Page 16 of The Cursed and the Broken
My eyes drifted to Hanna once again and, begrudgingly, I realised he was right. Her body was too bloated for the murder to be recent. The signs of rot—not to mention the stench and the parts mauled by animals—were too far along to ignore. And to my knowledge, táltosok could not harness magic of this magnitude.
He was a warrior, of that I had no doubt, but this ritual went beyond the skills of any soldier, or indeed any magic I’d ever seen or heard of. Unless he had help from others, this wasn’t the work of a táltos.
I let my guard down just a little but kept my distance. “Even if you’re telling the truth, I still don’t trust you. You may not have killed her, but you were the reason she was in the woods in the first place. A good man—an honourable man—wouldn’t lure another man’s bride out here. ”
He sneered. “I couldn’t give two shits what you think of me or my arrangement with Hanna, but I didn’t do this. I might not have cared for Hanna in the way that she wanted, but I would never have hurt her. She didn’t deserve this.”
I stared at him for a long minute. His eyes shone but he didn’t shift under my gaze. In fact, he seemed entirely unphased by my scrutiny. Nothing about his expression suggested he was lying.
Sighing, I scrubbed my eyes. Exhaustion dragged at my bones, and all I wanted was to wash the blood off and curl up in my bed. Seeing Hanna like that was not something I’d easily forget. The táltos was right. Hanna didn’t deserve this fate—no one did.
“I’m going home,” I said suddenly, storming towards my dagger and yanking it from the tree trunk. I returned it to my belt along with the one on the ground. “I need to see my family.”
“Wait.” His hand snaked out, grasping my wrist. I growled a warning, but he went on undeterred. “You should know, there are rumours of other girls’ bodies being found in similar fashions. This isn’t the first ritual to take place.”
“What?” I took a shuddering breath, the hostility towards him blinking out as shock surged through my bones. “Why hasn’t your leader conferred with the elders?”
He blinked before schooling his features into indifference. “I was under the impression he had. Whoever is doing this is targeting witches. Stayawayfrom the woods unless you want to end up like Hanna.”
A tremor rolled through me. The other girls weren’t just missing, they were dead. I knew deep in my bones it was the truth. But why would someone want to harm the witches in my coven? And if Farkas—the Wolfblood leader—had told the council about these rumours, why hadn’t the elders informed the villagers?
I thought of Death’s warning. Of the lies circling my life. But how deep did they go? And why was this insufferable man warning me? It was clear he didn’t like me much.
I rubbed one wrist and then the other, sweeping my thumb over the bone. The feeling was mutual.
Feeling defeated from the day and utterly done with this man, I glared at him, raising my blade in earnest. I didn’t trust him, and I certainly didn’t want to be around him anymore. In fact, I’d be happy if I never saw him again.
“Get out of these woods,” I said in a low voice. “You’re in my territory now, and if I see you near a witch again, I won’t hesitate to drive this blade through your heart.”
SEVEN
“Kitarni Alexandra Bárány, where haveyou been!?”
My mother’s voice bellowed from the front door of our cottage, and I winced at her posture; hands ground into her hips, eyes glaring murderously as I skulked up the path towards her. Using my full name … she meant business.
It was well past dusk now, which meant whatever lies Eszter had told in my stead, Mama would have long since ironed out.
Eszter peeked out from behind my mother’s frazzled hair, but one glance from Mama had her shrinking back into the home. Bolstering my defences, I stepped before her, head bowed, and shoulders slumped as I awaited punishment.
“You look like hell,” she said, perusing my filthy tunic, my bandaged hand and the wild hair. Who knows what filth covered my face? I hoped there was no blood or ash.
“I’m okay, just a few bumps and bruises, nothing serious. Arló is missing, though. He bolted in the woods and—”
“That skittish horse of yours returned hours ago, looking like he’d seen the devil himself. How do you think that made me feel, hmm? Seeing him riderless and terrified. I had all kinds of ill thoughts running through my mind! I was just about to march into the woods myself.”
Gods, I hadn’t even considered what drastic actions she might resort to had I arrived any later. “I’m so sorry Mama.” My heart felt empty, my head heavy with the image of Hanna sprawled out over the forest floor.
Mama looked long and hard into my eyes and apparently found what she was looking for because she nodded sharply, just once. We stood and stared at each other after that, and I waited for the hammer to fall.
To my surprise, Mama burst into tears, hauling me into her arms and clutching at my tunic as if it were my last day on Earth. “Good gods, girl, you scared me half to death. Don’t do that to me again. Please.” She huffed between sobs. “Please.”
Hearing her so distraught sent guilt spearing through my stomach. I had never been the perfect daughter, was always in trouble, but this was different. Despite the shock of the day, I wouldn’t change what I’d done, but I regretted causing my mother such stress.
I nestled into her hair, which smelled faintly of lavender. Mama’s hugs felt like home. Her skin felt like a little hearth where it pressed against me. I hadn’t realised how cold I was. From shock or the weather, who knew?
Finding Hanna had been horrifying and, even more so, the implications behind it. I knew, despite my reservations and the bizarre circumstances, that my strange companion had been telling the truth today. Not the whole truth, perhaps, but I believed he hadn’t been the one to murder Hanna. What motive did he have? He clearly hadn’t cared much for her, so he had no reason to have been jealous over a bridegroom or vengeful that she was marrying another. And the power used was beyond that asshole’s skillset.
Someone who could practice with dark magic was doing this to witches in our village, and this knowledge? It was armour. A way to prevent it from happening again.
