“If she dies from that mark, sorcerer, we will kill you,” Liam threatened.
Peter looked alarmed, his gaze shifting between the two of us.
“Wait. No. I don’t want this.”
I gave him a grin. “Looks like we’re going to be best buds for a hundred years.”
“No. Please not that. I’m telling you I don’t want a servant.”
I tightened my grip on the two pieces of jewelry. “If I give this to you, do you promise to get into your grave and not kill or eat any other people?”
The draugr nodded.
Would he keep his word? He had kept our bargain earlier by luring Victor and Angela to the cemetery. He was mad, though. Crazy people weren’t exactly known for their integrity.
“You were tied to his headstone,” Liam said in an undertone.
I moved sideways, stepping carefully as the draugr shadowed me. I really hoped I was doing the right thing.
“It’s mine. It’s mine.”
Hysteria was rising in the draugr’s voice. It wouldn’t be long before he snapped.
“You want it?” I asked, raising the items in the air. His head followed them. “Go fetch.”
“Son of a bitch,” the sorcerer swore.
I flung them on his grave. He darted after them. Maniacal laughter followed me as I backed away. The draugr stood, clutching his treasures to his chest.
“Alright, back into your grave you go,” I said.
He threw his head back and roared at the sky. His chest heaved and suddenly his head twisted towards me.
“I don’t think so. I’m never going back into that dark space again.”
Damn. I had hoped he wouldn’t do this.
“Now, witch,” Liam roared. He flew at me, grabbing my arm and flinging us both out of the path of the draugr.
A lyrical voice hummed a few words.
Branches burst out of the ground, twining up the draugr’s legs. They grew around him.
“No. What’s this?” The draugr struggled against the plants, ripping away the branches only to have them grow back. Soon they covered him. He howled, again and again, as he was dragged back to his grave and then under. “No. No. No.”
The night was eerily silent once the ground finished consuming him.
I sat up. What had just happened?
A figure moved through the cemetery, her blond hair shining in the moonlight. She arched a brow at the undisturbed grave and then wrinkled her nose at the dead wolf.
Miriam gave her apprentice an inscrutable look before focusing her attention on me.
I watched her carefully.
This woman’s apprentice had been in league with Victor and the draugr. Had Miriam been totally unaware of Angela’s actions?
Miriam had been in charge of that ritual that had gone so terribly wrong. As had already been proven many times tonight, magic was a very tricky and powerful force. It was possible we’d all been duped by this person.
