“You know,” she said, her voice low and whipped with menace, “you’re not the only one who knows. I’ve dealt with them, and I can deal with you, too, Captain.”
“I have no doubt you can,” he said, and he meant it. He refused to ponder what she meant bydeal with. “But I don’t think you will.”
“Don’t be so sure.”
But he was. Because despite her lack of fear, he knew her reaction to magic was a secret she held close. In a world such as theirs, survival would depend on keeping any magic-related secret hidden.
He walked around the table, gingerly stepping over the pile of roses. “I saw you yesterday in the square. You were trying to save us.”
She snorted. “Saveis such a noble word. It’s reserved for the likes of you. Not Ditch girls like me.”
“Call it what you want, but you saved my life.”
“And then you saved mine.” She crossed her arms again. “I’d say that makes us even.”
“For now.” He stared at her, at the hard line of her mouth, at the blaze of fire in her blue eyes—fire burned hottest when blue—and knew he was going to regret this. But if he wanted to find the Witch, he needed an advantage. “I’d like to be in your debt again.”
“No.”
Toran signaled to Quint. His friend grabbed Pinyak and hauled the man to his feet. He didn’t say another word until the two left the room.
“I can get you out of here.” He waved a hand, gesturing to the prison surrounding them.
She scrunched her lips in an unappreciative grin. “I can get myself out.”
Somehow, he didn’t doubt that. He leaned back against the wall. “How old are you?”
“Nineteen,” she answered immediately.
Only a year old when the previous Witch died. Like him, this was her first true experience seeing the fear the Witch ignited. He considered her another moment before nodding. “I understand why you’ve kept this ability of yours a secret—”
“I don’t think you do.”
He shook his head. “Don’t you realize how many people you could save if you were to join the Guard?”
Her nose wrinkled like she smelled something abhorrent. “I will never join the Guard,” she spat and turned her back.
He couldn’t let her walk away. “Because of your father?”
She froze at his words. Her eyes, narrowed to slits, were barely visible beneath her lashes.
Genna had been right.
After telling Toran how Nes was locked away in the Walled Prison, Genna had mentioned something else she thought might be relevant. That when she and Fell brought Nes into the prison, there had been a line of permanent prisoners waiting for a meal. And in that line, an old man had taken one look at Nes and the cuffs on her wrists and started shouting. Genna suspected the prisoner was close to Nes.
At first, the man refused to speak to Toran. But once Toran revealed who he was and how he had the authority to get Nes out of prison, he opened right up. He told Toran he’d deserted the King’s Guard rather than abandon his daughter. The man didn’t care if he spent the rest ofhis life in the Walled Prison for it, only that his daughter never shared his fate.
“I spoke to him. He’s a good man and was a good guard. Even if he is a deserter.”
“He’s a better father,” she hissed. “But the King’s Guard didn’t think that was reason enough for him to leave them.”
“We were wrong.”
“Saying so won’t make me agree to help you.”
“I didn’t think it would.”
She watched him, her eyes gathering storms. He hoped he could weather them.
