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To pull off her subterfuge, she’d also have had to acquire a Kayadon ship and make it appear as if she’d been trapped for weeks, just as Queen Juniper had been. That information wasn’t widely known, although witchesdidhave their mystic ways of gathering information.
Still, put it all together, and it sounded so farcical.
For her to contrive a human façade, she’d have to have intimate knowledge of Earth and their cultural idioms, especially the Queen’s.
For a witch to have acquired a Kayadon ship…? That one he couldn’t reason out. It just seemed impossible. Witches were not spacefaring and showed no interest in it. So, then, could Jessie really hail from Earth and her arrival have sparked a latent power?
He couldn’t risk it.
Everything else aside, she still harbored powerful magic, had still lied to him about it. Had possibly bewitched him so that his thoughts could not leave her for more than a moment. Even now, his gaze was drawn her way.
As if sensing his eyes upon her, she glanced back once more. “Orik, please. You’re making a mistake.”
Her pleading tone broke his heart. It affected the guards as well. They didn’t slow their pace, but they shot each other concerning looks. All they knew was that their commander had ordered them to take a “defenseless” human—and supposed new friend of the queen—to the dungeon without question. When their uncertain looks slipped toward him, he ground his teeth. Their trust in him should be unwavering.
As they entered the castle and headed down a dark, winding staircase, he replied, “The mistake was trusting you,witch. You’ll deceive us no longer.”
At his outburst, the guards appeared shocked, taking her in with new suspicion. Reaching the landing, they turned down a corridor lined with cells.
She peered into each one as they passed, catching sight of several inmates. Some approached the bars to witness the new arrival.
She craned her neck, trying to look Orik in the eyes as the guards hauled her forward. “You’re wrong. I’m not a witch and I’m not deceiving you. Sure, I used magic, but I have no idea how or why I’m able to. But it shouldn’t matter. I would never use it to hurt anyone.”
“You blasted me through a fucking wall.”
“Oh, come on. Not on purpose. And did that even really hurt you? You popped back up like a spring chicken.”
Now that she mentioned it, he was remarkably uninjured for having been pitched through solid stone only hours ago. He would have expected at least a twinge in his muscles, a bruise, or at worst, a fracture. Instead, he felt great. Had she protected him somehow? Would she have?
“An angry baby chicken,” she added tersely.
He didn’t know what a chicken was, but he inferred an insult by her tone.
“Silence your vile tongue, witch, lest I cut it out.”
She gasped, shooting him another hurt look that crawled inside him to carve out a nest of gnarled guilt. Why could he not contain his anger? He should be stoic and unfeeling now. She was just another witch captured for questioning. Nothing more—
“You wouldn’t dare,” she threw back, her eyes flashing in that way that drove him mad and drew him in at the same time. “You’re much too interested in what this talented tongue could do to you while it’s still attached.”
He stifled a groan and tried to squash the images her words brought forth: that wicked tongue of hers unmanning him while she set her fierce gaze upon him, not asking for, but demanding his release. He’d last but scant seconds under her ministrations.
One of the guards coughed into his fist. A leering inmate let out a long whistle, elbows propped on the bars.
Orik ground his teeth. How could she say something so provocative at a time like this? “You’ll be imprisoned next to men who’ve no’ had a woman in years. You may want to consider that before speaking so indecently.”
“Indecent? Like how you squired me to a private cabin in order to do naughty things to me?”
He gripped her by the arm. His guards instantly let her go. “Leave us,” he barked.
Without a word, they scurried away. No doubt the gossip would hit the court in minutes. Caging her to the wall, he snarled, “What were you thinking, saying these things so openly? That these inmates will no’ see you as a sexual option? Most in these men have no honor at all.”
“Speak for yourself,” someone called from a nearby cell. “As I hear it, sounds like the chit has a right to be perturbed, witch or no’.”
“You court your death, Khalstorm.”
“Just an observation.”
Jessie replied, “No, you’re right, Khalstorm. Thank you. Lord Orik here just wants to lock away his dirty little secret.”
