1
SAMAEL
Finvarra lounged in front of my desk, a glass of whiskey in his hand. He sipped at it, his expression inscrutable as he narrowed his eyes at me.
“Our alliance is on shaky ground,” he said.
“And yet everything Danica did led to our survival. I wouldn’t be here if not for her strategic thinking.”
Finvarra snorted. “Strategic thinking?”
“From what I heard, you took the opportunity to negotiate your own deal.” I couldn’t blame the unseelie. Like us, they struck at the first sign of weakness. While I was sure Finvarra wasn’t happy that Danica had given his enemy the one sword with the power to kill him, he’d been quick to–
A jolt of terror shot down my bond with Danica, and I shot to my feet.
“What is it?” Finvarra asked, his expression bored.
I tuned him out. Even with everything that Danica had faced since we’d bonded, I’d never felt such bone-deep fear from her before.
My little witch wasterrified.
I strode toward my balcony, automatically reaching out to my bondmate.
“What is wrong, little witch?”
“Samael, it’s Cellen. You need to–”
Nothing.
Sudden nausea threatened to drop my knees to the ground. I fought it, thinking past the instinctive reaction. Danica was alive. I could still feel her at the end of the bond. But it was excruciatingly faint.
My phone signaled. I was vaguely aware of Finvarra using his magic to float it to me, and Evie’s voice was suddenly screaming at me over the speaker.
“Cellen took them, Samael! Danica and Kyla. Even Keigan.”
I launched myself off the balcony, arrowing toward Danica’s office.
Evie was slumped in the office on her knees, tears rolling down her face.
I could still scent my little witch, could still sense her, but she wasn’tthereanymore.
Unconscious. She must be unconscious. If she was dead, I would know.
I repeated the thought over and over again as another part of my brain automatically responded to Evelyn. I was dimly aware of my people arriving, voices tight as they talked.
But the majority of my conscious thought was devoted to reaching for Danica. Feeling my witchling at the end of the bond was the only thing keeping me sane.
Agaliarept clutched my shoulders. “She’s alive.”
I didn’t ask him how he knew that. If I’d felt my little witch die, this city would be in ruins.
There was no longer terror radiating from the other end of the bond. I could feel Danica now, awake and confused. But something was suppressing our bond. For every second that passed, I could feel her less and less.
“Danica. Answer me. Please.”
Nothing.
Just minutes ago, if someone had asked me if magic could interfere with our bond, I would have denied it, so confident that no power could touch something so intrinsic to us.
