably expect to use before he was overrun. Taking any more would leave too few for the others.
“I’m going in,” he said because Emrys was hovering over him waiting for an answer, though it seemed self-evident.
“Absolutely not.”
“I won’t take anyone else with me, but I’m not leaving her in there. Not while she’s hurt. Not while the witch does God knows what to her. Not if there’s any hope that Asher is still alive.”
Emrys crossed his arms. “You asked me to be objective. I am telling you that this is an objectively stupid plan.”
He belted on his sword and ignored his men who had gathered by the fire, watching him with growing concern. “I can at least distract the witch. Keep her attention off them. It will give them a chance to survive until morning.”
“We can discuss that,” Emrys said calmly. “A distraction is reasonable. You running alone into the nest is suicide.”
Casrian rolled his eyes. “You’re being dramatic.”
“I’m being dramatic?”
Daris approached. “What’s happening?”
“Your captain has decided to charge the fort,” Emrys said shortly.
“The girl?” Daris asked.
“Captured,” Emrys said. “He’s not thinking straight.”
“Hasn’t been since he found her,” Daris agreed. “It’s very unlike him.”
“Bewitched?” Emrys asked.
Daris shook his head. “I don’t think that’s it.”
Casrian glared at them both. “I’m standing right here. Wait five minutes. I’ll be out of your way, and you can discuss this all night.”
They exchanged a look and Casrian had a heartbeat to brace himself before they moved. They rushed him as he reached for his sword. He landed on the ground hard, his sword arm pinned by Daris while Emrys shoved a knee into his chest.
“You’re not doing this,” Emrys growled. “If I need to put you in chains and leave you with the wounded, I will.”
“I sponsored you,” Casrian said, shocked at the betrayal.
“And I appreciate that, truly. If I didn’t think you were so fucking good at your job, I might just let you do this. But it would be a shame to lose someone of your caliber.”
Casrian had a reputation. It kept other witch hunters, even those under his command, at a distance. Wary. Other than Daris, who he’d known since their earliest days at the Academy, there was no one else who’d have challenged him.
Emrys showed no signs of backing down. Fucking pirate blood.
“I’m going to kill you,” Casrian spat at him.
Emrys grinned. “You can try.”