I couldn’t, of course. Instead, I bit down on my tongue until I tasted iron and passed him the fucking wine.
“Good witch,” he said. The condescension in his voice made me want to drown him.
Across the table, Lucette said quietly, “I have nothing to hide here. The crown. That’s what my team will claim if it’s still there.”
“Why?” Pip asked, her voice smaller than usual as she cocked her head to the side, the charms she’d woven into her hair clinking together.
Lucette smiled, though it wasn’t kind. “Process of elimination. The chalice keeps filling itself with unknown liquid, and that blade looks hungry. I’ll take my chances with thorns.”
The binding tightened again, yanking my hand closer to Wickett’s. Exposing the mark he’d seared into my palm with that damn coin. No one else seemed to struggle as much as I was. As our wrists were forced together, he leaned in just close enoughthat his breath warmed my ear. “Fighting it only makes it worse, witch. You’re mine until one of us dies.”
“Last I checked, leashes work both ways.”
He completely ignored my barb, straightening before whispering, “We’re taking the crown.”
I turned to stare at him. “Why?”
“Because I don’t like giving my enemies their first choice. Bad precedent.”
Heavy footsteps approached our table. I knew that gait. That familiar presence. Calder appeared beside us, his dark coat still damp from whatever duties had kept him occupied during dinner. His eyes found mine immediately, scanning the binding marks on my wrist, the way I sat too close to Wickett, and probably also the exhaustion I was trying to hide.
When his gaze dropped to my hands resting on the table, his entire body went rigid. The Hunter’s Promise was barely visible on my palm, but Calder never missed tiny details. His jaw worked as if he were biting back words that would get us all killed.
“Syn.” My name came out rough, loaded with everything he couldn’t say in present company.Are you hurt? Are you safe? What did they do to you?
“I’m fine,” I said quietly, though we both knew it was a lie.
His attention shifted to the Ripper, and the temperature around our table dropped. “Hunter.”
“Heartless One.” Wickett’s response was equally cold, but there was calculation in his eyes as he studied Calder’s protective stance.
Calder’s hand moved to rest on the back of my chair, a gesture that looked casual but positioned him between me and any potential threat. “Pip Willowbend,” he said, though his eyes never left Wickett’s face, “the Magistrate requests your presence.”
Pip’s wings fluttered nervously. “Now?”
“Now.”
As Pip gathered her belongings, Calder leaned down just enough to speak near my ear. “Really okay?”
“Really,” I whispered back.
The binding yanked me closer to Wickett, as if it were responding to Calder’s proximity. As if that fucker had some kind of pull over the magic that held us together. Pain flared through the marks on my skin, and I couldn’t quite suppress the small sound that escaped my throat.
Calder’s eyes went murderous. He’d already lost one of his roommates to this madness. He wasn’t about to lose another. His hand dropped to his blade hilt, the movement so smooth it was almost invisible. But Wickett noticed.
Of course he did.
“Careful,” Wickett said. “Wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt over a simple magical mishap.”
Calder didn’t step back. “Come on then, little one. Best not to keep the Magistrate waiting.”
As they moved toward the exit, Calder’s gaze found mine one last time. The look in his dark eyes was pure anguish, the expression of someone forced to leave family in enemy hands.
Tomorrow, we’d enter the maze. Tomorrow, I’d be alone with Wickett in another place designed to kill us. And Calder would have to watch it happen, helpless to do more than pray I survived.
Chapter 14
Wickett
