Rafe was just as trapped as Harlee and me. He just wasn't tied to a chair like we were.

  "Make it rough, Rafe," I called out. "Slap her about a bit and call it foreplay. I hear autoerotic asphyxia is a real turn-on."

  "Be quiet!" Ama shouted, and my voice vanished. Just like that. So easy.

  Well, I thought. Two could play at that game.

  Disintegrate.

  Somehow, it worked. I was getting the hang of this magia thing. I also didn't need to speak to will the words true. My binds vanished and I almost fell out of my seat. I steadied myself with a palm to the floor. My butt hung off the edge of the seat, but at least I didn't faceplant onto the stone beneath me.

  Rafe was on his knees now, blocking Ama's view of me. He was licking up her neck, but I knew he couldn't bite her. He'd said the witches made very sure that wasn't a possibility. I almost willed the thought true on that one, but I didn't like the idea of Ama's blood in his mouth for some reason.

  I slowly slid to the floor to keep a low profile and crawled towards Harlee.

  Ama made the odd moan of delight and I could only hope her eyelids were closed as she enjoyed Rafe's ministrations, but even if I wanted to go faster, I just couldn't make my body take advantage of her distraction that quickly.

  I was determined to get us out of there though, and I'm ashamed to say that I was happy with using Rafe to achieve it, but I'd been through the wringer — Ama had put me there — and every shift of my body sent a fresh wave of hell through my frame, making me shake and pant and cry silent tears.

  Harlee watched me crawl toward her with hope growing in her gaze. At first, it was minuscule, and then the closer I made it without Ama being aware, the bigger the hope got in her eyes. I so wanted to deliver, but I had no idea what was outside this room, and what else we would face getting out of here.

  I knew our chances were slim. But I had to try. I had to.

  I made it to Harlee's side and although I could have willed the words true, I was feeling dizzy now and not really myself. I fumbled with the knots, as Harlee squirmed, desperate to be free.

  And then from out of nowhere, Ama was on me.

  The punishment she meted for that futile effort was agonizing. I fought back as best as I could, but she was trained, she was powerful. Every pitiful attempt I made to will the words true was met by a brick wall, or a two-by-four to my head, or simply by her jewel-encrusted knife and its very sharp and shiny blade.

  We were going to die here, I realised. Harry would have no idea what had happened to two of his agents. Harlee's mum would receive a folded flag and the country's thanks. Tac would dig around a bit, maybe even get their attention enough to warrant a gudari visit. But in the end, the NCB and its SOG Division would go on without us at Banana House.

  I couldn't win this battle with magia or my fists. I was outclassed. Outdone. Out and out the loser in this confrontation.

  And Rafe…where was Rafe? I managed to see him out of the corner of my puffed-up eyes; stretched out on the chaise, shirt off, trousers undone but not yet lowered, a grimace of pain on his face as he fought whatever hold Ama had on him.

  He fought her, I realised. He'd showed his hand. He was as done as we were. It couldn't be that hard to find another vampire to feed off and fuck; he could be replaced. It was over for him now.

  I'd thought I could outwit her. So full of hubris, I'd climbed willingly into her web. I'd thought it would be easy. But Ama was more evil, more powerful, more demented than I could have imagined. The Involition was corrupt, and its members were trapped.

  And I'd only made things worse.

  I glanced across the space at Harlee, still strapped into her chair. I was hanging above mine now — wrists tied together above my head, shoulders screaming — as Ama cut me, muttering things in what I assumed was Basque. The language Rafe used and I needed to learn if I got out of here.

  I laughed at that and lost a toe for my impertinence. Ama was slicing me up, piece by piece, until there was no more. It wouldn't take much longer.

  I bewitched him, I thought at her. I made him think he needed to protect me. He despises me but he can't help himself. I willed the words true and then repeated them.

  I couldn't save Harlee. Sweet, dimwitted Harlee who wasn't as dim as they all said, but liked to play to the stereotype. I couldn't save myself either. But I no longer wanted to. I wanted this to end. Maybe, though, maybe I could save Rafe.

  So I willed the words true and sent them directly to Ama. Who knew if it was working. I couldn't sense magia, but I damn well gave it my best shot. I put every ounce of my will into those thoughts and hurled them at the All-Mother with what mental fortitude I had left.

  It probably wouldn't make a difference, but I knew what might and as it happens, I wasn't quite ready for death yet.

  "'M not the only one," I slurred. Ama had long since released my voice so I could scream in pain and plead for my life. I just had other uses for it than she'd planned.

  "What?" she said, sucking in lungfuls of air.

  "What do you call us? The unclaimed?" Rafe had told me, while he'd argued for me to stay away from the All-Mother. I just couldn't think straight enough to remember the word.

  "Ezkutuan," she said.

  "That's it." I nodded. Blood and sweat dripped down into my swollen eyes, stinging them. I blinked through the haze and said, "I'm not the only ezkutuan."

  "You're lying."

  "Nope," I said, coughing out a little saliva and blood. "There's one in amongst the abducted kids."

  Rafe had stilled on the bed; his head lifted as far as he could get it to stare at me in shock.

  This hadn't been the plan. But we were dying here. And I had no intention of handing the kid over. I just needed leverage. I needed some time. I needed a moment to think away from this bitch's knife and magia. The kid was my ticket out of here, but that didn't mean I'd get it punched in the end.

  Ama stepped back. She stared hard at me for a suspended moment and then said, "Prove it."

  Rafe

  What was Catalin playing at? This hadn't been the plan. The boy-witchling was not someone I would have ever expected Catalin to sacrifice. But, as I struggled against Ama's hold I realised, as far as plans went, it could just work.

  The mention of another free witch distracted Ama enough for me to break free. She didn't know yet that the witchling was male, of course. And despite him being the weaker sex, she would still wish to control him. New blood, at the very least, should not be wasted, after all.

  But we could bargain better if she thought him female.

  How, though, to communicate that to Catalin?

  "It's not that easy," Catalin was saying. "You'll just have to trust me."

  A laughable statement if ever there were one. But the All-Mother did not know Catalin as well as I did. Could she be convinced?

  I slid off the chaise, making the movement loud and clumsy. It was better to be thought weak and non-threatening than to show strength and have it stolen. I collapsed in a heap on the stone floor, groaning.

  Ama spared me a glance, but she didn't bind me again. I was officially free to enter the fray without immediate repercussions.

  Staggering to my feet, my eyes met Catalin's. I saw desperation and fear in those stunning blue orbs. Then I saw her disquiet at the weakness I was showing. If she thought me weak, then Ama might be fooled as well.

  "She is but a girl," I whispered hoarsely. Catalin scowled at me.

  "A free witch, Raphael," Ama purred. "A child to be moulded."

  Catalin opened her mouth to correct the sex of the witchling and I shook my head at her behind Ama's back. One thing to be said for the witchling woman: she was quick on the uptake. Her mouth snapped shut and she turned her scowl on Ama instead.

  "Well?" the All-Mother snapped. "How do you know if you cannot find them?"

  I felt a jolt of something hit my solar plexus then. It wasn't magia. It was pure emotion. Showing her hand like this was dangerous. Even if I could see no other way to get Catalin out of here, I felt ill at the thought of her displaying any magical talent at all. I did not care for the boy. As a means to free Catalin, I could overlook the plight that awaited him. But I did not want the All-Mother to know what Catalin could do at all.

  I considered fabricating proof of the witchling's existence. Making up some fanciful tale about how we knew he existed without incriminating Catalin. But she beat me to it. I was not thinking as fast as I should have been; I was exhausted, drained of magia from fighting Ama's hold, and starving. I needed blood. But there was only one person's blood in this room I desired and she was damn near death if I didn't get her out of here.

  I wanted to laugh at that thought. It was not me saving Catalin, but herself. Oh, and the boy.

  "I can hear…them…in my head," she said, hesitating on the pronoun lest she give the boy's sex away. I didn't think Ama noticed the hesitation. Catalin had been gasping for breath for some time now. I thought perhaps she had a punctured lung. I needed to heal her.

  I barely had any magia left to heal myself.

  "Hear them?" Ama demanded. "Telepathy?"

  "I guess that's what you'd call it."

  Ama started to pace. "Two telepathic witches. What a boon." She wasn't wrong, of course. Telepathy had been waning in the bloodlines. Ama could use a telepath. Knowing Catalin was one, though, would just make it harder to let her go.

  For a moment, I felt such loss, such frustration. Coming so close to victory and yet to have it whisked away in the end. There was a chance I wouldn't survive this. I had known that going in, of course. But arrogance counted for something when dealing with the likes of the All-Mother. I had convinced myself to ignore the danger and take the chance, as it was likely the only chance I'd get.

  And now I could see all hope washing away.

  Ama would never let Catalin go now. The beautiful witchling was lost to me. She would be indoctrinated, consumed, and corrupted. I might as well cut my losses now and save my own skin.

  And yet, when I looked at Catalin, I could not walk away.

  "You will find this witchling!" Ama suddenly demanded.

  "What? You don't have a way of calling your dogs home?" Catalin asked.

  "The children meant nothing to me. I cared not what they did to them."

  "I'll want something in return," Catalin said.

  Ama took one solitary step toward her. Any other witch would have bowed and scraped to avoid that chilling gaze of hers. But Catalin lifted her bruised chin, met the All-Mother's icy eyes with defiant blue ones, and grinned, showing a mouthful of bloody — and in some cases broken — teeth.

  My stomach lurched. My dead heart thudded a single beat. Sweat beaded my brow and my hands fisted; at the ready. It would prove futile to even attempt to challenge the All-Mother. But I could do no less than that in the presence of Catalin's courage.

  What a remarkable witch, I thought. What a shame she would be lost to me. What a travesty to bear witness to the smothering of her will, the brutal culling of her bravery.

  At that moment, I felt such despair it almost felled me.

  "You are in no place to bargain, witchling," Ama growled.

  I barely listened anymore. My eyes wandered the chamber, but none of Ama's sycophants had reappeared. We were still alone. If ever there were a time to kill the wicked witch, it would have been now. But the curse would not allow me and Catalin was broken.

  I glanced at Senior Operative Harlee Forster. She was even more broken than Catalin, despite my attempts to heal her body when I could. Of course, I'd held back for fear of Catalin needing my magia more. But the girl lived because of what I had managed to give her. Just not alive enough to do any damage to Ama.

  I couldn't strike. Catalin would fail if she tried to strike. And Harlee might not live out the day to even dream of striking the All-Mother.

  We were doomed.

  I closed my eyes in defeat and the conversation reached me once more.

  "I get you the kid," Catalin was saying, "and you leave the NCB alone."

  "I offer you this woman's life and you dare to ask for more?" Ama screeched.

  Clearly, the negotiations had progressed and I had missed several back-and-forths.

  "All of the NCB," Catalin stressed, "including Harlee, for the witchling."

  Ama glared at Catalin for several drawn-out seconds and then stiffly nodded her head. "But I hold onto this one until you produce the child."

  Panic swept through Catalin's eyes, but she soon doused it.

  "Harlee needs medical attention. And I don't trust you to take care of her."

  "Oh, I have no urgent desire to see this one dead, witchling. I will have her wounds tended to, and once you produce the child, I shall release her. You and the boy for all of your NCB friends."

  Don't do it, I wanted to say. Bargain for your own freedom first. But I knew the bargain would fail and I knew Catalin Aguirre. She would never put herself before the others.

  What a strange concept. What an unusual thought. It went against everything I knew of witches. It left me floored.

  "Very well," Ama declared. "We have an agreement."

  Catalin stared at her. I knew what she was thinking. I had no telepathy talent, but I knew what she was thinking because I was thinking it too. How could she trust the All-Mother?

  "Then I'll get right on finding the kid," Catalin said, twisting in her binds as she hung by her wrists, her feet inches off the stone floor.

  The binds disappeared and Catalin fell into an undignified heap.

  "Heal her, Raphael," Ama instructed.

  I hesitated. Not because I did not wish to heal Catalin, but because I was so low on magia now, I feared I wouldn't be able to. My hesitation, though, convinced the All-Mother that I didn't wish to be near Catalin at all.

  "She is too weak to compel you," Ama said. "You need not worry about that. And I shall add a little something to your lotu which will make it impossible for her to do so again."

  Again?

  I felt the bracelets around my wrists flare with heat, almost burning my skin. When I glanced down at them, both lotu had an additional blood-soaked feather weaved into them. I bit down on my disgust and looked up at the All-Mother again.

  "There. See? Protected from the evil, untrained witchling." The tone said it all. She thought me weak. But as far as I knew, Catalin had never compelled me to do anything egregious. I was not sure, she'd really compelled me at all come to think of it.

  But clearly, Ama thought she had.

  I looked at Catalin. She was smirking. Had she convinced the All-Mother of this? How strong was this witch? Untrained and yet able to hoodwink the most powerful witch of this era.

  I smirked as well, making sure to hide the reaction from Ama.

  "You will accompany her, jagole," the All-Mother said.

  "Great!" Catalin muttered. "A babysitter."

  "Watch her, Raphael. Make sure she brings me the ezkutuan."

  "Of course, Ama," I said, bowing my head.

  "And do not fail me on this, banpiro," she snarled. "The punishment will be severe this time. My patience grows thin."

  I forced my head up and my eyes to meet hers. I effected an innocent, confused look. One I had used to great result with her in the past.

  She shook her head. "I sometimes wonder if we emasculated you when we took control or simply cut off your balls. Such weakness is unbecoming a former prince. Just as well you have a large cock; at least you are good for something."

  With that, she sashayed out of the room, leaving me alone for a very brief moment with Catalin and an unconscious Harlee.

  The temptation to take them both and run was almost too great to ignore, but she expected that. That's why she did it. I waited for a breath, then two, and then felt the presence of her second-in-command enter the room. The witch didn't show herself, but I knew Nerea was there, hiding. Watching as I had been tasked with watching Catalin.

  How had the witchling managed that?

  "Harlee," Catalin said, trying and failing to stand. She started dragging herself toward her friend.

  "Leave her," I scolded. "Don't strain yourself."

  "I'm not leaving her!"

  I made her side and lowered my voice. "We are being watched. They will not let you take Harlee. A bargain has been struck; stick to it."

  At least, for now, I mentally amended.

  What did Catalin have planned? How did she think she could save her friend, escape Ama, and let the boy live free? It was impossible. She just didn't know it yet.

  Catalin slumped on the floor, her eyes on Harlee while I started to heal her the best that I could. It wouldn't be enough. I couldn't regrow the toe or teeth, but I could ease the pain, diminish the bruising, seal the cuts, and perhaps mend the ribs and lung if I pushed it. She would walk out of here, but she would not be whole.

  That would take more. More from me and from her. She might baulk at what was needed. But first, we had to get out of here.

  Healing done as much as I could, I felt an urgent need to move things along. As if the All-Mother would change her mind and not let me go with her. Or Nerea would step in and do something to fuck it all up. She loved screwing with me like that.

  My eyes darted to the shadows where the witch stood, my fangs pressed against my lips, but I refused to show the bitch how much she threatened my self-control.

  I helped Catalin to her feet and started dragging her from the chamber. She reached for Harlee, uttered a single sob, and then growled at her show of emotion.

  "I'm coming back, Senior Operative," she rasped, then strengthened in my hold. "You hear me, Harlee? I'm coming back for you. Don't you dare give up!"

  We took a step, then another, and on the third or fourth, Catalin threw over her shoulder, "And heal her, you fucking arseholes."

  The implied threat was silent, but I heard it in her voice. I felt it in her resolve. I just wasn't sure The Involition cared.

  No, that's not right. I was sure. The Involition did not care at all.