Warrior Witch (The Malediction Trilogy #3)(32)

“Stones and sky! You’re supposed to be hiding in the mountains, not… not…” Lost for words, I gestured at the scene around us.

“I’m not hiding while some child-monster destroys my home,” she snapped. “I’ll leave that to his older brother.”

My jaw dropped and Chris stepped between us. “Good riding, Joss. Now get rid of the body and pull up the stakes. We’ll need them for the next trap we set.”

My sister winced. “There’s a problem with that.”

Chris frowned. “How so?”

She cast a sideways glance at Marc and the twins. “There’s some concern about getting too close to it.”

“Why?” Chris demanded. “You aren’t getting squeamish on me now, are you?”

“Hardly.” She sat up a bit straighter in the saddle. “But neither have I got stupid. No way I’m getting too close while the damn thing’s still alive.”





Chapter Nineteen





Cécile





“Albert, Albert, Albert,” Marc said, stopping at the edge of the pit. “And here I believed your loyalty was to His Majesty. When did you turn traitor?”

I crept up next to him, leaning over the edge to see the troll who had once chased me through the streets of Trollus and been shamed by Tristan for it. He hung suspended on one side, spikes skewering both legs, his torso, and one arm. Though nothing vital appeared hit, the blood pooling beneath him told me it was only a matter of time before he succumbed to his injuries.

He spat a bloodstained glob. “Should’ve guessed it would be you three idiots helping the humans.”

“Says the one who met his end by falling into a hole,” Victoria said. She and Vincent had flanked the other side of the pit in case the captive tried anything creative. “Did the humans dangle a pastry as bait over their trap, or were you just too stupid to watch where you were going?”

He swore at her, but she only kicked snow in his face.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Marc said.

Albert laughed, then ground his teeth together against the pain. “Months. Since Thibault showed his true colors and wed his human-lover of a son to that red-haired whore. Weaklings like that don’t belong on the throne. Guillaume and I both recognized that it was time to switch sides.”

I frowned, realizing that he didn’t recognize me through my disguise.

“I knew it,” he gasped out. “Knew it the moment Tristan stopped me from killing him,” his eyes went to Chris, “And then humiliated me for the sake of that stupid girl: the Duke was right about him being a sympathizer. Worse than a sympathizer, he was willingly bedding that nasty little creature. Was in love with it. And Thibault knew. Put up with Tristan’s proclivities and forgave his treason. That says something.” He coughed. “That means something.”

Marc didn’t react. “Where is the Duke?”

Albert grinned. “Somewhere you’ll never find him.”

“He doesn’t know,” Vincent said. “Angoulême wouldn’t trust his plans to a turncoat commoner. Those human recruits bending knee to Roland probably know as much.”

“Maybe they do and maybe they don’t,” Albert responded. “But if you think to get the information by torturing it out of me, you’re wrong. I. Won’t. Tell. I’m a dead man as it is.”

Whether he’d given an oath to the Duke or was that convinced of his own fortitude in the face of torture, he meant what he said. He was as bound to tell the truth as any of them. Part of me wanted to tell them to let him die, but the cost of my earlier cruelty was fresh in my mind. Such a slippery slope it was to become cavalier with life just because the life in question was that of my enemy. It was the attitude of Thibault and Angoulême, and if I was no different, how could I claim to be better?

My hand went to the two remaining perfume bottles in my satchel, and with a sigh, I gave Marc a little nudge with my elbow. “What about for the chance to live?”

The injured troll’s eyes bulged with recognition. “You.” His face contorted with effort. But Albert was not Ana?s or Tristan, and the iron piercing his body kept him in check.

“That’s the offer,” I said. “Tell us where the Duke is hiding, and I’ll save your life.” I’d save it anyway, even if was for only as long as it took for him to go to trial for his actions. “I’ll even heal you first as a token of goodwill.”

Hope flashed across his face and I knew I’d offered the one thing that would cause him to betray the Duke. But my elation lasted only for a second, then he lifted his head and drove it down on the spike beneath it.

I clapped a hand over my mouth, wanting to turn away from the sight but forcing myself to bear witness to this latest victim of my actions.

“Angoulême wouldn’t have taken a traitor into the fold without oaths that ensured his loyalty,” Marc said, resting a hand on my shoulder. “He was a dead man regardless.”

I turned out of his grip and walked some distance away before resting my forehead against a tree, the frozen sap digging into my skin. Chris’s orders to remove the spikes and bury the body in the pit reached my ears but barely registered.

Snow crunched behind me. “Did you know him?” Joss asked.