Page 22 of Liar Witch
“I wasn’t ready,” she admits. “But Glenna’s athame will grow more attuned to me the more I use it.”
“Which you won’t do until you’re at least three hundred,” Cas growls.
“I made a bargain.”
“With whom?” he asks.
She goes quiet, and I stay silent, unwilling to speak of what I’ve guessed from my vision until she does.
“Nilsa?” Cas presses, and I can feel Kier move closer, reminding her of her promise not to lie with his presence.
“I don’t want to lie to you, but you’re working for my enemy,” she admits. “What... what happened to the dress I was wearing?”
Cas’s curse turns the air blue. It’s followed shortly by a displeased growl which erupts from his chest. He’s on a hairpin trigger again.
“It’s still here,” he promises. “We left it in the bathroom when we treated your wounds. But don’t change the subject. How much do you know about what we do?”
“Enough.”
That doesn’t tell us anything, and Cas evidently agrees because he says, “Humour us.”
“I know that you ferry fae dust and siren scales across the sea for the Queen. I know that you’re bound by a fae bargain never to betray her.”
“So you don’t knowwhy?” I confirm.
“No… but I know I’m going to put an end to it.”
The tension leaves me in a rush, and I know Cas feels the same relief as his growl tapers off.
I don’t think either of us is ready to have our mate look at us with that knowledge in her eyes.
“We cannot…” My words cut off, the bloody bargain trapping us once again.
“We have to do as we’re told,” Cas speaks slower, trying to figure out the words. “But she rarely specifies a time. She can’t, because she can’t control the wind and the tides.”
There’s a long pause, our mate’s brain working overtime as she tries to figure out what we’re not saying.
“So as long as we collect her cargo, we can make stops along the way.”
I nod, the motion slow as I mentally scream for her to go on.
“So, hypothetically speaking, we can go to Sanctum and stop the attack.”
“We can’t—” Damn, there goes my air again. My whole throat seals up, stopping me from saying anything.
“You can’t attack her forces because that would be actively betraying her,” Nilsa acknowledges. “But you can travel there, and then you have no control over what I do.”
“We’re already on our way,” I say. “But the Castleman fleet has almost a day’s head start on us. TheDeadwoodis fast, but not that fast.”
“There has to be something—”
“Nothing that puts yourself at risk,” Cas interrupts. “You have to promise us, Nilsa. You can’t do anything that would mean our bargain sets us against you. We—I—wouldn’t survive it.”
“All you have to do is nothing. A lack of action won’t count as a betrayal.”
It’s a contrived plan. One that has only the slimmest chance of working.
“I also—I need to get to Marisang.” Her tone is conflicted. “Klaus is there.”
