I pull on a pair of black leather gloves, noticing Kalix doing the same. He gags dramatically at the stench, shaking his head.
“Gods, this thing smells worse than it looks.”
He reaches inside his coat, retrieving a row of vials, and tosses a few toward me.
We get to work, methodically harvesting what we can—dark, slick tissue, unfamiliar organs, anything. The smell is rancid, thick with rot.
Neither of us speak, but we don’t need to.
We both know.
Iris will have to settle for samples this time.
There’s no way in hell either of us is carrying this damn thing tonight.
Chapter 6
Cage
I MARCH DOWN THE HALL, my jaw is locked, and my patience wears thin.
I tug at the cuff of my sleeve, fixing, fidgeting—giving my anger something to do.
“So,” the younger guard beside me starts, “D’you think she’ll be ugly?”
A quiet snicker follows.
Some fools still believe witches are hags, withered things covered in warts and wrinkles, the magic in them rotting them from the inside out.
In truth, it’s the opposite.
“Witches are exceptionally beautiful,” I say flatly. “Their beauty is a deadly trap, a lure for men who are too ignorant to recognize the danger.”
The guard’s smirk fades slightly. I catch the tensing of shoulders in my periphery.
Better they be uneasy than snickering when a Le Strange witch is being brought onto castle grounds.
The guard’s hand moves to the hilt of his sword. “What…what are they, then? If not human?”
I allow the silence to stretch a moment, letting the weighted question settle.
“Half hellion,” I say at last. “Demon, some claim. Others argue something else entirely.”
I glance at them, smirking at their growing discomfort.
“All the stories agree on one thing: they’re also half Estrella.”
The guard swallows hard.
“The tale says a world ender raped an Estrella, forcing her to conceive seven daughters. Each one became something…new, variations of the same terrible thing. Some favor their Estrella blood. Others?” I exhale sharply. “They take after their father.”
The guard’s thoughts are almost entertaining, a brief distraction from the murderous urges plaguing the edges of my mind.
What if Nora is here?
Or worse, she’s the one escorting the witch?
I don’t know how I’ll react if I come face to face with her. Hell, if it’s any of the elders, I don’t know if I can do this.
