He was clearly older, in his late twenties now, and he was bulkier than she remembered. His limbs had lost the thinness of youth and his arms and shoulders were more densely packed with muscle. His hair was different too. Instead of the slightly too-long, shaggy cut she remembered, he now had shorter hair that was shaved on either side of his head, revealing a series of tattoos along his scalp. And he had a beard. It was full and dark, perfectly complementing the darkness of his brows, which framed his unmistakable light-green eyes. Those hadn’t changed at all.
He caught her looking at him and she quickly looked away, busying herself with the mouth of the waterskin she’d been given.
She’d gotten a good glimpse of the other two men, who had revealed their faces as well. The one called Steig looked to be about thirty years old, with short, curly black hair and dark eyes, but the other one who had been wearing the raccoon mask—and who’d burned down Heran’s house—looked younger, though by how much she wasn’t sure. His short hair was dirty blond and his eyes a striking blue, but overall, his face had a surprising innocence about it. They were both strong-looking, as well, andfrom what she could see of their arms and hands where their shirts were rolled up as they had washed in the creek, they were covered in tattoos too.
Ena’s hands were still bound and clasped around her waterskin like it was her only lifeline as she walked back towards her captors, who were readying the horses again.
“Ready?” Ty asked her. There was still no hint of recognition in his eyes, no sign that he remembered her. Was she really that forgettable?
“Do I have a choice?” she asked bitterly.
“Good point,” he said, as he reached for her waist and lifted her up onto his horse. Again, Ena didn’t fight him. She knew her best course of action was to figure out her whereabouts before she made her escape, rather than blindly running and yelling through the woods. These men could certainly outrun her in her current state anyway.
They rode all day, stopping only briefly to relieve themselves a couple times. Ty graciously offered Ena some dried meat of some kind and an apple at one point to eat in the saddle. She ate them both begrudgingly, only to keep her strength up. She spent the rest of the time letting her Knowing soak up all the information around her. What animals and birds were there? What types of trees were around? Where was the water flowing? What direction was the sunlight coming from? All of these clues led her to believe that they were likely west of her village, a direction the witches in her Coven did not usually travel—and for good reason. But she couldn’t say for sure. She needed to confirm her theory before she escaped. She didn’t want to end up wandering aimlessly through the woods, as that was a surefire way to die.
She also spent time contemplating what the hell these men wanted with her. They clearly didn’t want to hurt her, which they easily could have done by this point. This led her to believethat they probably wanted to use her for something. They had obviously been looking for something at Heran’s house. But what could that be? She knew at least one of them was a daemon, the one whose name she did not yet know but who she’d seen burn down Heran’s house with his bare, heat-wielding hand. However, she wasn’t sure about Steig. And Ty…well she thought he had been mortal. She needed a way to confirm what they were so she knew what she was dealing with. Luckily, she had a method at her disposal.
She reached out with her Knowing.
Usually, using one’s Knowing on other people, and especially other witches, was frowned upon. To use one’s magic to interpret someone’s intentions or uncover things about themselves they may not want you to know was considered a severe violation of privacy, so Ena rarely did it. Of course, sometimes she Knew things without intending to, and when that happened, she tried her best to ignore it or keep it to herself.
But this time, she absolutely intended to Know more about her kidnappers, so she read their signs. She turned her head surreptitiously to watch Steig where he rode his large, dapple gray horse to her left. She concentrated on his movements, the way he swayed in the saddle, the way his hands gripped the reins. She watched the way he breathed and the direction of his gaze. She took in all the signs she could and she felt…nothing. There was no sense of his intentions, no sense of his presence at all, really. There was just nothing. A void where her sense of reality should be. It was eerie now that she focused on it. She’d never felt that from anything or anyone before. He must be a daemon too.
And Ty… She slowly turned in the saddle and glanced back at him out of the corner of her eye. She saw his eyebrow quirk up as she looked back at him intently.
“Your Knowing won’t work on me, witch,” he said gruffly.
“And why’s that?” she replied, facing forward again, feeling slightly perturbed at having been called out on what she was trying to do.
“I think you know.”
“No, I don’t actually. My Knowing doesn’t work on you, remember? You just said it.” Wow, what a childish comeback. But Ena didn’t care. He was annoying her with his cocky bullshit.
“I know you don’tKnow,” he replied, leaning closer to her to whisper in her ear, “but you’re smart enough to figure it out.”
As his breath coasted over her face, his woodsmoke and honey scent hit her again. The feelings and memories it stirred in her were instantaneous, and they were followed quickly by a sharp pang of longing in her chest. It washim, after all this time.
But as quickly as that feeling came, it was replaced by a wave of intense anger. How many years had she spent pining for that scent? Longing to see him again, to hear from him? Too long. And now all of a sudden, he was here—only he wasn’t. This wasn’t the boy she remembered. This man was someone else entirely. He’d obviously lied to her all those years ago about who he was. And, on top of all that, she clearly meant nothing to him. Less than nothing. He didn’t even remember her. She had always assumed that something had prevented Ty from returning. She’d worried for years that maybe he’d been hurt or killed on the journey over the Chasm Mountains. But now it was painfully obvious that wasn’t the case. Clearly, their time together had just meant much more to her than it did to him, since he had given no indication that he knew her name or recognized who she was at all.
Ena’s heart ached with betrayal, but she knew that feeling would not serve her now, so she shoved that hurt to a deep, dark place inside her, and instead she latched onto hate.
“You’re a daemon,” she said with conviction, spitting the word out as her lip curled.
“Iblis take me, I think she’s finally got it,” Ty replied mockingly, huffing a laugh.
The four of them fell back into silence for a while until the sun started to set. Ena wasn’t sure if they were keeping quiet for her sake, afraid of revealing any further information to her, or because they were still concerned about being followed. But either way, Ena was grateful for it. She couldn’t take hearing his voice any more than necessary. She briefly considered calling him out, telling him she knew who he was, forcing him to remember her, but no matter how angry she got as she stewed in her feelings, she couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t expose that small, vulnerable part of herself. She could never let him know how much this hurt. So, if he’d forgotten her, then she would forget him too. Or at least, she’d appear that way.
Her feelings of bitterness and hatred were all that fueled her as the sky turned dark once more, her body long since exhausted from minimal food, water, and sleep. When Ty made them all stop to make camp, Ena whispered a silent prayer of thanks to Gaia.
“We’re far enough away from her village now. I think we’ll be safe to stop here for the night,” he explained to the others.
Once again, he lifted her off the horse and placed her on the ground. Then, gripping her elbow, he led her over to a large tree and pointed to the ground at the base of it.
“Sit here where I can see you while we make camp,” he said gruffly.
Eternally grateful to be off that fucking horse, Ena sat down as she was told and leaned back against the tree. She watched while they loosely tied up the horses so they could graze on the ground plants in the area, and gathered sticks and downed branches to make a fire. Of course, the younger-looking man’s Power made the starting of it extremely easy.
She wondered briefly how his Power worked. It was so similar to the way witches used their spellwords to create fire, but his magic clearly didn’t require a spellword and instead came directly from his body. The advantage of that was clear, given how limited Ena had been with the gag in her mouth. She briefly considered using a spellword now to make the fire blow up in their faces; even though her magic wouldn’t work directlyonthem, maybe she could use it near them as a distraction to escape. But she decided that a momentary distraction wouldn’t help her cause, not when there were three of them and they had much longer strides than her. And besides, she still hadn’t gotten her bearings enough to know which way to go.
