Page 103 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

“This could all just be a trap,” I realized. “Cordelia wants us dead for defying her, but this way, she gets the chimera too.”

Cady toyed with the burned ends of her hair. “But she could’ve just killed you and snagged the chimera herself.”

“The High Witch isn’t revered only because she’s powerful,” Ryder argued. “Like the other Leaders, she’s supposed to be fair and just. Her punishments are public, soher actions can be rebutted. Her power is derived from the obedience of all witches.”

“Freya didn’t make me into a monster,” I said, “so she can’t really kill us for that. She needs a better reason.”

“If we defy her direct orders and free a prisoner from her dungeons,” Freya continued, “that’s a good reason for all of us to end up dead.”

As that terrifying thought settled over us, familiar dread turned my stomach.

“Everyone fears the chimera,” Cady said, “but why? Is it reallyfairfor us to be punished for saving someone who hasn’t done anything wrong?”

“No,” Freya said, “it isn’t. And that might just be our saving grace.”

“What do you mean?” Cady asked.

“If we can prove to the rest of the world that Elle isn’t a monster,” Freya said, “then we might be able to get the Leaders to stop their persecution of her.”

“How are you so certain she’s redeemable?” Ryder growled. “You were fully prepared to leave her at the High Witch’s mercy before.”

Freya swallowed and met Ryder’s blazing amber gaze.

“Because,” she said softly, “she’s the soulmate of one of my closest friends. She can’t be evil.”

Ryder swallowed and turned away.

“So,” Cady mused, “all we have to do is find the High Witch’s secret lair, break in, get Elle free, escape, and prove to the world a girl we barely know isn’t a monster?”

My sister,I thought,never one to sugarcoat ugly realities.

“Pretty much,” Freya agreed.

Ryder’s voice was gravelly. “How soon can Arion run?”

Freya crouched beside her slumbering familiar and stroked her hand down his blood-stained, calico back.

“He’s never been so gravely wounded,” she said, and her upper lip curled in disgust. “Those cowards attacked without giving him a chance to shift. Allow him a couple more hours of rest, and he’ll be ready.”

Ryder growled. “How do we know the High Witch won’t use that time tokillher?”

“We don’t,” Freya replied and ignored Ryder’s bared teeth. “But it would make no sense for her to do so. If she wanted Elle dead, she could’ve easily ordered us to kill her. Cordelia could’ve killed her here. She didn’t.”

Mollified, Ryder resumed his pacing. As Freya sat beside her sleeping familiar, her eyes drooped, and I wondered if the additional time for rest was as much for her sake as it was for Arion’s.

Before Cady could settle against one of the ash-covered trees, I pulled her aside, deeper into the charred remains of the jungle. The remnants of dirt and honey on her skin stuck to my fingers.

“Yuck,” I teased, “shower much?”

Cady stuck her tongue out at me. “You know, you didn’t look too great after your near-death experience either. You certainly don’t look too good after your conversation with Freya.”

I stiffened, and Cady poked me in the stomach.

“What happened?” she asked. “It better not be about me. You know Freya would never intentionally put me in danger—”

“It’s not,” I insisted and ruffled her hair. “That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Okay,” she said slowly and crossed her arms. “What is it?”

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