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“I’m telling you it wasn’t me. I can’t do it again. We need another plan.”
“We don’t have any plans, Clawdia. That’s the point.”
Zaide was still staring at me like a puzzle he wanted to solve. “In the cave, when you spoke, you were very … forceful. Unusually so.”
Charlie’s eyes flicked to him and narrowed. “You think she was possessed.”
“There are many people across the realms capable of such.”
There were, but now wasn’t the best time to explain. And it doesn’t matter anyway because soon we’d be dead.
I clenched my fists and calmed my breathing. “We can’t rely on divine intervention. Think.”
“Be quiet, prisoners. No conferring,” a witch shouted and turned around to glare at us. Like we were the bad guys.
“Why don’t you come over here and make me, you micropenis prick,” Charlie shouted back, easily riled when stressed.
“Micro—”
His female friend put a hand on his chest. “Don’t rise to it. They’ll be dead soon.”
And I was suddenly cold again.
We were set down in our cage in a clearing—I assumed the same one that Charlie had raced through to save Savida. It was brightly lit with strings of lights, and the salt pentagram laid out beneath us glittered like snow. It would have been beautiful if it wasn’t there to kill me.
I tucked myself into Charlie's arms and squeezed Zaide's hand, the fear in me palpable. I bit down on my lip to stop it from trembling.
"Don't fear, Little Cat. We have not come this far to be sacrificed by witches. Perhaps Daithi has had a vision and is on his way to rescue us."
I stifled a sob. He was always so faithful, and I was so glad to see him back to normal after he was so out of it in the cave. I wished I had his positivity. Baelen wouldn't be saving us. And Daithi … I didn't know what happened to him, but I doubted he would save us either.
"Witches! Blessed be! Thank you for coming so last minute," Debs started and stepped onto a podium in the middle of the clearing. Cheering erupted.
“Here we go. Fucking monologuer, this one.” Charlie crossed his arms and rolled his eyes at me.
My lips twitched, but I couldn’t bring myself to smile. I looked at him, astounded at the image he presented—cool and collected as though he didn’t have a care in the world.
“Thank you,”I told him, pouring all my sincerity into it.
Images of him since I was reborn in this life flashed through my mind. Him mumbling about stupid cats and stroking me softly. Him telling me how beautiful I was, holding my hand, hugging me, and telling me I was a wonder. It all resurfaced in a blink and brought tears with it.
It was so short. We should have had longer.
I gripped Zaide’s hand.
We all should have had longer together.
“That sounded like goodbye, Clawdicat. We aren’t going to die. I promise.”
Debs waited for the crowd to quiet. She turned as she spoke so she could address all the witches in the circle around her. "We were interrupted at our last ceremony, and all the demon fire that our ancestors and their ancestors had been collecting for centuries was lost.
Understandably, you are angry. We all are. We have spent the last week pouring our own magic into the reservoir in the hope that it will be enough to raise the protector. Sigurd, with his innate magic, will be able to stop the opening of otherworlder portals and protect our people from realm slave markets. Enough is enough, and our time to make history is now."
Cheering erupted across the clearing, and I shuddered. I wondered if this was how women who were about to be burned at the stake felt as their captors justified their evil actions.
"Fucker," Charlie whispered.
"What?"
