Page 12 of The Cursed and the Broken
At last, his lips curved with the slightest smirk. “I can only imagine the company a hellcat like you would keep. Hopefully, far away from me.” He looked at me dismissively, an almost bored expression plastered over his face. “Go home.”
I couldn’t leave yet. There’d be no way Mama would let me out of her sight after today’s events, and it was clear the villagers had no interest in sending a scout party.A witch who wanders is a witch forgotten.
If Hanna still lived, the winter nights or more of those strange wolves would soon take her.
I studied the stranger. He stared back blankly, arms crossed over his chest. And, fine, if he didn’t want to share, I could deal with that. But a witch was in danger. Our communities had always been friendly, and táltosok were honour-bound to assist a witch in need. Besides, any decent man worth his salt would help.
He turned his back to leave and I bit my lip. I needed help. My damned pride would just have to suffer the consequences. “Wait! I’m searching for someone in the woods. A witch. She’s been missing for several days.”
His shoulders stiffened and he turned his head ever so slightly towards me. I didn’t miss the strange look that crossed his face again—the way his brown eyes deepened, the flash of gold. He knew about Hanna’s disappearance, or at least that a witch was missing. Well, this was an interesting turn of events. Had the elders sent a message to the Wolfblood Clan?
He turned fully and my traitorous eyes scanned every inch of his back and perhaps a little lower. Those pants wore him like a glove.
“It’s too late to venture farther into the woods now. Wouldn’t want you to fall into a ditch or be ripped apart by wolves,” he said, his tone dripping sarcasm. “Come back tomorrow once a healer tends to you and your dog, and perhaps once the horse is found?”
His voice held a sharp edge I didn’t care for, but my cheeks heated with embarrassment.Damn you, Arló.
Huffing my irritation, I gently laid Laszlo’s head on a bed of leaves and stalked towards my dagger, wiping the bloodied blade on my leggings. Screw the táltos. I would do this with or without him. Drawing the dagger over my palm, I winced at the cold bite of steel on my skin. Blood dribbled down the blade and I wiped it on my slacks before sheathing it.
I sensed the man’s eyes on me, that dark gaze burning holes in my face and hands as they hovered over Laszlo’s wound.
Eyes closed, I concentrated my magic, willing my life force to impart energy, to give strength to my dog. I knew the stranger would see the swirling mist of gold funnelling into the bites on Laszlo’s neck, his flesh knitting together before turning a healthy pink. I had never shown this power to anyone beyond my family.
To do so now was reckless?foolish?and perhaps the rebel in me wanted to break the rules, to see the look on the man’s face as he saw my magic. How powerful I could be.
When I opened my eyes and saw a hungry glimmer in his own, a thrill shivered down my spine, and I smirked. Mission accomplished.
“Well, Freckles, aren’t you full of surprises?” he said as he prowled toward me, stopping to scratch Laszlo behind the ears. The dog only yawned lazily, as if awakening from a dream.
“Freckles?” I snorted. The muscles in his arm rippled as he tore a strip off his tunic and took my hand in his. His touch was surprisingly gentle given his hostility towards me. I narrowed my eyes as I watched him work, trying to ignore the callouses on his palms as they grazed my skin.
I sucked in a breath as he leaned mere inches from my face. He was close enough to kiss and my stomach jolted at the unfamiliar sensation firing through my lower belly. I wanted to reach out and trace the stubble on his jaw, but I let my hand flop like a limp noodle. This wasnotokay. I didn’t have time to be flirting with a dark and broody táltos. Especially one as entitled as him ... Even if his ass was impeccable or his jaw was sharp enough to—
“All done,” he announced after tying the bandage. Amusement rippled over his features when I snatched my hand back, but his face turned sombre, his brown eyes darkening as he stared at me. “Those wolves were sick. Tainted by a magic not meant for wild things. This is your last chance, witch. I won’t be there to watch your back and, if you die in there, I shan’t lose a wink of sleep over it.”
Gods, I’d never wanted to punch someone in the face so much. That ought to knock him down a peg. “If I’m such an inconvenience, why bother helping me at all?”
“You’re bleeding all over the forest,” he said matter-of-factly. “You may as well paint a sign on your back that says, ‘eat me’, and I don’t want to deal with more wolves in a blood frenzy while I’m around.”
I snatched my hand back.Of coursehe was only thinking of himself. “How very chivalrous of you,” I sneered. “I’d take the wolves’ company over yours any day. You give me the impression you’re just as likely to sink a blade between my shoulders as you are to support them,” I hissed. “Besides, I’ve been into the Sötét Erdo before, and I am not afraid.”
His eyes raked over my skin, settling on the bloodied bandage. “You should be.”
I bristled at his tone, the underlying current of danger that seemed to drape over his shoulders. “I am perfectly capable of protecting myself and I amnotgoing home without Hanna.”
He froze, almost preternaturally still for a split second at the mention of her name. His muscles relaxed just as quickly, but the crack in that beautiful facade was enough. Dread sluiced through my stomach.
“You know her, don’t you?”
His silence was deafening, only irritating me further. Worse, his brown eyes landed anywhere but my face. Suspicion, warm and syrupy, slid through my blood. “Did you hurt her?”
A coldness entered his expression, his full mouth hardening. “If you’re looking for someone to blame, witch, look to your own kind.”
My hackles rose, and I glowered at him. “I’m surprised you can walk straight with balls as big as yours. Maybe I should have let the wolves rip you to shreds, táltos. Aren’t they your spirit animals, after all? Next time, find a leash if you can’t tame them. Perhaps we can find you a matching collar.”
A muscle pulsed in his neck. “Those beasts were wild,” he said. “We train our wolves from pups. Now, if you’re done wasting my time, I have anywhere to be but here.”
“Prick,” I said under my breath.
