I gestured to my chest and she told me to remove my shirt, then held a glass contraption to her eye and peered at the red mark. It had grown, veins spreading from a central point, like fingers reaching for something.
I cried out again as the same pain from before returned, threefold.
The healer tutted and shook her head. “Never have I seen anything of the like. The witch has cursed you, my lord.” She crossed herself reflexively. “The magic has corrupted your blood, it pulses inside you, almost as though it is searching for something. And I’m afraid, my lord, that if a cure isn’t found soon, you will be quite dead.”
8
STEFANO
Irefastened my jerkin, making sure the extremities of the sprawling mark were hidden beneath my shirt, and slipped out of my rooms.
“You look like death.” The voice startled me, but I was relieved to see Nico standing in the shadowy corridor. He must have seen me looking around for the brothers, as he added, “I told them both to get some rest and I’d let them know when their services were needed again.”
I nodded, grateful. “Thank you,amico.”
Nico huffed. “What did the healer have to say?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Oh, she said it’ll probably clear up on its own, in time. Nothing to worry about.” An idea occurred to me then. I looked up and down the empty hallway and lowered my voice. “Nico, would you wait here while I check something? I’m not supposed to leave my room, the healer told me to take two days’ bedrest, but I just need to speak to someone…”
My friend raised an eyebrow. “Your fair lady, is it? She seemed burdened when she left you earlier. Lovers’ quarrel?”
I chuckled. “A gentleman never tells.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. But hurry, I won’t be able to stop the prince from entering if he turns up.”
I thanked him and headed down the hall with my shoulders hunched and my head lowered, stopping to admire the tapestries any time I crossed paths with a servant. When I reached the dungeons, I dismissed the guards on duty and closed the heavy iron door, shutting out the sound from outside.
It wasn’t hard to find the two witches; they were in the only occupied cell, right at the far end of the row, huddled together for warmth in the freezing underground space. Clearly, the black patch I had seen in the town square had been the result of a recent dungeon clear-out.
I strode past the line of empty cells, the light from a small, high window and one lit torch growing dimmer the farther I went. My boots were muffled by the straw scattered on the stone floor, but I could see the candlelight flickering in the eyes of both women as they watched me approach.
“Tell me everything you know about this mark.” I pulled my shirt to the side, and despite the low light, the younger witch still gasped at the sight. Looking down, I realised the thing had grown again, and I had to fight the lightheaded, dizzy sensation that washed over me as the mark throbbed painfully once more. I put a hand on the bars of the cell to steady myself.
“We know nothing about it,” barked the older, silver-haired crone.
I narrowed my eyes. These creatures were already testing my patience. “You called it a ‘bond’. What did you mean by that?”
“Why would we help you? You’ll only kill us anyway.”
“Sal, this doesn’t just affect him,” the red head said in a stage whisper. “Think of Morgaine.”
“Don’t say her name, Lavender,” Sal admonished her sister.
I rolled my eyes. “I already know her name. Now, tell me, or I’ll order the guards to beat it out of you. What is this bond she’s inflicted me with?”
“Let them. They’re going to beat us anyway, may as well give them a reason.” Sal muttered.
“Let us go,” the younger one—Lavender—asked, big blue eyes pleading.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. The only one who can is Prince John, and I do not think he’s in the habit of taking mercy on witches. Tell me what I need to know, and how I can free myself of the damned thing.”
“What’s in it for us?”
I hissed, “How about I won’t have the guards chop your fingers and toes off one by one, before they burn you at the stake?”
They only stared at me in silence, although Lavender quivered. Clearly, they assumed every terrible thing I listed would happen to them anyway, whether they talked or not.
“Alright,” I said, passing a hand over my face in exhaustion as the pain from the cursed mark drained my energy. “I can’t let you go myself, but if you tell me everything you know about the mark and the bond, I will give you a way out. How’s that?”
