Witch Song (Witch Song #1)

Chapter 15

She applied the substance to her lips, which had the added bonus of making them shine and rubbed it in. Pulling at his arm, she sang.

Guardian of Keepers and Witch friend decree,

But if thou betrayest, a poison be.

While she slowly rolled his sleeve, she repeated the song softly. Her lips tingled with energy as her song activated the potion. Before he could ask what she was doing, she pressed them against the skin of his forearm, leaving a perfect green imprint.

"It tingles," he breathed heavily.

Senna nodded. "It's going to feel cold. Hold still." She blew on the mark. It coalesced until it formed a perfect sphere. Senna leaned back and smiled. "There, now you're a Guardian."

Joshen fingered the raised ridges of the mark. "Thank you."

Why wouldn't he meet her gaze? After all, she'd given him what he wanted. She shrugged as she released his arm. "You deserve it."

He glanced at her before turning away, his knuckles bleached white as he gripped the empty leather bag in his hands. "Senna, could you put your dress on?"

She quickly looked away. Was that what bothered him? Her exposed skin? Humiliated, she dropped her dress over her head and secured it.

He immediately relaxed.

If Joshen couldn't even stand to look at her bare arms ... Searching for something, anything, to take her mind off her shame, she unpacked the other things she'd brought from Haven. A dagger with markings of the Witches—sun rays, mountains, waves and leaves—etched on the ivory hilt and steel blade.

"It's beautiful," Joshen said as he shoved Captain Parknel's things in the bag.

If he was making conversation, maybe that meant he'd eventually forgive her. Senna ran her hands along the dagger's markings. "One thing I quickly learned is that all Witches are rich. Unless, like my mother, they choose not to be."

She felt his gaze on her. "You know we're going to find them, right, Senna?"

Tears sprang into her eyes. "If I'm strong enough." She could see by his expression he didn't understand. But she didn't feel like elaborating. She didn't feel like telling him that their entire journey would end with Senna pitted against a much wiser and more powerful Witch—a Witch who had toppled every other Witch in existence. The odds were as overwhelming as a guppy pitted against a shark. But she had to try. She couldn't hide on the island forever.

She turned back to her packed bags and carefully pulled out her most prized possession—a green and gold belt with segregated pockets. Various seeds rested in each pocket—all labeled with genuine gold thread.

"What's that?" Joshen asked.

"My seed belt." She secured it around her waist. Automatically, her fingers searched the pockets, checking the seeds.

"Seeds for dueling other Witches and healing and such?"

She shoved the dagger into its sheath on the belt. "Yes." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then she said the words she'd been aching to since she'd first seen him. "I missed you, Joshen." She waited, tense, for his answer.

He grunted. "I missed you, too." He nodded toward the door. "The men will be ready. We should get going."

They walked into the fog. Somehow, it seemed even thicker today, like she was breathing water instead of air. Coughing, Senna watched the sailors hauling in ropes and bustling about. She couldn't help but wonder how many of them were here because Parknel had paid them to be. There were so few Witch friends. "Will they all come with us into Tarten?"