Page 41 of Pirate Witch
I feel Elsie’s hesitance. “A few hours. I’ve healed the swelling. If she rests, she’ll recover faster.”
It doesn’t feel like she’s healed anything. It feels like I’m getting worse.
“I’ve got her,” Klaus insists. His warm hand comes to rest on my shoulder, tugging me into him.
“Let us out of here and we’ll take her back to the ship,” Rysen growls.
Klaus hesitates. “Did it work?”
Before Elsie can answer, I do. “It did. I chose to pay their price. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.” My voice breaks.
CASIMIR
Waking up with the absence of the bargain feels like being dragged out of a nightmare and back into the real world. The instant relief is like breathing pure fresh oxygen after a lifetime stuck gasping for air.
They actually did it.I shove to my feet and instantly search for my twin, who’s staring at empty space with an expression of pure shock and awe.
“We’re free,” Val mutters, looking at his hands like he expects literal shackles to drop from his wrists.
Rysen lets out a strangled grunt of disbelief, leaning on the bars for support, a move Kier echoes. The fae has lost control of his glamour, and his wings flutter weakly behind him as he presses his palms into his eyes.
It’s been two decades since we were forced to sign away our souls, and having that weight lifted is such an immense change that I can’t process anything beyond our immediate circle until someone grunts behind us.
Beyond the bars, Elsie and Reva have slumped to the floor on either side of the bowl of blood and herbs. Whatever was in there has been replaced by ash, charcoal, and smoke, filling the space with an acrid, burning aroma.
But that’s not the most drastic change.
Elsie’s hair, which had always been a sunny yellow, has transformed into a shining sheet of gold. It literally radiates power. Opposite her, Reva’s has turned from a rich dark brown to a similarly luminescent silver.
A speckled ginger mage kid is flitting over the two of them like a worried mother hen, clearly afraid to touch them, though they’re both still breathing—if a little pale. Standing behind them are Klaus, Cirio, Pierce, and a woman who can only be Sade, the vampire queen of Isablis. The latter is staring at Rysen, not even attempting to be subtle as her gaze narrows on the gold ring on his right hand.
Rysen doesn’t pay her a bit of notice. None of us do.
Where is Nilsa? Where is our mate?
I’m spared any more frantic searching when a burst of darkness eclipses the room. For a long minute, the only visible thing is the glowing of the unconscious witches’ hair.
Then it disappears. Sucked back into wherever it came from, as though it had never existed.
Leaving a crumpled pile of black fabric and windswept hair in its wake.
“Nilsa!” Rysen roars before the rest of us have even put two and two together.
The vampire starts trying to bend the bars in earnest, but he’s not making a dent. Klaus is at our girl’s side in a flash, uncurling her until she’s flat on her back and sweeping her hair out of her face.
In the centre of her forehead, right at her hairline, the tiny upturned crescent mark she has is glowing fiercely. So are the handful of sigils I can see on her exposed skin.
“Is she okay?” I demand, waiting in agony for the rise and fall of her chest.
It never comes.
She’s not breathing.
“Wake up the fucking Solar, right now,” Val orders.
The flame haired mage finally stops staring at the other unconscious witches and glances up at Val, only to freeze.
“Itisyou,” he gasps.
