The Witch Hunter (The Witch Hunter #1)(33)

“Just let me go,” I say. “I can be out that door and gone within minutes. No one has to know. It’s nothing to you.”

“It’s not nothing to me.” He peers at me through his fingers. “You make it sound as if you’re here by mistake. It’s not a mistake. You’re here for a reason.”

“Yes. Because your seer is naming witch hunters,” I say. “So you can find them and kill them.”

“You’re not here for that,” George says.

“You don’t know that,” I say. “Nicholas said he didn’t know why I was here.”

“That’s not exactly true.”

I narrow my eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Then I can’t stay.” I start toward the door.

“Stop.” He sticks his leg out in front of me. “I’ll tell you. You’re here because Nicholas needs to find something. Whatever it is, it’s important. According to Veda, you’re the only one who can get it.”

“What?” This makes no sense. “What could I possibly find for him? He’s a wizard and I’m a witch hunter, and—oh.” I finally catch on. “It has to do with his curse, doesn’t it?”

George scowls. “How d’you know about that?”

“John told me.” He raises his eyebrows at that. But I go on. “So that’s it, isn’t it? There’s a wizard cursing Nicholas, and you want me to find him and take him out?”

He shrugs. “I dunno. I mean, now that I know what you are, it seems the most likely possibility. We’ll find out for sure tonight.”

I shake my head. “I’m sorry,” I say. “I can’t find your wizard for you. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m in a lot of trouble. I have to get out of here.”

“How exactly d’you plan on doing that?” George says. “You’re the most wanted person in the country. They’ll be looking for you.”

“I know that!” I say. “Why do you think I was trying to take Nicholas’s stuff?”

“To fulfill your dream of opening a china shop?”

I glare at him. “I don’t have time for this.” I move toward the door again. “You’ll just have to get someone else to find your wizard for you.”

George gets to his feet and steps in front of me. “You know I can’t let you do that.”

I sigh. “I don’t want to hurt you, George. But if you get in my way, I will.”

He holds up his hands but doesn’t move. “You want to leave. I get that. If I were you, I’d want that, too. But you have no clothes, no weapons. And no money to get those things.”

“No thanks to you,” I mutter.

“Even if you did, you have no safe way to get around. With the reward they’re offering, you’ll have people after you everywhere you turn. Pirates, hirelings, mercenaries—”

“I can take them.”

“Yes, but for how long? Long enough to make it across the country? All the way to Gaul? That’s where you’re going, isn’t it?”

I don’t reply.

“We can help you,” George continues. “If you did this for us, if you helped us find the wizard cursing Nicholas and stop him, I reckon he’d give you whatever you want.”

It’s a tempting offer. Still, I hesitate. Finding the wizard isn’t the concern; I could do that with ease. It’s not that Blackwell is after me; he’s after me anyway. It’s not even Caleb.

There’s something else bothering me. Finally, I land on it.

“Why me?” I say. “There are other witch hunters who could have done the job for you. Ones you wouldn’t have had to break out of jail, or who weren’t wanted criminals. I’m sure you could have found someone willing.” Not Caleb, of course. But I can think of several others who might’ve done it. For the right price, anyway.

“I don’t know why you, either,” George says. “You heard Peter. We thought you were a mistake. If we’d gotten to you earlier, when we were supposed to, none of this would have happened. It didn’t make it easy on us, either.”

“Why didn’t Nicholas just tell me this?”

George’s eyes widen. “Didn’t know you were a witch hunter, did he? Thinks you’re an innocent girl, doesn’t he?” He shakes his head. “I’ll tell you, you had us all fooled. I thought you were a spy. Fifer and Nicholas think you’re a witch. And John…”

“John what?”

“He just thinks you’re a mistake. That’s all.”

“Oh.” This bothers me for a moment, but I shake it off.

“As I say, Nicholas doesn’t know what you’re supposed to find,” George continues. “He hasn’t told you what he does know because he thought you were too fragile to take it.”

“Fragile?” I scoff. “I could kill you right now, using only my thumb.”

To my surprise, this makes him laugh. “Aye. But have you looked in the mirror lately?”

I ignore this. “So that’s it, then? I just have to help him find this wizard?”

He nods.

I consider it. As much as I hate to admit it, I do need help. That much hasn’t changed. I still need a way to leave the country and money to do it with. And it might not be a bad idea to have Nicholas’s protection. He’s been in exile a long time and managed to keep Blackwell at bay. Maybe he can do the same for me. If I had to guess, I’m going to be in exile for a long time, too.