Because of course he fucking did.
Something rustled in the bushes surrounding us. Not wind. Something... hunting.
“Move,” Wickett said, already heading down the passage that curved ahead of us.
But the path split twenty feet later. Left led up a hill, through what looked like older growth. Right sloped down into deeper darkness.
“Left,” I said immediately.
He didn’t even slow down. “Right. Darker surroundings are tactically?—”
“Reckless when you’re facing an earth witch.” I grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop. “The older growth means deeper roots, stronger foundation. Katarina can collapse newer plantings, but the ancient stuff takes more power.”
“Everything here is new.”
“No, it’s magically grown by one of your father’s earth witches. Think about that.”
He stepped closer, looming over me. “I’m not taking magical advice from?—”
“The only fucking witch in your presence? Again, so smart.”
A roar echoed from somewhere in the maze.
“Right then,” Wickett said, already moving down the darker path.
“I said left!”
“And I’m team leader.”
“Team leader?” I stopped walking, planting my damn feet, which yanked him backward. “When exactly did we vote onthat?”
“When I claimed your life with a Hunter’s Promise. Everything about you belongs to me now, witch. Including your choices.”
“Glacies vinculum,” I snarled, drawing moisture from the damp earth beneath us. Ice formed around his boots, locking him to the ground. “Everything about me belongs to you? Funny. Right now, it looks like you belong to me.”
We stood there glaring at each other while precious seconds ticked away. The walls moved like waves in the sea, vines growing inward like grasping fingers.
“Let me go.”
I tsked, shaking my head. “Your anger is pissing off the maze. Say you’re sorry, hunter.”
“I’d rather rot in the dead vines. But you’re forgetting.” He yanked his arm down, forcing me to collide with his bulky chest. “If I can’t move, neither can you.”
The heat from his body made me pause, and from the way his breathing changed, he’d noticed. He brushed a curl out of my face, tangling his fingers in the hair at the back of my neck as he tugged, forcing me to look up at him. “Still think you’re in control, witch?”
He was supposed to be the threat. So why did my pulse forget the difference between fear and something far worse? This had to be a tactic.
“Fine,” I snapped, stepping away. “Right it is. But when Katarina turns this place into our tomb, don’t say I didn’t fucking warn you.”
We hurried down the sloping path, both mad but moving. The air grew damper, heavy with the scent of rich earth and something that made my magic stir restlessly. As if whichever witches the Magistrate had pulled from his offices were working overtime to remind the crowd why they should be feared.
“There,” Wickett pointed ahead where the path was completely blocked by a wall of twisted roots. “Can you?—”
“Glacies vinculum,” I whispered, tugging on Silas’s power. Water spiraled around the root barrier, seeping into every crack and crevice. The liquid expanded in the wood until the barrier split with sharp cracks.
We pushed through the broken roots and into a wider chamber beyond.
“Useful,” Wickett acknowledged, though he sounded annoyed to admit it.
