How many witches had worn these irons? Rowan wondered. They were old and crude, two thick cuffs that wrapped around her wrists and a heavy chain about six inches in length to connect them. The metal was black, slightly pitted. There were symbols scratched into the surface that she didn’t recognize. She wasn’t sure if the Church had placed them there, or witches who’d worn them while they waited to be branded.
Already, the skin on her wrists chafed. In another day she’d be raw. She wondered if she’d make it out of the woods before the infection set in. Things seemed to become infected easily in the woods.
She hoped Sol was all right. No one would even tell her if he was still alive.
They’d pulled him away from her immediately. The captain of the patrol had kept the crossbow pointed at her while his men roughly checked her for weapons. Someone had pressed a blade to her neck while another ran his hands over her body. Two others had carried Sol off. Another man locked the cuffs aroundher wrists, and it was only then that the captain had lowered the crossbow.
They’d hauled her beneath the patch of poisoned pine trees with the foul-smelling patchy fog all around. She wanted to sit beneath the alders and try to understand what had happened.
The golden threads…
That strange green light…
The trees had protected her somehow. They’d never done anything like that before.
If Casrian had been here, she might have asked him what he thought, but Casrian wasn’t here. She was stuck with Emrys Shaw, captain of the patrol that had been called in as reinforcements.
The young, black-haired soldier sat across from her on a moss-covered log, studying her with hard, glittering eyes. She was on the damp ground with moisture seeping through her clothes. She’d landed in the mud during the fight and was covered in decayed vegetation. Her hair straggled around her face, and there was a patch of inky blood on her leg from the familiar. She probably actually did look like a witch.
“What are you doing out here in the woods, Mistress Yahl?”
She dragged in a deep breath. “I told you. Captain Dain hired me to act as his guide when he was separated from his patrol. We found them, but Sol was injured, so I was getting him out. Is Sol all right? I have training as a healer. I can help him.”
Emrys ignored her question. “Where is the lost patrol now?”
“They’re going after the witch. There is a fort?—”
Emrys’s green eyes narrowed. “They called for reinforcements. Why wouldn’t they wait?”
“They lost two men,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady. “Another is missing. They worried that if they waited it would be too late for Asher. You can ask Sol if you don’t believe me.”
Unless Sol was dead.
Emrys swept a skeptical look over her. “I was at the Academy with Dain. We’ve served together for years. I’ve never known him to place a civilian in danger unnecessarily. He wouldn’t have hired you as a guide.”
“He didn’t have a choice. There wasn’t anyone else to go. We made a deal that I would show him the way to the old fort. It’s where Casrian thinks the nest is.”
“Casrian? You speak of him with unusual familiarity for a hired guide.”
“We’ve been together for days.”
He raised one black brow. “We are talking about the same man? Tall? Blond hair? Has never once strayed from the letter of the law? You expect me to believethatCasrian Dain would take a civilian guide—a woman—alone with him into the Black Woods?”
“Yes,thatCasrian Dain. The one who climbed from his deathbed to go save his men. If you think a pair of breasts was going to stop him, maybe you’re the one who doesn’t really know him.”
Emrys actually smirked at that, but his eyes didn’t soften. “How badly was he injured?”
“He had three gashes across his chest from a familiar’s claws. He lost a lot of blood and the wound became infected. He was unconscious for two days.”
Exasperation crossed his face. “He should have waited.”
“His men were in danger.”
Emrys stared at her for a long moment. “Why would he trust you to go with him?”
“I know the woods. I know the way to the fort.”
Emrys’s brows rose. “Knowing where the witch’s nest is located makes you more suspect, not less. Why would he trustyou?”
