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“And the men?”
Meira frowned. “Those who didn’t beg forgiveness joined the others, but most were spared.” Men weren’t witches. Though they harbored them, these were productive members of the Empire and the emperor took pity on them. He’d been rumored to have told them he understood how easily a man could be swindled by a woman’s form as though every witch in the city had paid for her existence by being beautiful to look at.
It made her sick.
“Were there other survivors? Then the men? Did anyone escape?”
“What does it matter?” she hissed. “We’re all terrible creatures who eat babies and hunt innocent men for fun, aren't we? Do you not agree that the emperor was right to declare witches a great evil?”
Remis took a step back as if she’d hit him. She saw it there in the pity of his eyes that he wondered if she’d come from here, if she’d survived that night. Never had she uttered a word to anyone where she’d come from. If she admitted to it she was as good as dead too. Her mother, when she’d heard of the village’s breach, had sent Meira out into the woods. In stark clarity, she remembered her mother’s eyes, several shades brighter as they’d become reddened with tears. “Meira, some things even time travel cannot prevent. Do not come back here. Ever.”
Meira had already spent years learning her power from her mother. They both could move through time but not without great consequences. Her mother’s warning had stayed with her and she’d never attempted to fix the wrongs of that night. She’d pretty well given up all magic as she’d known it. As much as she’d wished to save her parents, she didn’t dare break the last commandment her mother had ever given. She’d been right after all. Even if Meira could go back and warn the city, her parents never would have fled. They’d always, on every timeline, have stayed to fight.
“I—” Remis exhaled. “It sounds ridiculous now to think that witches ever ate babies. Up until now, you were like myths…but you…you…”
She stood, letting her anger drain from her body as she watched him try to process everything she’d just said. “I…” she whispered, waiting for him to finish his statement.
“You seem normal. Apart from this.” He lifted his hand, though the fabric was still tightly wrapped around it. “I don’t find magic such a frightening thing. It’s absurd, I suppose, that it suddenly becomes so terrible when in the hands of women.”
Meira hadn’t known what she thought he might say but it certainly wasn’t that. It wasn’t a compliment but it wasn’t a bad conclusion to come to either. Though he could be agreeing with her to gain her favor. Looking into his gaze, she saw no evidence of falsehood. She scrubbed at her face.
“Are you a mage?” she asked.
His shoulders rose and fell. “Not officially.” Then he laughed. “Actually, the only reason I was in these damned woods during dragonis season was to gain my father’s favor so I can attend schooling for magestry. I have business I’m supposed to attend to in Croughton.”
Crossing the bridge as he had, weaseling his way into her mind, she’d suspected his affinity for magestry. He’d need plenty more training though to be anywhere close to as powerful as a witch. What she hadn’t realized was that he was just like every other greedy man racing for Elton Hamza’s legacy.
“Enough with the history lesson.” She smoothed a hand over her braid, running her fingers over the place he’d touched. “We’re going.”
“Where?”
And men thought women were chatty. He never stopped talking and asking questions. She wished for that perfect silence that came when she was miles above the ground riding on Mrithun’s back. Mrithun was near enough she’d come if Meira called, but her dragon was skilled at staying out of sight. Often she wondered if the beast was able to camouflage.
Meira rolled her eyes at him but motioned for him to follow as she made her way out of the home. The morning frost made the dilapidated porch steps slick, so she took careful steps and purposefully led them away from her childhood home. After the city had burned, she’d been an orphan on the streets for a couple of weeks before she happened upon the scale riders who took pity on her. Even the man, Henry, who’d found her and adopted her was long gone. He died in combat two years later.
She was thankful when they were back in the woods and away from the forgotten city in the middle of nowhere. The ghosts of her past still lingered in her mind, but at least she didn’t have to look them in the eye any longer. Even better though was the fact that Remis wasn’t talking anymore. He’d fallen into a contemplative silence and Meira reveled in the break of conversation. Her break didn’t last all that long.
“Where are we going?” Remis began again, hand braced against a tree trunk as he stepped over a decaying log. Meira deadpanned. He grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks. “Please, tell me.”
She ripped her arm out of his touch, but he reached for her again. Ducking, she lunged forward, her shoulder finding its home in his gut as they toppled backward into a tree. His breath wheezed from him and she smiled as she righted. His hands were lifted in defense as if he might strike her. She huffed a laugh then. At the idea that he might think himself superior in a fight with a scale rider.
“Tell me,” he said again, slowly lowering his arms.
“I’ll tell you if you can get me on my back.” Then she chuckled again because the idea was so utterly insane, and he was outmatched in more than one area. Distracted by her own humor she almost didn’t notice when he darted at her, his fist flying for her face.
Her damn rabbit thought he was going to land a punch? Meira shifted out of the way, listening to the whoosh of air as his hand sailed by without contact. She shoved her foot forward catching him and watched with great joy as he tumbled forward.
Remis caught himself at the last minute. If he was surprised by how easy this was for her he didn't show it. Likely assumed it was luck or just that she was fast. He bounced on his feet once, twice, a third time before attempting to run her through like a bull. Her fist found his solar plexus. He cried out as the pain ricocheted into his shoulder and reached for her, grabbing a handful of her cloak. With one flick of her finger, she’d undone the knot at her throat and slipped from the fabric.
He growled through his teeth and she swore she felt the vibration of it travel her entire body. Her cloak fluttered to the forest floor. Snow crunched under his boots as he threw another punch toward her. She answered with one of her own, pulling the weight of it but still connecting with his jaw. His face snapped to the side.
When he looked at her again, he opened and closed his jaw, a bloody lip staining his smile. “You hit like a girl.”
She didn’t pull her next punch and his nose crunched.
“Ah! Damn it!” Remis cursed, cupping his face.
Meira fought her smile.“You fight like a man of the Empire. You fight for show, pretty moves. There is no honor in fighting so stop pretending as if there is.” She snatched her cloak up from the ground. “Fight like your life depends on it. Because it does.”
