“You need to focus on me, or you’re going to end up dead. You’re running out of time, you realize that? They’re going to kill you, and I’m trying to stop that,” he snarls.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I play innocent. “Who will kill me?”
“Nothing. Fuck. Just know that this relationship is the only thing keeping you alive, and fucking with those you’re bonded to is going to get you killed.” He paces. “I will be a good husband and father to our kids. They only need you for one thing now, and it’s to be mine.”
“Who?” I ask, but I know the answer. I’ve known since I woke up.
“You’re not that good at lying, Juniper. At least not to me. I can see right through you.” My heart pounds in fear as Lock storms out of the room. If he knows I remember, why hasn’t he told his mother?
Chapter 12
The small library is just as I remembered it. The same old lady sits behind the half-moon-shaped desk, judging me as I walk in. The rows of black bookcases feel like home as they stretch out behind the desk, and this time, I don’t ask her permission. With Maz at my side, she stares at the both of us, huffing but not stopping me as I walk past her through the shelves of the library.
Last year, I never explored much further in, but in year two, I did. I weave through the rows until I find a small alcove. A single tall black-framed window casts light over the table, and I glance out over the forest and the stormy sea as rain batters against the glass. The table has several plush chairs and two candle lanterns in the middle that make it feel warm.
“This is cozy. Are you trying to seduce me, Juni?” Maz brushes past me, his arm touching mine for a heartbeat, and I feel his touch everywhere. “You only have to look at me and I’m already yearning so badly for you that I’m lost.”
I shake my head. “In year two, we used to spend time here. It’s actually where you kissed me first. You seduced me here.”
“Tell me more…” His eyes drift over me.
I’m glad that I managed to weave a potion into some foundation this morning, and I slathered it on my face to hide the whopper of a bruise Lock gave me. I put lipstick on to hide the redness of my lip and chose a pretty dress. It falls just past my thighs, and it’s slightly tight around me but not uncomfortable. It’s pretty and cute. I’m hoping that Maz just thought that I wanted to dress up for him and that’s why I’m wearing makeup. He doesn’t dig too much into it. We did say it was a date, so I’m glad I’m looking nice. Plus, I know Maz would lose it, and then he’d tell the others and they would join him in killing Lock and ruin every bit of our plans. That’s why I haven’t told them. Lock’s death would be something we can’t hide, and I don’t want to spend another year under the magic of the tarot cards. I am not forgetting them ever again.
“When are you going to tell me about this one?” Maz points at my wrist.
I warmly look down at Minnie and then lift my arm onto a bookshelf. She scurries off, hiding among the books, with only her glowing eyes to show us she is still close by. “I don’t know why she is so attached to me. She just appeared and seems to be staying around. I call her Minnie because she kind of looks like a mouse, and she reminds me of some old human stuff that I read about. I like her. She’s cute and unusual. I feel less alone in Lock’s room when she is with me.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a small creature like her. When I was a kid, I used to go out into the forest and try to talk with all the small creatures and make friends with them. However, I always thought I was a bit weird, and I used to get into many fights because of them.” He leans on the bookcase. “Shifters don’t harm small creatures, and we can smell magic on them. I believe they are sacred.”
“I used to go into the forest and see them too. Help them. I was always called weird because witches don’t like smallcreatures.” I shrug. “I always lovedthemmore than anywitchin my town.”
His eyes soften. “It’s because you’re not just a witch, are you, my mate?” He pulls out a chair for me. “Let’s get to work, because calling you my mate is making me want to do other things in this library.”
We take turns going back to the desk and asking for particular books on the history of Bloodstone Academy and the magic that created it. Maz focuses on a pile of Latin books that have more to do with some of my spells, some of the Latin translations I’m missing. I need the translations perfect in Latin, and I can’t pronounce a single bit wrong. The book I’m studying—The Very Making of Bloodstone Academy—is over a thousand pages, and I spend hours combing through the pages before I find anything.
“Finally!” Maz looks up at me as I read the passage out. “The heart of Bloodstone Academy is at the bottom of it, in the Blood Rock, where the sacrifices were made. It is locked and vaulted, and only witch bloodlines can access the magic of the academy.” Excitement buzzes through my chest, and I blurt out my plan. “I need to map out the academy, check all the lower floors, and make sure that it is there. I’m worried, though. What if it is, and it’s too much? What if my spell doesn’t work? I’ve done everything to make sure it’s perfect, and once we’ve got these last words translated, then it’ll be the only spell I could invent for this. I’m still a student; what if I?—”
Maz grabs my hand. “It will work because you made it. The enchantress was known for being able to make new spells, and she made so many for our races.”
“Crazy dangerous spells. Spells that changed this entire world. Spells that massacred people, Maz. If she is a monster, what does that make me?” I whisper.
Maz pulls my hand to his mouth and kisses it softly. “Until we know the truth, fuck everything we have been told or taught. I know you, Juniper, and you are no monster. You are brave, powerful and so fucking beautiful that you hurt my eyes. All I can see is you, remember? Fuck what we have been told about her. Ignore the bad, and we’ll focus on the good, which is that she can make new spells, and there’s every chance that you are even more powerful than her. I believe in you, Juni. I have no fear whatsoever that you won’t be able to make this spell and control Bloodstone Academy. Make sure it listens to you and not those fuckers.”
He believes in me. I’m not sure anyone has said that to me before. I suck in a deep breath and smile. “Last night I finished the other spell to call the enchantress to me. It’s a rather simple spell, calling blood to blood. It’s easy in that sense. I only had to alter a spell that was already made and put in an old spell book to find family. It will essentially lure her to me through time and space. I hope I’ve got it right.” He raises an eyebrow, and I correct what I said. “I’m sure I’ve got it right. I can do this.”
“That’s good, Juni.” He kisses my hand again. “She won’t have the rest of her army here, and you’ll be able to talk to her without feeling that you’re threatened.”
“I want you, all four of you, to see the spells just in case something happens to me,” I admit. “You can do them too. Together.”
“Don’t you dare say anything’s going to happen to you! It won’t,” Maz growls, lowering my hand. “There is no ending to all of this where you are not alive and mine.”
“Please, Maz. I want you to see the spells, know them by heart. It’ll make me feel better,” I plead with him. What we are doing is very dangerous, and after what Lock said, I think I’m on my last straw with the Umbral Authority. They are going to getbored with repeating these years, and they won’t trust the tarot cards when they know I remember.
“All right, but we don’t have half the magic that you do, and it won’t work,” he reminds me. “We are more brute strength and fire…and pretty faces.”
A low laugh escapes me.
“Have you decided who is going to go with you to make the spell? I assumed just one because the rest of us are going to need to be in the castle to make a major distraction.”
