Witch Born (21 page)

“If we are where I think and we keep up this speed, perhaps four days. If the
Sea Witch
can handle the strain.” The last bit was nearly lost in the clamor.

The realization hit her that their journey had finally started. Now Senna could start planning in earnest. She and Reden leaned over the map on the table, studying Tarten. This was the second time she’d had to cross the Darkwell Sea to confront Espen.

Joshen pulled off his cloak and hung it over the back of a chair. “Senna, the Discipline Heads weren’t exaggerating. There’s a price on every Witch’s head. Especially yours. If we really have to find these foreign Witches, fine. But two landings in Tarten are an unnecessary risk.”

Anger prickled up Senna’s spine. She wondered if her mother and father had these same arguments. The safety of the world balanced against personal safety. She wondered if things had been different in Lilette’s day, when the world had reverenced Witches.

Reden frowned at Joshen. “We’re going to Espen because Senna knows where these foreign Witches are. We’re going to Kaen’s because she needs to be inland for the song to be the most effective, and Espen’s realm is too risky. Plus we can check on her friends.”

Senna was impressed with Reden’s knowledge of how Witch song worked.

Joshen pressed his palms into the back of the chair, clearly unhappy. “And then?”

Senna took a deep breath to calm herself. “We discover what we can and warn the Heads.”

Reden looked between the two and then headed for the door. “Well, now that’s settled, I’m going to see if I can round up some dry clothes. Then I have to test this brother Mistin brought along, see if he’ll be of any use to us.”

Senna shivered as the wind snaked through the closing door and cut through her damp clothes. She curled her arms around herself. Even her bones felt cold.

Joshen started rummaging around in her satchel. “You’re shivering. We need to get you out of those wet clothes.”

He found her spare shift and dress and turned around. She pulled her clothes off. They landed with a wet plop on the floor. Hauling on the dry ones, she marveled at how warm they felt over her chilled skin. She sighed and twisted her wet hair up, wrapping a cord around it to hold it off her neck.

Already, the salt was irritating her skin, but a bath would have to wait.

She heard him going through his own bag, pulling out clothes. She looked up in time to see him pull his shirt off. Despite everything that had happened between them, her insides went warm and soft at the sight of his broad shoulders, the cut of his muscles.

To distract herself, she went to the window and watched the purple-black storm receding in the distance—the wind and waves lashing out at each other as if in a pitched battle. She felt Joshen’s gaze on her.

“You should rest. I know how much singing like that drains you, and we’re going to need you at full strength when we land in Tarten.”

Why did everyone want her to rest? Senna sought out her reflection in the window. Her eyes were bloodshot and lined with dark circles. She looked too thin. Her hair was a disaster. She tried to smooth it with her fingers. “I’m fine. I should sing to the wind now so we can cross faster.”

“I don’t think the ship is ready to handle more speed.” He settled his shirt over his broad chest. “Well, if you refuse to rest, will you come below decks with me? I’ve got to check on the horses, and there’s something I want to show you.”

She followed Joshen out of Parknel’s cabin and into mayhem. Sailors were scurrying back and forth, tying ropes, hauling down ripped sails, and doing other things she didn’t really understand.

Senna and Joshen wound their way into the bowels of the ship. It wasn’t hard to find the horses—they just had to follow the barn smell and the furious hammering sound.

Joshen trotted forward. Inside the middle stall, the palomino furiously kicked the boards. “Easy, boy. Easy,” Joshen opened the stall and stepped up beside the animal’s shoulder.

Senna held her breath, her throat constricting with worry. The horse eyed Joshen, his ears flat in warning.

“Joshen,” Senna warned.

The animal bared his teeth and lunged. Joshen shoved the horse’s face away. Deftly, he threaded two lead ropes through the halter. He tied them to two rings on opposite sides of the stall, trapping the horse in the middle. All the while, he spoke softly. “I’m going to have to take you above deck and work you every day to take the edge off.”

“I have a potion that could help,” Senna offered, glad she wasn’t the one in there with that horse.

“Maybe if exercise isn’t enough and the potion is the kind that wears off within a day or two.” Joshen brushed his hands on his pants. “Senna, this is Sunny.”

She held her hand out for the horse to sniff. He snorted disdainfully. Senna’s nose wrinkled in disgust, as she wiped horse mucus off her palm with a handful of straw. “I don’t think he likes me.”

Joshen took a cloth from the stall and rubbed the horse’s already polished coat. “He’s from racing stock—one of the fastest horses my father’s ever bred, and he has the stamina to match it.”

“He’s beautiful.” Any woman in love with Joshen had to love horses by default.

“Sunny can outrun anything on four legs,” Joshen said, pride obvious in his voice.

Senna didn’t doubt it. A fire seemed to burn inside the horse, making it impossible for him to hold still. Joshen was studying her, as if waiting for her to make a connection. A sense of foreboding welled inside her. Surely he knew this was way too much horse for her. “I’m sure he’s perfect for
you.”

Joshen’s gray eyes locked on hers. “He’s not for me. I bought him for you.”

With an enormous effort, she kept her face blank. “Joshen…”

He sighed and gave Sunny’s coat another swipe. “Just give me this, all right? We’re going into danger I’m not sure I can protect you from—” He cleared his throat. “Please.”

She reached out and took his hand. “If he throws me, I’ll be dead either way.”

Joshen didn’t laugh at her attempt at humor. “He’s not mean—just lively.”

“Lively, right.” Senna tried to smile but it came out as more of a wince. “You bought him? For how much? And when did you have time to get a horse from your father?” His father lived three days journey from Corrieth, and Joshen didn’t make much coin as a Guardian.

“I had him brought up weeks ago. And it’s none of your business how much I paid for him.” Joshen sighed. “He was always meant for a gift, Senna. But now, he’s part of an apology, too. I’m sorry for leaving you on the island when you needed me most.”

Joshen had given her the most beautiful and most dangerous horse in the world by way of an apology. “I told you to go with Arianis.”

He shook his head ruefully. “That was definitely one of those times when I should have ignored you.”

She swatted his arm. He grinned and leaned towards her. She took a step back and his grin slipped.

Someone shouted for her from above. A sailor peeked down the stairs. “Brusenna, Leader Reden is looking for you.”

Joshen motioned for her to go. “I’ve got to tend the horses anyway.”

She sighed. “We’ll finish this later.”

Senna emerged from the ship’s hold and blinked into the sunshine. Stepping onto the deck, she promptly strode on the hem of her dress and pitched forward. Right into a pair of strong arms. “Oh, I’m sorry!”

The unfamiliar man steadied her but made no move to let her go. She looked up and lost herself in nearly black eyes of a tall, golden-skinned man with long dark hair tied back with a string. His beauty stunned her. Her heart hammered, but not just because of his looks. This was…something else.

“Senna?” Reden said.

She sprang away from the stranger’s arms and wiped her suddenly sweaty hands on her dress.

Mistin jogged up to them. She had changed from an Apprentice’s plain green dress to a loose-fitting tunic and trousers. “Senna, have you met my brother?”

Her face burning under Reden’s scrutiny, Senna shook her head.

“Cord, this is Brusenna, but she goes by Senna because she wants to be new and better.”

His eyes were still locked on her. She saw the resemblance. He had Mistin’s almond-shaped eyes, though his face had sharper planes. He was shorter than Joshen but taller than Reden, with a wiry build. His dark eyes seemed to weigh everything around him. And they were weighing Senna.

She cleared her throat. “Do I know you? You seem familiar?”

He grinned and his face went from brooding to handsome in a moment, but it was a dangerous kind of handsome. Senna could tell he used his beauty like a tool—an adept tool. “I think I’d remember meeting you.”

Mistin glared at him. He turned his dazzling smile on her. She rolled her eyes. “Ignore him. He’s a bit of a flirt.”

Reden cleared his throat. “If you two will excuse Senna and me.”

Mistin grabbed Cord’s arm and hauled him towards the bow.

Reden watched them walk away. “He doesn’t just want to help us. He wants to be your Guardian.”

Senna lifted an eyebrow. “Another one?”

Reden shrugged. “We could use the help.”

She studied Cord. “Is he any good?”

“He’s somewhat competent.” Reden said something in Tarten.

Senna glanced askance at him. “What does that mean?”

He hesitated. “A poor soldier’s worse than no soldier.”

Senna absorbed this before saying the words that had been bearing down on her since they’d left the island. “Why did you come with us?” she asked softly. “Because of me, you lost your place as commander of the Tarten armies. And now you’ve lost the Leadership of the Guardians as well.”

He spoke carefully. “We teach our Guardians to protect their witches—sometimes from their own folly. That includes the Heads. Three times, you were attacked by strangers on the island. I’m convinced someone with a lot of power is helping them. That means there’s a traitor. And if there’s a traitor, there’s some kind of treachery afoot.”

He studied her, his gaze steady. “It all comes back to you, Senna. You’re the key to this. So I’m going to follow your lead.” He rested his hand on her shoulder. “I’ll be Leader of the Guardians again, because we’re going to save the Witches from their own foolishness.”

She tried not to wince. “Are we doing the right thing?” After all, she’d betrayed those who trusted her. Had risked her mother’s happiness and Joshen’s love.

“One can’t sacrifice a higher law for a lower one.”

She stared at him.

Reden nodded to himself. “When you’re in that moment of decision, where right and wrong are so mixed up you can’t tell which is which, always remember to follow the higher law.”

It’s what he’d done when he’d sacrificed his home country for the world. “But how do you know which law is higher?”

“It’s usually the decision that’s harder at first, but better in the long run.”

She digested that quietly.

He rested a hand on her back. “Now, how about we lend these sailors a hand mending the sails?”

Senna glanced at him, startled. “You can sew?”

He chuckled. “If I didn’t mend my clothes, who would?”

“But you were the Commander.”

Reden’s warm eyes studied her. “I wasn’t always, Senna. Once, I was a lot like you.”

***

It was the middle of the night when the cabin door creaked open. Senna’s breath caught in her throat, but she couldn’t see anything through the darkness clinging to her like pitch. Above the rhythmic sounds of the ship, she heard nothing. She considered reaching over and waking Mistin, but that might alert the intruder that she was aware of his presence.

She reached for the dagger she kept in her seed belt beside the bed.

“Senna, it’s just me.”

She recognized Joshen’s whisper and sighed in relief. He crossed the room and crouched beside her bed.

“What are you doing?” She glanced at Mistin, who hadn’t stirred.

“We need you to sing.”

Taking one of the spare blankets, she wrapped it around her shoulders and led him from her cabin.

She started towards the bow, but he pulled her back. “Are things all right between us?” he asked.

Her head dropped. “I don’t know.” Which really meant no.

He shifted awkwardly. “Well then, how do I make it right?”

“Joshen…” She sighed. How could she explain this so he would understand? “I have never believed in myself. Maybe it was because I was taunted as a child, and I came to believe those taunts. Eventually, I didn’t need the town bullies anymore—I did well enough belittling myself.”

In the moonlight, Joshen’s sad eyes nearly undid her, but she continued. “After that, I never had to believe in myself. I had you to do that for me.” She went on, her voice barely a whisper. “It’s not all your fault, Joshen. This isn’t really even about you. I want to be strong. I want to believe in myself. Give me some time to learn who I am.”

His mouth pressed in a thin line, and she hesitated. She hated confrontation. Her instinct was to pretend things were fine. But that wouldn’t help anything. “I’m not sure I can trust you. You would have stopped me from leaving Haven.”

Joshen dragged his hand through his hair. “I was just trying to keep you from getting hurt. And it’s not like you’re perfect.” They were both silent for a while. “So I’m just supposed to accept that I might lose you?” His voice was thick with anger.

She rubbed her face. “I am Witch born. It’s what I am.”

He took a step towards her. “What you are is my love.”

Her shoulders drooped. “Oh, Joshen. You fell in love with a Witch, and there’s a cost for that.” Her father had paid with his life. “It’s even worse for you, because I’m becoming something more than a Witch. I don’t know how or what, but I’m not sure any of us will come through this without paying a price.”

Joshen turned away, his muscles bunching beneath his shirt. “I know. I’ve known for weeks. But I can’t pay that price, Senna. I can’t.”

She fought to keep her emotions below the surface. “You’re going to pay it whether you accept it or not.”

A shudder ran through him. Without looking at her, he strode towards the hatch. “My watch is up. I’ll see you in the morning.”