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Back Witchshadow Save as PDF
Chapters (70)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Dedication
  4. Map
  5. Epigraph
  6. BEGINNINGS
  7. PART I
  8. ONE
  9. TWO
  10. THREE
  11. FOUR
  12. FIVE
  13. SIX
  14. SEVEN
  15. EIGHT
  16. NINE
  17. TEN
  18. ELEVEN
  19. TWELVE
  20. THIRTEEN
  21. FOURTEEN
  22. FIFTEEN
  23. SIXTEEN
  24. SEVENTEEN
  25. EIGHTEEN
  26. NINETEEN
  27. TWENTY
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. TWENTY-NINE
  37. THIRTY
  38. THIRTY-ONE
  39. THIRTY-TWO
  40. THIRTY-THREE
  41. THIRTY-FOUR
  42. THIRTY-FIVE
  43. THIRTY-SIX
  44. PART II
  45. THIRTY-SEVEN
  46. THIRTY-EIGHT
  47. THIRTY-NINE
  48. FORTY
  49. FORTY-ONE
  50. FORTY-TWO
  51. FORTY-THREE
  52. FORTY-FOUR
  53. FORTY-FIVE
  54. FORTY-SIX
  55. FORTY-SEVEN
  56. FORTY-EIGHT
  57. FORTY-NINE
  58. FIFTY
  59. FIFTY-ONE
  60. FIFTY-TWO
  61. FIFTY-THREE
  62. FIFTY-FOUR
  63. FIFTY-FIVE
  64. FIFTY-SIX
  65. FIFTY-SEVEN
  66. TRICKSTER
  67. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  68. Also by Susan Dennard
  69. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  70. Newsletter Sign-up

His eyes held hers for two heartbeats before he nodded. “Good enough. Just remember you said that when you’re cursing my name in two seconds.

“What do you mean?” she began, but Caden was already pulling back, already drawing a knife from his belt.

He stabbed her in the thigh.

NINETEEN

This was what Iseult knew about her terrain: she was in the Ohrins in a shepherding complex with countless miles of forest surrounding her. And this was what Iseult knew about her opponent: Corlant could enter the Hell-Bard Loom. He could take magic from others and use it. And for some reason, he had hunted Iseult across the entire continent.

He stared at her now, seated at a table not so different from the table Iseult had studied on the night before in a hut not so different from the one the Hell-Bards had commandeered. She wondered if that hut had belonged to these poor shepherds too. She wondered if, now that Corlant had taken the Herdwitch’s magic, he would let the family go free.

Currently, they were shut in a cellar below the largest building. Their sheep had gone silent.

Behind Iseult, Owl lay curled on her side atop a bunked sleeping cot. Every few seconds, blue grief waterfalled over her Threads. The only color, the only sign she had not fallen into herself forever. Otherwise, all was white, all was numb.

Aeduan and Evrane stood guard outside the hut.

“What do you want from me?” Iseult asked in Arithuanian. The first words uttered since Aeduan had dragged her in here and removed her gag. And released her fangs. Not that she dared use them with so many enemies about and hostages all too easily killed.

Corlant steepled his fingers. The grooves on his forehead trenched inward as his Threads flickered with surprise. “I would have expected your mother to explain when she hid you away. But perhaps not.” He lowered his hands to the wood. The fingers spread wide, knobby-knuckled and long. “I am not your enemy, Iseult. We are in fact on the same side.”

“I don’t steal people’s magic.”

“Oh, but you do. And you have done it before. A Firewitch, if I recall correctly.”

Iseult’s breath slashed in. How had he known? She had taken that raider’s power. Not on purpose, but when she’d cleaved him, the ghost of his soul had stayed trapped against her own. But how could Corlant know?

Stasis, stasis. Corlant would not see her feel.

“I’m not like you.” She pointed to Owl. “I don’t kidnap children. I don’t kill dogs or terrorize families. I don’t turn tribes against someone or shoot them with cursed arrows.”

“The arrow was an accident,” he said, and to Iseult’s surprise, regret swaddled his Threads. “I didn’t know what you were then. What you are.”

“And what am I?”