“You have travelled a lot these past few months,” he said. “Did you visit Master Torqedan upon your return from the Anderas?”
“… I had no time. He was declared dead the second I arrived in Castereina.”
“So you have not reported the death of the bleakwitch to any tribunal of the Inquisition, then?”
“What need is there to hurry? She isdead,” the monster spat out. “I watched her burn with great delight.”
“Maybe it is these footsteps he spoke of.”
Silence answered Inquisitor Callum. Then her captor broke it brusquely. “What are you suggesting?”
“Nothing. I feared for a moment you had brought back a trophy for yourself, considering your history. I was wondering if our little spy over there was her.”
He had seen her. Callum had seen her.
Semras paled. She needed to run.
She tried, but her legs had turned to lead. Fear weighed each of her steps down, as if the air itself conspired to hold her back. Before she could reach the servant’s staircase, the door flew open. Semras spun to face it, heart brimming with horror.
In the doorway,hewas staring at her. Dark circles underlined his eyes, and his cheeks were hollower than she recalled. The inquisitor looked gaunt. Haunted.
The witch looked worse, but not by much.
They hadn’t met, hadn’t spoken in days. And he was just … staring at her.
“It wasn’t—” Semras said, voice small. “I didn’t weave, I swear.” Somehow, her mind had decided that this was crucial information. He had always reacted so violently to being spied upon before.
“Another witch?” Callum called out from the room. “That makes two now. You will soon be running your own coven at this rate, Estevan.”
“Shut up, Cael.” Running his hand through his hair, her captor looked down at her. His voice dropped. “I wish you had; then I would have known sooner you were spying.Again.”
“I-I wasn’t spying,” Semras said lowly, matching his tone by reflex. “I was—I was just …”
The monster stepped toward her, and a violent shiver coursed through her limbs. Her throat closed up as terror numbed her mind.
Eyes wide with despair, Semras stared past him to Inquisitor Callum. He was leaning against the doorway and watching her with unconcealed curiosity. With the gloves and long sleeves still hiding the shackles binding her hands, he had no way of knowing she was a captive.
Semras shuddered. Before her eyes, her plan turned to rot.
Her credibility had died when she was caught spying. The second she would open her mouth to speak the truth, the monster would gag her and use the shackles on her hands to present her as a murder suspect trying to run away. Inquisitor Callum would believe none of her words after that, no matter how much she’d scream at him that Velten was the true murderer. How could he, when she looked so suspicious now?
Light faded from her eyes. The monster would now drag her back to her cell and then find another, darker, more secure cage for his pet, and she’d never escape him.
He grabbed her jaw. “So you missed me,” he said at last, voice louder than before. “Have I neglected you so much? How rude of me. I will rectify this as soon as possible. Just wait for me, Semras.”
She blinked.What?
His thumb drew circles on her jaw, leaving a searing trail on her skin. “Once Cael is gone, I will be all yours. We will talk then, privately. Just you and I.”
The monster had covered for her. He laced threats within his false words of affection, warnings that this wasn’t over, but he had not taken the opportunity to frame her for his crime. It would have been so easy to do it, and heshouldhave wanted to. By escaping her room, she had revealed that she never intended to cooperate with him.
And yet … he had chosen not to frame her. Not now, at least. And his words, as repugnant as they sounded, kept her credibility intact—and her plan, still doable.
“Until then …” He lifted her chin up, forcing her to cross his gaze. “Take some time to stretch your legs before you go back to our room, Semras. Iwillfind you later.” After lingering for a second too long, his hand released her, and a shiver of revulsion ran down her spine.
The monster threw a heavy glance over her shoulder, conveying silent orders to whoever stood there. Then he gently pushed her away, returned to the parlour, and closed the door.
Semras shuddered.
