I stood my ground in the doorway. “I don’t think we need to—”
Ryder shoved past me and stepped inside. I gaped up at him, appalled that he would step into another trap so easily. Why was he so damn stupid when it came to women?
“Ma’am, we need to ask you about a curse you wrought for someone in my pack,” I said from the doorway.
The witch ignored me. She approached a metal bar cart at the other end of the room and began mixing herself a drink. It didn’t have the shimmer of arcana that Cerri’s potions did, so I relaxed a bit. The witch turned, cradling her drink in one hand and a tarot deck in the other.
She lifted a brow at me. “What makes you think I’ll tell you anything? I don’t know you. What I can do is offer you my services, though. If you would like a reading or a hex of your own, then I can help you.”
I stomped inside, dug the cursed stone from my pocket, and shoved it at her. At first, she didn’t bat an eyelash. Then, as she took it in, she slowly tilted her head. When she plucked it from my palm, she lifted it to the light to study it.
When she lowered her gaze to meet mine, she asked, “Who broke this curse? Tell me that, and I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
I bit my tongue. Though I wanted to know more about the curse, I did not want to give up my friends’ secrets. I couldn’t go tell everyone about Cerri or Addie. Hell, I didn’t even know what Addie could do. Her arcana was a secret to me. She did not like talking about it with anyone.
The witch watched me intently. The corners of her mouth lifted like she knew she had me cornered. If I wouldn’t give up what I knew, then she could keep her own secrets. Did I really have to know what Harvey had planned with the cursed stone?
I was tempted to tell her that I’d done it, but I needed more information from this witch. If she knew anything about Black Hounds, then I couldn’t lie to her because she would know.
“I saved you from the recompense from that curse,” I said, instead. “You could have suffered the karmic fallout, but now there’s no curse to worry about.”
She grinned. The sensation of bugs crawling up my skin returned. I shuddered and suppressed the urge to rub my arms or scratch at my scalp.
She cackled. “You’re funny. Do you really think I would sell curses and hexes with the threat of recompense over my head? I work hard to protect myself from such things. Even now, should you attack me, the insects would burrow into your skin. Not even your shifter healing would protect you from my wards.”
Ryder stepped up behind me. His growl filled the room. I glanced back, surprised. His burning gaze had settled on the witch.
The witch’s eyes widened excitedly. She took my hand. She darted forward and snatched Ryder’s, too, before he could escape. She peered at our palms one by one, then turned them over. When she brought our hands close to her lips and breathed on our skin, I shuddered.
Arcana sparked in the air like tiny stars. For a moment, I swore I could see the whole cosmos. Every constellation shimmered around us. The ground fell away beneath my feet and sent me plummeting through every possibility Fate ever considered.
Then my feet hit the ground again. I swayed uncertainly before straightening my spine. When I went to rip my hand away from the witch’s grasp, I paused. A jagged lightning bolt glowed on the back of my hand. The same one glowed on Ryder’s hand, too.
“Fate has bound the two of you together,” the witch said, smugly. “Oh, this is hilarious. If you think that either of you could walk away from one another after this, then you’re wrong.”
Ryder yanked his hand from the witch’s grasp. He backed away, his face twisted with rage all the while. I gaped at him, but he ignored me. Before anyone could say anything else, he lurched out the door. It slammed behind him, leaving my ears ringing.
“He’s got a lot to deal with,” The witch said with a shake of her head. “If he doesn’t deal with his guilt, it will taint his beast, and he’ll fall to the same fate as his father. It makes one wonder what his father was guilty of.”
I blinked, trying to process the witch’s words. Why were witches always so ominous? Everything they said left me slightly off balance.
Shaking myself, I turned my attention back to her. Words sat on the tip of my tongue, but they wouldn’t come out. I did not want to put myself into debt with a witch. Ryder had made his own mistake with the fae queen. I would not do that here.
But the witch read me like an open book.
“Thanks for the warning,” I mumbled.
She grabbed my wrist. “Don’t go running off on me. You owe me for the reading.”
A growl rumbled in my chest, but before I could say anything, pain flared hot across my skin. It felt as though I were being ripped open in a hundred different ways. I opened my mouth to scream, but only a hoarse moan left me.
No. I was done with people trying to bend me to their will. Through the pain, I forced myself upright. I clenched my jaw and focused my ire on the witch. Her eyes widened. She snapped back, but not before lightning leapt from me to her.
It made her stiffen for a brief moment. In that time, the pain of her ward eased. My skin ached, but no longer felt like it was being shredded. I took a step back, away from the witch.
“You’re a strange mutt,” she said between clenched teeth as she doubled over, her hands braced on her knees.
“Yeah, I’ve been told that a few times now. I take it that means you don’t know what I am.” My hopes sank.