“You know who,” he said evenly, his uncanny gaze meeting mine. “The one who went missing after her death.From her grave. They are telling quite a story about you.”
“The brothel owner is full of lies,” Dacia said. “He sold her.”
“Sold you where?”
“Colmar. I’ve been in Colmar.”
“No, mademoiselle,” he said almost apologetically. “You have not.”
I closed my eyes, feeling Dacia stiffen beside me.
“So, you’re a witch,” he surmised. “Unless you are truly hiding fangs, blood thirst, or wings?”
“I’m not …” I swallowed. “Hiding anything. Nor am I a witch.” I lifted my chin. “What is your name?”
“Tobin,” he answered easily. “And you are?”
“Perchta,” I lied.
Dacia didn’t flinch.
He pursed his lips with a wry grin. “That is not the name they gave in the village for the resurrected woman.”
I shrugged. “I told you. I don’t know who this village woman is.”
He sighed and looked at the ground, as if thinking.
The next moment happened so fast, I didn’t even see him move. Before I could blink, Tobin caught me with my arms pinned behind my back and the knife at my throat. I tried to rip my wrists away, but he held them firmly with one hand. Dacia cried out, but the big man grabbed her.
Tobin’s lips came to my ear, and he spoke in the same pleasant tone he’d taken so far. “I’m going to ask once, and if I think you lie, I’ll cut your throat, witch.”
I nodded, squeezing my eyes shut.Lord Death. Lord Death.
But no thundering warhorse came to my call.
“What is your name?” he repeated.
I swallowed and the edge of the knife pressed against the flat of the blade. “They call me Perchta,” I hissed.
He gave a tsk of displeasure, but the knife did not move. “Did the Baron send you?”
I opened my mouth to argue, but it was Dacia’s voice that answered.
“Why would the Baron send us?”
“To find our camp.”
I laughed.
“Then why would you bring us here?” Dacia said. “We don’t care about your camp. If you are an enemy of the Baron, you are a friend to us.”
“I have never even seen his face or spoken to him,” I said. “Why would I spy for him?”
“Security, pardons, freedom, favor.” But the knife fell away.
“I have need of none of those things,” I said, thinking of everything Lord Death had offered me.
“Then why are you running naked around the forest?”
