“Actually, in a sense, I do. I need that little pesky part of the demon that lingers inside of you.” His smile widened untilhis handsome face split into a mask of horror. “Or is my insight wrong? Seven minutes.”
How did he know? Very few people knew of the part of the demon inside of me, and I might not know Kai well yet, but something told me he wouldn’t tell our enemies. So the blame fell upon one person, and one person alone.
Arwyn.
“You expect me to believe you want me to destroy the one thing giving you power to ruin witch-kind?” I asked.
“I think I have already successfully done that, Hector. Don’t you?” He looked around to the crowd, pride practically glowing beneath his skin. He turned his back on me once again, facing back out to the back of the crowd. “I suppose if you don’t follow me, you’ll never know if I’m lying or not. Although, again, with your magic I think you could work that out if you wanted to. Isn’t that right? Oh, six minutes to go.”
Tomin turned on his heel, and left me before I could reply.
I was rooted to the spot, watching the man whose death I had spent my entire life contemplating, walk away from me. It would be so easy to kill him right then and there, to use my magic against him like the weapon he tried to tell the world about. And yet my feet began to move after him, pushing back through the crowd as I followed. At one point Tomin checked to see if I was following, and from the winning spark in his eyes, he knew I had.
Once we were free of the crowd, I saw a group of armed Witch Hunters waiting beside a large blacked-out van. The door was open, and Tomin was gesturing for someone inside to get out. I held my breath, half expecting Arwyn to climb out of the shadows inside, but instead seven figures, hands bound and faces streaked with tears, did.
Witches. I sensed their kinship even without the need for them to connect with their magic.
“Just in time, Hector. And with two and a half minutes to spare.” Tomin turned his attention to his Hunters. “Release the witches’ bonds, and let them go. See that no attack is taken out on the other two witches in the crowd… unless I tell you otherwise.”
Tomin had kept to his word. The truth of that unsettled me more than I thought it would.
I watched the terrified and bound witches like a hawk. Once they were each untied, they hovered nervously around, looking at me—for what, though, I wasn’t sure.
It was Tomin who made their hesitation clear. “They’re waiting for a command from you, Hector. Go on, tell them you have spared them with your cooperation and they’re free to go.”
I took my time looking at the witches, five compared to seven pyres. Tomin was right about having two spare… two for Romy and Kai.
This could be a test, or a trick. A way to make me think he was true to his word, when actually Tomin had another five witches hidden elsewhere still ready to be taken out to their death.
Regardless, these five lives before me were mine to save.
Clearing my throat, I emanated calm that would hopefully rub off on them. “You know where to go,” I said, hoping I was right. “Do so quickly.”
Their nods suggested they did, and slowly, not without fearful glances to the armed Witch Hunters, the five captured witches began to run. Not a single Witch Hunter followed, although my magic was poised and ready if they did.
“Now that has been sorted… after you.” Tomin gestured a hand towards the open door to the van, brows raised.
Not ready to waste another moment, I stepped over the littering of ropes that the witches had been bound in, and climbed into the car. The sickly scent of pine poisoned my nose, the fresh leather concoction giving me an instant headache. Alldiscomforts faded when Tomin climbed in next to me, the door closed behind him.
“Without sounding like a concerned elder, buckle up,” Tomin said as the car began to move, a sense of rush in his words. “I’d hate for something to happen to you now we have finally carved out time to really sit down and get to know one another.”
I got the impression then that he was worried about something. Perhaps being sat next to me, fully formed with magic, when he didn’t even seem to have a gun on him.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked.
He looked sidelong at me before he replied. “To where it all began.”
13
HECTOR
“You might want to take a look out the window, Hector.”
Just to spite the bastard, I wished I could’ve refused, but familiarising myself with my surroundings, whilst sitting in a confined space with my greatest enemy, was likely the best thing to do at that moment. Trailing my gaze out the tinted glass, I watched the crowds outside of the White Tower begin to disperse from the seven pyres. Although I couldn’t hear anything but my heartbeat, and Tomin’s aggressive breathing, I could see the disgruntled looks across faces.
“You really called it off?”
Tomin shuffled in his seat, leant forwards and reached for a fresh bottle of water that stood waiting in a cup holder. “I’m many things, but always a man of my word. However, I wouldn’t exactly say I’ve called the executions off, no. Merely postponed, depending on how our collaboration goes.”
