Wicked Resolution (Wicked Origins Book 4) by Paula Black

Author:Paula Black [Black, Paula]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-24T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

I fly up and over the wall, seeing for myself the carnage that the army of bird shifters made inside. Several guards have been killed, some in animal form, with their empty armor lying on the ground. Weapons scatter across the courtyard and in the midst of the clearing, two dozen or more guards kneel, held captive at sword point by the circle of shifters surrounding them, I lower myself down there, in front of them. Eyes go wide as a murmur shuffles through them. One of my bloody shifters turns toward me. I know him as the leader of the birds who’d approached me first on the road. “These are the soldiers who lay down their weapons and asked to join us.”

I lift a brow. “Do you betray your witch so easily? How do I know you will not turn and betray me when times get tough?”

One of them shakes his head, his piercing blue eyes fix on me. “We are battle worn, just like our brothers who stand here. Ask any of those who become guards or soldiers for the Witch of the South, Prim and Temperate. We only take these positions to be useful to our society. To have a reason to live. But this kind of life isn’t truly living. Not one of us is happy. Not one of us doesn’t wish for something better. We are happy to swear fealty to Dorothy the Witch Killer.”

I nod toward the leader of the birds, and he leads the men in swearing an oath. The army grows by two dozen more, but it seems that we’d lost about as many in the battle to gain entry to the fortress. Joon and Chimmy both join me as we continue forward through the fortress toward the castle. But before we get there, a bright light shines forth, making all of us temporarily blind as we’d adjusted to the darkness that followed the sunset. I squint and blink my eyes, and slowly what’s in front of us takes shape. Hundreds of young women dressed in white nightgowns appear. Each of them looks beautiful and young and has their hair down. Not one of them has shorter hair than waist length. It’s a shocking sight, and a confusing one. No one moves for a heartbeat.

Then a familiar female voice calls out to the soldiers. “What’s this? Are there so many unhappy men in my territory? I didn’t realize. Someone should have told me. If all you needed was a mate to be happy, then why didn’t you send an envoy to discuss it with me?”

No one says a word in response. I rise up a few more feet, but still can’t see the owner of the voice. I narrow my eyes and search the dark windows of the castle. Is she hiding behind this wall of young girls?

“Shall we not bargain? Shall we not make a compromise? Before you stands two hundred virgins. Each of them prime to have children, perfect to take mates.

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