WitchHunter ✔️

Dual Curse

A longer chapter, since the last one was so short.

Ace

The Kreikens weren't helpful. Their Par'lok are all women with long, straight brown hair and downcast eyes. Hale hasn't spoken to me once since our disagreement about my role, and Cozen keeps giving Candor a look, like he knows his brother is hiding something. My head stays buried in my cloak. No one seems to know anything about a lochri; it may have been faulty information. Even so, Hale is the best Hunter on Haven and he won't let the rumor die until he has exhausted it.

I open the door to our room, our search conceded to the darkness long after the last remnants of sun dipped below the horizon. The boys drag along behind me, all of us weary after a long day out in the cold port wind, having made no progress.

I throw my pack on my bed. The Cleansing Festival would begin tomorrow, and in just three days, the parade would take place on Cleansing day. We need to be done here so we have a day to ride back. Riding through the night would be rough on all of us.

Something makes contact with my back and I am shoved roughly against the wall. His forearm presses hard against the back of my neck, the hood of my cloak preventing his skin from touching mine. His body holds mine in place, my face against the cool wall. "Don't you ever say no to me again."

I turn my head, his face now visible from the corner of my eye. I try to tamp down my rage, but he's too close. I can feel it boiling in my stomach, bubbling up my throat. I grit my teeth. "All due respect, My Lord, but that's not my job."

His voice is unnecessarily loud, angry. "It is your duty-"

"To report!" I interrupt, matching his anger. I push off the wall just enough to face him, his arm pressing against my collarbone. "It is not my duty to bat my eyes and sway my hips like a Menagerie whore!" I fix my angry eyes upon his.

"Do not make the mistake of attempting to make a fool out of me, Ace."

"Only you have the power to do that, My Lord."

"Hold your tongue, girl. One word from me and Velius drops you. All you've worked for, your livelihood, gone, and you get demoted to a slave who sleeps in the stables."

"I've been the Ace in his pocket for years, WitchHunter. Don't think our relationship is anything but symbiotic." It's a bluff, but a good one. I know Hale probably does have the power to get me demoted, and definitely send me to Vjengardta. But he has this way of getting me angry. It isn't just anger. It's rage. How dare he threaten me?

"You're replaceable. He has me now. I can protect him better than you can."

"That's funny. I seem to remember it being me who took out 4 of the men who ambushed us in the woods, an ambush that you brushed off as me being too cautious, by the way. How many of them did you kill?"

"So strong, and yet a single brush of my skin sent you throwing yourself into the sea. What would Velius think of that?" He moves quickly, his thinly veiled threat chilling my blood, his hand wrapping around my sleeved wrist before I can break free. He holds it up above my head, using his free hand to rip my glove off, throwing it to the floor and exposing my pale skin. My breath catches, but I keep my eyes level with his, though my toes curl in my slippers and my tongue presses harshly to the back of my teeth.

His eyes bore into mine, the other two Hunters in the room long forgotten. His hand squeezes my wrist so hard I swear he will crush it, and I clench my opposite fist at my side. "I was planning to thank you for not outing my secret to Velius. I see now that you were merely intent on keeping it to hold over my head. What a fool to believe Hale Arsen has a single decent bone in his body." My voice wavers, thick with tears hidden away in the back of my throat. "Go on then.'' I nod up at my hand. "Send me into the sea. Maybe if you're lucky I won't come back up."