A flame from the magick dully lighting the hall catches her sneer. “Myfaithis with you, Carina. With Harlow, and your mother, and your cousin. With every coven worldwide. All our sisters and brothers. Withwitches. That’s where my faith is.”
“Because of the so-called Celestial war? We have no dealings with them, so why should anyone believe you?”
The hall bends slightly, and a glow from a wider doorway farther down becomes apparent. My steps slow and then increase, fear but curiosity battling against how fast to reach it.
“That’s where you’re wrong. The Celestials and Otherworld beings of Earth interact more than you’ve been led to believe.”
Sloane reaches the glow. The arched doorway into the room—thecavern.No more tree décor; instead, stone and brick walls and a grey-stone floor frame a long table meant to seat about twelve, with an unlit fireplace as tall as I am standing beyond it.
Hecate, what am I looking at?
My stomach twists as my scan comes to stop on the other end of the room. Everything Sloane’s claiming about Darkness notbeing evil becomes questionable as I look at the sacrificial table raised by a dais. Faded blood drips from the sides and coats the top.
“What the fuck?”
Sloane notices where I’m looking but simply shrugs before stepping into the cavern-like room. Her heels click against the cement, echoing with annoying ticks.
She simply says, “Magick isn’t always clean.”
“You meanblackmagick.”
“Since when did we rank and catalogue the types of magick? No type is superior to another. You understand that black magick consists of various subcategories, don’t you?”
I stare because…no, I didn’t.
Sloane’s scoff bounces against the stone and straight into every history lesson Mom ever taught me. “There’s elemental magick, as you know—Light magick. Black magick technically involves wielding the physical form of Darkness. Blood magick is extremely powerful in binding rituals, and feared for its permanence. Time magick, which shouldn’t be fucked with, is why covens are happy to stick it under the black magick title. Dream magick, which is tricky and requires specific skills. Used incorrectly, it can lead to devastating outcomes. And of course…the final kind, which you’ll find down here.”
My eyes flit to the dais again, but as she walks away, my attention is drawn to another door against the far wall. Wood again, latched shut with ivy leaves twisted around the handle, which respond to Sloane’s hand when she reaches and slides out of her way.
She hauls the door open and steps aside for me to peer inside, clasping her hands together.
If being shown the cavern, table, and dais didn’t convince me Sloane is lying about black magick being inherently bad, the man chained to the floor does.
Forty-Seven
RYDER
With a snap of his fingers,Jasper transports us to the centre of yet another forest that looks identical to Banff.
“Where are we?” Conan asks what we’re all wondering.
“Middle of Manitoba.” Jasper shakes off our hold. “Any closer and my magick might get picked up. You’re about a day and a half away—maybe two. Maybe even one. Depends how fast you run. As much as I hate it, for this to work Carina will need time to learn what she can, so the time it’ll take you to reach her will be good.
A day we can do. A day is better than a week.
“Thanks.” I clasp his shoulder before readying to get going.
“Thank me by bringing her home.”
“I’ll die before I don’t.”
“Don’t let that happen. She likes you too much.”
She won’t after learning what the bite on her neck really means.
We runfor the remainder of the morning and well into midday, getting through much of Manitoba. The landscape is less elevated than Alberta’s, making the run fairly easy.
Physically easy. Mentally? I’m all fucked up over something that may or may not be happening. Over the concept I might have lost my mate right as I claimed her.
