Page 68 of Beneath the Cursed Veil

“We already made a deal. She’s bound by the terms as well.”

Kaia narrowed her eyes, still not looking at me. “One wrong move, you die.”

The witch let out a cackle. “I think you will find I am no easy kill, but that’s neither here nor there. I agreed to make a portal to the woman, and I will.” She extended the athame, hilt first. I stepped around Kaia, taking it.

Without fanfare, I dragged the blade across the meat of my palm. Blood welled at the cut. The witch grabbed my wrist and muttered a spell under her breath, in a language I didn’t recognize. Her free hand pressed against mine, palm to palm, then she extended it away from us.

Black smoke poured from the bloody print, creating a sibling vortex in seconds. The witch stepped to the side and motioned to the portal.

“As requested.”

Kaia grabbed my arm when I moved closer to it.

“Until Drayden returns, someone needs to be at the castle while the search for Damon is underway.”

“Stay.” I nodded. “Corvo can find me. If there’s trouble, I’ll send word.”

Her hand dropped away. “Be careful, Vareck.”

“Always.”

Then I walked into the portal, and I didn’t look back.

Chapter 23

Meera

The unsteady motion of the covered wagon jolted me awake from my groggy state. I flinched as a wheel dipped into a rut in the road, then groaned as my head hit something hard behind me. I tried to focus, pushing away the nausea, but it was no use. I felt as though I were hungover, unable to distinguish one blurry shape from the next. I closed my eyes, hoping this was all just a bad dream.

Time crawled slowly, taking what felt like an eternity before I was willing to peek through my eyelids again. I moved my hands up to rub at the corner of my mouth when I realized both hands were bound.

The lead up to my predicament came crashing back to me. The twins. The food. The overwhelming loss of my motor functions, all while my mind was intact, knowing I was being dragged from the safety of the palace.

Vareck.

Did he know I was gone? Did he think I’d left him? No, Corvo saw me right before the portal closed. Or was that something I had imagined as I’d lost consciousness?Now I wasn’t so sure.

I could officially say, what goes around comes around. There was a cosmic sort of irony that after kidnapping someone, I got to be on the other side of it.

I glanced up, catching sight of one of the twins sitting across from me. Gin was sketching something in a book, his left hand loosely holding a piece of charcoal.

“You,” I groaned, fighting against the pull of sleep. I touched my neck, feeling the chain of the necklace still wrapped around me. Of course it was still there. Whatever they wanted me for wasn’t so they could steal my jewelry. Still, no magic meant no persuasion, which translated to a whole lot of nothing. So much for rescuing myself.

“Welcome back,” Gin said, not bothering to look up from his sketch. He was out of his royal servant’s clothes now, dressed mostly in furs with a deep green cloak. He finished one final line, closing the book and setting it next to him before pulling on his glove. “How are you feeling?”

“I’d probably feel better if you hadn’t drugged me and knocked me out,” I mumbled, wincing at the pounding in my head. The small fae chuckled, leaning back.

“It’s all business. Sorry about that.” Gin searched his belt, pulling out a canteen. He tossed it across the wagon, and I managed to catch the flask between my tied hands, eyeing it suspiciously since the last thing he’d given me led to our current arrangement.

“It’s not drugged,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“That’s what all the captors say.” He stared at me while I considered my options. My mouth was dry and sticky and being dehydrated wouldn’t make my odds of escape any easier. Taking my chances, I unscrewed the top and took a swig of the water, silently praying to the gods it was clean and that I wasn’t about to pass out again. I gulped down more, coughing before I spoke up.

“Told you it was fine.”

“That remains to be seen.” I shook the canteen, gauging how much was left. “You plan on telling me why I’ve been kidnapped again?” The question wasn’t something I expected him to answer, but it was worth asking. I swished another mouthful of water around, letting it soak onto my parched tongue before closing the flask and tossing it back to Gin.

He quirked a brow as he caught it with his gloved hands, then placed it back at his side. “What do you mean, again? Is getting kidnapped a normal occurrence for you?”

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