Witch Fall(6)

The ship creaked as the sails caught wind. The intervals between the waves grew shorter, indicating the craft was picking up speed. Lilette had finally left Calden Island, but she hadn’t escaped.

Chen would be coming down soon. The thought of what he would do to her sent her rocking back and forth to keep from falling apart.

Han crouched before her, watching her, studying her. Finally, she took a deep breath and forced herself to meet his gaze. His eyes flicked to the dampness on her cheeks. “Sometimes a fall is required to change our path.” He took hold of both her arms and pulled her to her feet. “You have been set on this path, Lilette. There is no going back, so you might as well stand and be strong. Do what must be done.”

Until tonight it had been so long since anyone had called her Lilette. Most Harshens couldn’t pronounce the name. It belonged to another life, another person. “Everything has been taken from me . . . again,” she said softly.

“You rebuilt a life once. You are strong enough to do it again.”

A life built around finding a way home. That hadn’t changed. She would escape this. She would find her way to her sister. And she would make Chen pay. She glared at Han. “You don’t know anything about me, not anymore.”

The corners of his mouth twitched as if he was fighting a smile. “Fight the battles you can win. Retreat from the ones you cannot.”

“And if I cannot retreat?”

He tugged the flowers from her hair and tossed them aside. “Then you surrender with dignity.” His gaze held hers, and for the briefest moment the emptiness receded, and his eyes were filled with such depth and clarity that her trembling began to still from the inside out.

“What happened to you?” Lilette managed around what felt like a rock lodged in her throat. She and Han had played in the gardens for hours, feeding the exotic animals in the enclosure and hiding from their mothers in the incense-filled walls of the shrine.

Just like that, the emptiness returned to his eyes. “Remember what I said.” Han stepped back from her moments before the curtain was swept aside.

Chen moved to a cabinet and withdrew a bottle and an ornate ivory cup. He filled the cup to the brim and drained it in one swallow.

Han took a step toward his brother and gestured toward Calden. “This was badly done.”

Chen poured another, downed it, and poured another. “Couldn’t be helped,” he replied, then wiped his lips with the back of his arm. His skin and hair shone with drops of water, as if he’d washed himself. Cup in hand, he stepped closer and examined Lilette.

She channeled all her fury into her gaze, hoping he could read her unspoken promise to kill him.

He chuckled dryly. “I see you remember me.”

As if she could forget the son of the man who had killed her parents! Even as a child of twelve, he’d been ruthless. And now he’d finally come for her, leaving a host of death in his wake. “You’re a murderer.”

His jaw tightened. “I am Heir Chen, chosen son of Emperor Nis, speaker for the Sun Dragon.” His gaze held a warning. “And if I’m a murderer, it’s the Sun Dragon’s will that I be so.”

She uncurled herself from the floor and drew herself to her full height, which was nearly the same as his. “And I am Lilette, daughter of Lellan. A keeper of the realms and the gods.”

He didn’t respond, instead crossing his arms and swirling the liquid in his cup. “There were no survivors found in the wreckage of the ship you burned, and yet here you are. Alive when all else are dead.” He took another drink. “And then you revealed who we are to your villagers, forcing me to kill them. So you tell me, Lilette, who has more blood on their hands?”

She lunged for him, but Han held her back. She brought her knee up and almost caught Han between his legs, but he twisted, narrowly avoiding the blow. His arms were like iron bands.

She stopped struggling. “How did you find me?”

The picture of ease, Chen watched her. “How did you survive when no one else did?”

Guilt coursed through her. She’d only remained hidden this long because everyone else had burned or drowned. But if Chen could refuse to answer her questions, she could refuse to answer his. “The emperor only has to ask, and he could take any woman he wants,” Lilette said. “You didn’t need to kill them.”

“I’m afraid the situation called for more secrecy than that.”

“Why?” she asked angrily.

Chen’s dark gaze met her blue one. “What do you think the witches would do if they knew I’d taken one of their own?”

Despite his washing, there was still blood in the crease beside his nose. “What do you want of me?” Lilette finally asked.