Page 11 of The Fearless Witch

“Is that what you really want to know?” When I didn’t reply, he sighed dramatically. “Cutting things calms me. I figured you’d wake in a better mood if surrounded by kindling rather than dead bodies.” Turning around to face me, he crossed his arms and cocked an eyebrow. “Was I wrong?”

The image of him slicing people with that ax flashed before my eyes, and I shuddered. He inclined his head toward the fireplace where the flames were dancing merrily in their confines, and I realized he must have thought it was the cold that prompted that reaction. Not wanting to correct him, I drew closer to the hearth, keeping him within my sight.

“Is Regina…?”

“Dead?” he finished readily, the smile returning to his lips. “Quite so.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, waiting for the relief to come, but all I could feel was dread. “Did you…?”

“Kill her? Unfortunately not,” he finished again, and before I could ask another question, he continued. “Yes, the bond transferred to you. Yes, you are alive because of me.” His eyes bore into mine and he opened his arms, his smirk growing even more arrogant. “Yes, you’re welcome to show me your gratitude in any way you see fit.”

Too busy processing this bizarre situation, I didn’t even acknowledge his quip, which seemed to sour his amusement. I opened my mouth several times, sifting through all the questions that were demanding to come out, but there was something unsettling in his perfectly relaxed posture and a taunting smile that was rubbing me the wrong way. That was the biggest problem with Mathias—apart from his violent tendencies—I could never tell what he was thinking.

“Why?” I finally asked, reaching for the comfort of my magic. With its calming presence around me, I searched for that bond until I found… something—a tangible thread that felt like a weak, unstable bridge between my mind and another place, shrouded in darkness and mist but oddly inviting.

“Why what? Why did I save you?” I nodded. “Why do you think I saved you, Samara?” I didn’t answer, and he let out an exasperated sigh while he slumped into the chair behind him, draping an arm over the backrest. “I think you already know why.”

I wanted to throw something at him. It was obvious he knew more about the bond and didn’t want to tell me, but I wasn’t going to fall for his obvious ploy. So I changed the subject.

“You promised me answers.”

He rolled his eyes as the front legs of his chair clanked against the ground. I tried my best to not show my relief when he didn’t get angry or try to smite me and as we watched each other from across the room, I felt my mind settle down. He had saved me and he wasn’t attacking me, so for some reason, I was safe. For now. I just needed to gather more information about what was going on before deciding how to handle him.

“Well?” I cleared my throat, crossing my arms impatiently.

“Fine.” He huffed a breath, waving his hand with a bored expression. “Ask your questions.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it. There were so many things I wanted to know, but I had to be careful. I didn’t want to talk about the bond or he might demand I free him, and I needed to find out if anyone was aware of our involvement in Regina’s demise. If the witches knew, there would be no going back for me. They’d hunt me down and everyone I cared ab…

My family! They’d hunt them and use them against me. I wasn’t sure how many people knew about them already, but…

“I thought you wanted answers,” Mathias hemmed, a note of frustration making its way into his voice. I snapped out of my thoughts, veering toward the safest topic I could think of.

“Who is Mariam and what does she want with me?”

The smile froze on his lips for a second before he pushed himself up and neared the fire. I forced myself to stay still, watching him shove the logs with the fire hook while the embers rolled around. He looked so mesmerized by the sight that he didn’t even blink as he spoke.

“Mariam is an abomination.” His voice was quiet, bitter, and filled with something that almost felt like uneasiness. He shoved the fire one more time, then dropped the poker and turned to face me. “And yes, I see the irony of that coming from me, but while male witches are rare, we do not break the laws of nature.” He grimaced. “She broke every single one of them. Even the Ancient one’s existence is far less problematic than what Mariam is.”

I gaped. An abomination? Breaking the laws of nature? Her existence was less problematic than that of the oldest witch in the world who couldn’t even die permanently? That made no sense!

“I don’t like riddles,” I said through gritted teeth.

“I can do and see things you witches can’t.” Mathias shrugged, crossing his arms and leaning on the wall by the mantelpiece. “I can see energy differently, feel its flow, and use it in a way you could never fathom. I can make myself untraceable even as I stand before you…” In the blink of an eye, he was gone, his presence in the room vanishing. A second later, he reappeared beside the table again, sitting comfortably in his chair with his legs crossed at the ankle. “I can also see through all kinds of magic—witch, Fae, even pure demonic and angelic power.” I opened my mouth to ask what he meant, but his look stopped me. “And I can recognize creatures, vessels, enchantments and… abominations.”

He paused again, but this time I didn’t bother interrupting.

“Mariam was once a witch like you,” he said, leaning his chin on his hand. “In fact, you are so much alike, you share the same blood.”

“What?” I gasped.

“Your mother was adopted, right?” he asked and barely waited for me to nod before continuing. “Somewhere in her bloodline, she must have had a Castle relative.” My mouth turned dry. The Castles were an old bloodline, how would they let a child escape their grasp without following up on their descendants? Not every female manifested powers, but as long as they came from a magical bloodline, a powerful witch could still be born generations later. “You were lucky—or unlucky, rather, because your magic was why Regina snatched you away in the first place.” His words pulled me back from my thoughts, and I frowned in confusion. What was he talking about? “You see, you were never attacked and saved by her. You were attacked by her. She wiped your memories and replaced them with lies.”

My jaw dropped, and I just stared at him, unable to recall how my mouth worked. I barely had any recollection of that night, just fragments of destruction, screaming, and pain—my pain. I had assumed Regina lied about a lot of things, but that… I never thought she lied about saving me.

“...back to my story,” Mathias went on and I tried my best to focus on him again. “She took you because you had magic and because of your blood. She made you her Second because you were the only one compatible with the role she had you play. You see, only someone from the Castle bloodline can form a bond with me.”

“We are related too?” I whispered, my eyes growing wider.

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