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Geraldine scooted closer to Cerise, seemingly unaffected by the heat or the golden glow still blazing from the younger witch’s body.

Then, for some reason, Geraldine halted and looked up at me, her eyes shrewd and calculating.

“What are you waiting for?” I demanded.

“I won’t give this to her until you swear you’ll let me go,” she said in a hard voice.

Rage and indignation rose up inside me. I snarled, drawing closer to her, but she raised the glass vial in the air.

“I’ll shatter it,” she warned. “Don’t take another step.”

I froze. Cerise’s screams grew more strangled, as if they were being ripped from her throat by force. Tears streamed down her face, mingling with the blood from her nose.

“Swear it!” Geraldine ordered.

I shook my head. I couldn’t. This awful witch had committed crimes against my people. She needed to be arrested and questioned. I couldn’t possibly let her go. Not with everything she knew about Wolven Mages and how to neutralize them.

Cerise’s entire chest was glowing gold now. The smoke was so thick I could hardly breathe. It smelled of rot and decay.

It smelled of death.

Cerise is going to die.

My pulse quickened, my breaths sharp and ragged. My head was spinning, and I couldn’t form a coherent thought.

Do your duty. You’re about to be king. Arresting this witch is more important than letting Cerise live.

Even as I tried to rationalize it, a soul-shattering agony crashed through me at the thought of watching Cerise die. It made my blood rage, my insides scream, my very essence rip in two.

I could not bear it. I would not survive it.

And I didn’t think Tavik would, either.

“Fine,” I bit out. Another droplet of blood leaked from my nose. “You have my word.”

Geraldine immediately poured the contents of the vial into Cerise’s open mouth. For a moment, Cerise made a gurgling sound as if she were choking. But Geraldine lifted her head, allowing her to swallow. Liquid bubbled from Cerise’s lips and dribbled down her chin, but she gulped loudly, downing most of it.

The golden glow instantly subsided, and the smoke cleared, although the stench of death lingered. Cerise fell silent, her body going still against the floor. Her chest rose and fell with coarse wheezes, as if her lungs were clogged.

“What did you give her?” I ground out, my eyes drilling into Geraldine, who was already rising to her feet.

She leveled a look at me, her eyes flashing with defiance. “Cerise knows the ingredients. Make sure she cooks up more of that tonic, or the same thing will happen tomorrow.”

I took a threatening step toward her. “You’d better give me some answers, witch, before I⁠—”

Geraldine flung her hands forward, and a burst of white light hit me squarely in the chest. I soared backward, crashing into the bookshelf against the wall. Wood splintered around me, and I groaned as I shoved piles of tattered books off my chest.

When I managed to break free, Geraldine was already gone. Distantly, I heard the loud crash of the metal door as the hatch swung shut.

Twenty-Four

THE WITCH

Kill them. Kill them all. Bury them. Destroy them.

In the recesses of my mind, I sensed a white wolf watching me from the shadows of the forest.

They must pay for their crimes. I must be set free.