“The Butcher is coming here?” she whispered.
“They don’t know about us.” This would not be the day I fought the Butcher, not when it would put Niamh in danger. “As long as we stay hidden and quiet, we’ll be okay.”
She grabbed my hand, her grip so tight my knuckles turned white.
“Where have you two been?” a male voice barked.
Neither Niamh nor I moved a muscle.
“We’re headed to Fairwitch Isle,” Tara said. “We’ve confirmed their whereabouts.”
My blood ran cold.
“No you haven’t,” the man said, and both women fell silent. “Those lithaguars could’ve disappeared anywhere. Just because we’ve sent magical creatures and other relics over some invisible barrier doesn’t mean they went to Fairwitch. Until one of us steps over that border and can confirm the lost city of Fairwitch exists, it’s foolish to waste our resources on them. There are other cities and kingdoms with valuable magic. So I’ll ask again: what are you two doing here?”
“One of us has stepped over that border,” one of the women said, but a blast of wind muffled her voice, so I couldn’t tell which one.
Niamh stiffened beside me, her face paling.
“What does that mean?” the Butcher’s voice was low, deadly, and I didn’t dare breathe for fear of missing their response.
“We got confirmation that a group of the brotherhood infiltrated Fairwitch not twenty minutes past.”
But that shouldn’t have been possible. Anything with magic could break our barrier as of late, but the brotherhood didn’t have magic. That had been the one thing keeping us safe—that Fairwitch wouldn’t let them enter without an invitation. So either they had figured out a loophole or the magic of Fairwitch was weakening further... or someone had invited them in.
“No,” I heard Niamh say under her breath.
My stomach formed into a tight knot. They could be burning Fairwitch to the ground at this very moment, torturing Cillian, the rest of my family. I bunched my fist so tight my nails dug into my palms.
“That’s news to me,” the Butcher said, sounding irritated that he hadn’t already known this information. Arrogant bastard. “Then it sounds like I need to inform the commander.”
“Yes, sir,” both women said at once. “We’re just here to keep watch and wait for a signal.”
“What signal?” the Butcher snapped.
“Uh, fire,” one of the women stammered. “A fire spark, shot into the sky. That will let us know Fairwitch has fallen to the brotherhood.”
“Right.” The Butcher’s voice was tight. “Well, then, I’ll leave you to it. Keep me updated.”
Before I could help myself, I shot to my feet. Niamh gasped, then clapping a hand over her mouth. I peeked over the rock, and the Butcher stiffened, his back to me.
“Did you hear that?” he asked the two women over his shoulder.
“Hear what?” Tara asked, shoulders bunching under her cloak.
He shook his head, and I thought I heard him mutter “useless” under his breath, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Wolfe,” Niamh mouthed when I looked down at her. She gestured for me to duck, but I couldn’t. I had to see. I just needed to see the man who’d taken my brother’s body. I wouldn’t be able to see his full face, not with those white masks they wore, but this would be enough for now. Enough to satiate my hunger for revenge.
He huffed as the women pounded their fists against their hearts. My breath caught in my throat as he turned for the briefest of seconds and repeated the gesture before spinning on his heel and marching away.
I froze, the image of him imprinted into my brain as he walked away, growing smaller and smaller. So many questions rapid-fired through my brain, but the main one I kept coming back to washow? What I’d just seen wasn’t possible. I had to have imagined it, been mistaken, but somewhere, deep inside, I knew I hadn’t. I kept watching the hulking, achingly familiar figure until he was nothing but a dot on a distant hill, that image of him still burning bright, making bile rise in my throat.
My legs felt weak, and I sank down next to Niamh as the women muttered under their breaths and stomped away, their footsteps echoing into the distance.
I stared forward at the sea, feeling numb, mind not willing to believe what I’d just witnessed.
“Wolfe.” Niamh laid a hand on my arm, and I jumped. “I think they’re gone. We can leave now, get to Fairwitch, and help fight against the brotherhood.”
