Page 120 of This Witch Is Not Wicked

“For food.”

He laughed and swung his legs over the bed, then pulled on his trousers. “All right. Let me scrounge us up something. You just stay in bed.” I admired his muscled back as he padded toward the stairs. It was a glorious view.

I flopped back onto the bed. “I am capable of doing some things, you know.” The wounds on my stomach had mostly closed, leaving angry red scars in their place. I supposed with my magic so low, my body didn’t have the same healing abilities anymore.

“I know,” he called from the staircase. “But I like doing things for you. I’ll be right back.”

He disappeared down the stairs and out of sight. One of my healer textbooks lay on the nightstand, and I grabbed it so I could read while Nevan was busy. I’d been studying and reading nonstop, my excitement over this new potential career growing daily. There was so much to relearn about my own bog, and I couldn’t wait to explore it all, to see it in a new light.

A familiar whoosh filled the air, blue and golden magic swirling to reveal Ambrose.

I jumped out of bed and ran to him, healing textbook temporarily forgotten. “Ambrose! Where have you been?”

His brows furrowed. “At Kiln Mountain. Where I live.”

“But why haven’t you come to see me?” I asked.

A smirk lifted the corner of his mouth. “Got bored of the healer already?”

I swatted him. “No. I just meant . . . I wanted to thank you for saving me. Or trying to save me. You actually caused a huge headache, if you want to know the truth, but the thought was nice.”

He rolled his eyes. “You need to work on your thank-yous.”

I threw my arms around him, and he stiffened, but his arms slowly came around my back. “I do care about you, Enid. As a friend.”

I pushed him to arm’s length. “So is that why you’re here? As my friend?”

His eyes darted to the side, and my stomach clenched tight at the worry flashing across his features. Ambrose never worried. He was the most relaxed person I’d ever met.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“There are people outside your city. Scouring this land. Some of them are wearing these odd maroon cloaks with the hoods up. They have magic weapons, objects, animals. And there’s a lot of them.”

My stomach dropped straight to the floor. “No,” I said. This was exactly what I’d feared. “It’s the brotherhood. They’ve found Fairwitch Isle.” Or the humans told them about us and received a handsome payment.

“What will they do?” Ambrose asked.

I started pacing. “Nothing good. From what I’ve heard, the last time they breached the city’s borders, they attacked. Everyone was able to fend them off, but that’s why they moved the castle here—so the brotherhood couldn’t find them.”

Ambrose shoved a hand through his hair. “And now they have.”

“And now they have.”

“Okay, I hope you’re hungry. I’ve got eggs, bread, cheese, and some ginger tea . . .” Nevan trailed off as he came to the top of the stairs and saw Ambrose standing there. He dropped the tray, and it clattered to the floor.

“Ambrose,” he said. “What’s wrong?”

“The brotherhood is here,” I said.

Nevan swore, his face paling. “What are we going to do?”

“Enid said you moved the castle once.” Ambrose twirled his finger in the air. “Can you do it again?”

Nevan shook his head. “It was a one-time piece of magic the castle had. We activated the magic, but we can’t repeat it. We’re stuck here.”

“Maybe I can portal people out?” Ambrose asked. “I was able to portal your friends.”

“But we’d have to leave our city behind.” Nevan took off his spectacles and pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’d have no home, no castle. And if we abandon this city and let the brotherhood have it, they’d use our castle’s magic for horrible things.”