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My arms trembled at my side, and I bit down on my tongue to stop from screaming.
The soft susurration of her footsteps approached. “What’s my little bird doing out of her cage?” Her words hummed and calmed me like a hot bath on a winter’s night. My feet were frozen in place with shock, my heart drumming inside my chest.
Was this the witch who’d imprisoned me in the tower?
Everything swam too fast in my mind. Every inch of me thumped with an urgency to discover why the fuck she’d left me at the mercy of a gargoyle.
Don’t. You. Dare.
I reached for the blade on my belt. The only chance I stood against a magic caster was to make the first move. Hit her in the throat or chest. Startle her long enough for me to escape. But then what? If this was the witch who’d destroyed my life, she’d come to the tower. And I had to return by sunrise or the gargoyle was coming for me. Terror sunk through me because I felt trapped, cornered, and now the predator had found me.
I swallowed past the rock in my throat and raised my knife, listening. Where was she?
Not a sound.
Something crunched to my left.
Do it now!
I jerked around from behind the tree, my sight on a figure closing in, and tossed the dagger. But my blade swished past the woman’s head.
Shit!
I sprinted back around to put distance between us. Calling for help was out of the question. I didn’t need to put the men out in the woods in danger.
Something snapped around my legs, and I yelped as I fell face-first into a shrub. The prickly branches jabbed my cheeks and neck, catching in my short hair.
Wrenched backward by my feet, I slid over the bumpy ground, grasping for anything to stop my fall. A boot connected with my ribs, and I cried out, curling in on myself.
“Elliana. You’re smarter than I gave you credit for. How did you escape and cut your hair? That explains a few things,” she said. “Doesn’t matter… but you broke into the wrong property, child.”
I glanced up at the witch, who held a glowing white rope, and with a whisper from her lips, it moved of its own accord, slithering through the air between us, striking my wrists. I bucked and flung my arms about, trying to shake off the restraints.
“What do you want with me?” My attention fell to her purple irises. “You locked me up for all these years for no reason. You killed my father! And now you’re controlling shifters?” I shuffled backward on my ass.
But the magical rope wound tighter over my wrists, wrenching them together. Another whipped around my ankles, and I thrashed, screaming louder. But the cord lengthened and slid around me like a constricting python, covering my mouth. Immobile, I lay on the ground, wriggling, glaring at the witch. Fear threaded through me, shaking me at the core. Perspiration drenched my skin, and the ringing inside my head vibrated in my ears.
This is fucking terrible. What if she kills you or feeds you to the gargoyle?
Those thoughts weren’t helping, yet they swarmed though me like a locust plague. I writhed against the cord.
Last time I’d seen this witch, I’d been eight, and she’d had no front teeth. Now her golden teeth seemed to glow. She gave a whistle and a hulk of a man with yellow eyes stomped toward us. Not yellow, but amber eyes with vertical irises, just like Reed’s back in the tower. Except this man held his human form.
I moaned behind the ropes, a paralyzing dread spreading through my body like ice.
The witch glanced back to the house, then back at me, worry marring her face. What could possibly concern a witch with such power? The Hooded Man?
“Pick her up,” she said to the guard. “We’re going on a quick trip.”
I bucked on the ground.
“A trip?” The guard’s soft voice didn’t match his brawn. “Faye, we were told not to leave the property.”
Faye!Too nice of a name for a fiend like her.
“Don’t use my name, buffoon. Take her to the basement.” She sighed and shook her head.
The man picked me up and slumped me over his shoulder. I jostled about with each heavy step, staring at the fence amidst the fruit trees. Three figures flittered in the distance. They must have heard me screaming, but the barrier kept them out, and I was alone. Always alone.
