"Do you understand?" he prods. "Do not think to wile me with your beauty, witch. The laws of Black Moon Draw apply to you as well."
Beauty. I've never heard that one before. Blushing, I manage a nod.
"Good. We will discuss it further." Without warning, he wraps one arm around me and pries me away from the trunk. "You must learn quickly how to be a battle-witch."
"Stop!" I shout, flailing. Panic flares back to life as he holds me against him in mid-air. "You're going to drop me!"
"Be still, witch, or I will." The sharp words terrify me.
I close my eyes and clutch his arm, but stop moving.
"Good. Every man in my armies trusts me to protect them. 'Tis why they obey blindly, without thought, question, or doubt. Their lives are mine. Your life is mine. Do you understand?"
"Y . . . yes."
"You will do the same. Besides, you are a battle-witch. If I drop you, you will heal." This time, there's amusement in his tone. Do they throw women out of trees for fun here? Because I'm not understanding why this is funny.
He flings me away from him.
"No, no -" My chant ends in a scream.
I'm falling, praying, crying . . . plunging to my death or to an even worse fate - having every bone in my body broken when I hit the ground.
I land on something much softer than the earth.
The men of Black Moon Draw are laughing. They've caught me in a blanket held among them and lower it to the ground. I close my eyes, resting my head back. I swear I almost had a heart attack.
"Tree-witch!" one says and then laughs. "Were there such a thing!"
Maybe if I just lie here, they'll think I'm dead and leave me.
"Come, battle-witch!" This is from the lord and master, the Shadow Knight, who doesn't bother climbing down but leaps off the tree. He lands near me, shaking the ground.
Overbearing, determined, sexy . . . He's impossible to reason with. There's no way for me to follow these kinds of rules. I may not have much of a backbone; compared to blind obedience, I'm an absolute rebel. I have a feeling convincing him of anything will be like smacking a tree with a Nerf bat. I'm not going to win.
The idea I need to somehow help the Hero complete his journey returns. I'm no closer to identifying who that Hero is. If I lie here, I'll never figure it out.
Reluctantly, I stand up.
The Shadow Knight has replaced his boar head, for which I'm unusually grateful. His looks are enough of a distraction. His piercing eyes are a whole new level of intensity I'm not used to.