Free The Witch by Calle J. Brookes Page B

he’d worried for her sanity.
    Laquazzeana often went mad, after all. And the knowledge that the children she’d lost so long ago were being returned to her could very well be enough to send her over the edge of madness.
    Especially if those children were lost to her once again.
    Dekimos was there. It was to his side that Jushua went. Dekimos was quite for a while. When he turned to Jushua there was a resolve on his face that had Jushua immediately tensing. “She goes to Evalanedea.”
    “Like Three Hells she does.” That was off limits. No one was allowed to return to his homeland. That was a decree he had made to his own people the day they’d fled. He would never forget those dark days. Every one of the people he’d led had lost most of their loved ones, and everything else they’d ever had.
    Dardaptoans had once numbered close to two million. He’d had barely of fraction of that under his protection after that day. And to keep them safe he and his mother had sealed the remaining portkeys that led to Evalanedea with almost all of the powers and gifts that he had possessed.
    It had taken five thousand years for him to regain some of those skills.
    “How does she think she will accomplish something that has not been done in five millennia? Does she think she is that powerful?”
    “She goes. We both know she can open the worlds with little effort. There is a reason for that. And Jushua…I am going with her.”
     
                  **             
     
    He knew when the witchie first saw him. Almost felt her gaze land upon him. Jushua fought to keep the smirk off his lips.
    She most definitely had not counted on him. He strolled up to her.
    He had always enjoyed tormenting the witchies when he could. And why not? Life should be full of such simple pleasures.
    And he wanted to see those pretty Druid eyes again. See if he could figure out what it was about her that was unsettling him so.
    She drew him. He’d wondered long into the night if it was mere sexual attraction—which he’d felt for a few women in the last five thousand years, he wasn’t dead after all—or something more that was drawing him.
    Something witchie, perhaps.
    No, trust wasn’t at the forefront of his mind when he looked at her.
    “What are you doing?” She was a bold one and he admired her challenge. She didn’t want him to go, yet she knew that was exactly what he was planning. What would she do about it? “I don’t remember offering you a ticket on this crazy train.”
    He didn’t quite get her reference, but it wasn’t too complicated. “My brother goes, I go. Someone has to watch his ass.”
    “I’ll watch his ass, it’s a fine one. But you…you aren’t supposed to go on this trip. Shouldn’t you stay home…with your mother?”
     
    **
     
    Loren knew her words were snarky, but the last thing she wanted was Jushua around. He rubbed her so far the wrong way she was surprised she wasn’t back in Colorado by now.
    But he seemed pretty resolute. And he was protecting his brother, how could she blame him for that?
    And who knew? A seasoned warrior familiar with where she suspected they were going might just come in handy. “I give the orders. You start arguing, you take a hike, ok?”
    “We’ll see how that works out. Now, my darling witchie, where is it we are going?”
    She looked up at him—way up, darned giant—and smiled. “Evalanedea. City of Darda, to be exact. I know you’ve heard of it.”
    His eyes narrowed and his hand dropped to the weapon at his side. “You think that wise? You know the curse, I am sure.”
    “I know it. And I know that I am to go there. Whether you are remains to be seen. And it’s up to you.” She sobered. He deserved to know more than what she was telling him, but she was afraid to reveal too much. Too much knowledge sometimes changed the future, and messed with the Destinies in ways they did not like. “Darda. I know there’s risk; believe me, I’ve had