“Yes, that was real,” I whisper, my eyes filling with unshed tears.
“Did I kiss you?” he breathes out, coming closer, like he is thinking about kissing me right now in front of them all.
My cheeks brighten. “No, Maz. Kane interrupted and reminded us it is forbidden.”
Maz laughs, his eyes fixed on me. “Since when did any of us follow the rules? You’re a walking rule breaker, Juniper Daygan.” He winks.
I laugh, but I don’t get to reply before Vale grabs me, pushing me against the wall by my throat, his impressive body crowding mine. “I don’t believe her words just because she tells an unbelievable story and charms Maz. Anyone can do that second one.”
“Hey!” Maz protests, but no one comes forward to defend him. Vale smells just like fire and brimstone as he presses harder into me. I don’t lower my gaze, and I don’t back down.
“We don’t have a lot of time.” Kane pulls him off me and shoves him away. Maz comes to my side, offering me his hand, and I take it as I suck in a deep breath.
“He’s right. I need to get out to the forest to bond with you, and I’m not exactly sure I’m going to get past all the guards without them seeing that I’m here,” I mutter, staring at the door. “I’m out of magic right now, thanks to the spell.”
“We neveragreedto bond with you. I don’t like being leashed like a pet,” Kane snarls at me. “We arenotyours.”
We are not yours.Those words slam into my chest and vibrate cracks throughout it. “The bond is not a leash.” My words come out weak, because is it? I don’t know anything real about the bonding other than I never felt more right than when I was bonded to them. “You are already bonded to my soul and have been for three years! There might not be a visible mark because of the tarot cards’ magic, but nothing can erase the bond we have. I have risked my life for each of you, over and over. You have done the same for me. I’m never going to force you to doanything, and I never have. There’s going to be no war to fight in, at least not the one they’re training us and preparing us for.” They are silent, contemplating my statement. I look up at Maz. “I know you. I know that your granny is what you care about. That you want her and the kids she adopts safe. You want the whole village safe, right? In some of the years, you took me to the village. I’ve met her, and she is amazing.” I pause. “I want them safe too. The shifters are my people?—”
“No, you are a witch,” Vale snaps, and I’m tempted to tell him I’m not all witch at all.
I swallow the reply I want to scream at him, but I carry on like he didn’t speak. “The shifters are slaves, and the fact that the witches withhold food unless you work hard during these trials is barbaric. I hate that you can only eat when you’re here, while you know they’re starving back home. Trust me, I know it all, and we have to stop this. They can’t be allowed to do this to us one more time, so I am proposing three very complicated spells. It’s going to take me some time to figure them out, but there are three things that need to happen.”
I steel my shoulders as I tell them my quite insane plan that could go wrong. “The magic of this island is powerful beyond measure, and witches can’t portal in here. The island can’t be accessed unless whoever is in control wants it to be, and I bet it’s easy enough to control with some powerful and new spells. I want to lock down Bloodstone Academy and the forests, kill anyone who still fights for the Umbral Authority, and make this island ours. Once the island is under our control, I want to find my mother with a spell and call her here. I have to believe she is fighting the Umbral Authority for more than just power and chaos. I was taken from her, they said that. Maybe she is just a revengeful mother looking for her child.”
“And what’s the third part of your plan then, darling?” Maz rubs his face, his nickname so familiar it’s almost like he canremember everything between us from years ago. He used to call me darling in the first year we met.
“Convince the world that the Umbral Authority is lying and hunt the Umbral Authority down, hopefully with my mother’s help. Convince her to get rid of the Mindless and stop the war. I want to kill the Umbral Authority for all that they have done to me and so many others.” I lift my chin. “I need your help to do this. Our magic combined is powerful enough to make the spell, and I need assistance translating the ancient spells done to the academy wards so I know exactly how to word the spell and mix the ingredients.”
“I’m in.” Maz squeezes my hand. “You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to save my people and bring down the witches. Fuck them. I’ll be your bonded.”
“The fuck is wrong with you? No, we won’t.” Vale turns away from me, and after everything, it hurts. I knew he wouldn’t be easy to convince, but his outright rejection is bitter tasting.
Kane stares at the wall for a long time before he turns back. “Your apparent foster parents were rebels, and they didn’t want this world to be like this. I know they weren’t your real parents…but they would have asked me to listen to you. I loved them and they were good people.” My heart breaks at the sorrow in his voice. “We will talk as a group for their sake. Goddess rest their souls.”
“I’ll just go and stand over here where I can probably still hear you,” I mutter, letting go of Maz’s hand and walking to the other side of the dungeon. Vale mutters a silencing spell, and I hold back a smile that he chose that spell. Silence enwraps the group, and Vale flashes me a nasty grin before turning his back on me. I glare at his back as they talk to each other. And once again, it’sthemagainstme.
Sometimes, in all the years we shared, it almost felt like we were a team, like they had my back when no one ever had before.I hate having to ask for their help right now, but this is bigger than me. I’m not sure I can do this without the boost of their power and their help with the magic. If they remembered, they would help me without question. Now, I’m a stranger asking for the impossible.
Eventually, they turn back to me. I can’t read the answer on their faces until Vale punches the wall and mutters a line of curses. “Fine.”
Black nods. “I am yours from now until death sweeps us away.”
A blush climbs up my neck to my cheeks. Kane sighs. “We were once one clan, and you are all that is left of the clan. I will help you…for them.” Not for me. He is making that clear as day.
I squeak as Maz picks me up and spins me around. “I didn’t need convincing. I was yours the moment you walked through the wall.” He kisses the top of my head, and I chuckle. “Now, my smart little witch. Do you know any spells to shield yourself from fire?”
“Yeah, why?” I frown.
“Your dragons are going to cause a fire problem. Tell me the spell, and I’ll protect you.” He winks. I tell him the spell quickly, and he repeats it, with his magic latching onto the words. A shield of orange spreads around me just seconds before Kane, Black and Vale explode with fire. The fire fills every inch of the room until I can’t see my dragons in the red-hot flames, but I know they are there. The flames lick everywhere, bouncing off my shield and pushing against the magic locking them in here. The magic doesn’t stand a chance.
I wince as I try to shy away from the heat just as the wall explodes right on top of the line of witches outside. A few of them try to get up, but Vale is like a storm. He steps out of the fire, the flames dancing off his thick black cloak and dark clothes, completely untouched. He snaps the neck of the nearestwitch with one hand. Black only has to touch a witch who crawls away, and they drop dead in seconds. It was barely a fight at all. All that is left are the bodies of the shifters who died with their witches. If the witch dies, the bonded die next. Sometimes they can fight to survive, but it’s rare.
“Let’s go find a bloodstone then.” Kane looks back at me as Maz’s spell disappears and I choke on the smoke in the air. I nod, walking over the rubble and avoiding the fires to get to the steps. Knowing we don’t have a lot of time before someone notices the explosion, we quickly escape the castle and head into the forest. There are still people screaming, but it’s quieter than earlier. Only the trees watch us as we head past them on the forest paths.
My soon-to-be bonded follow behind me, and I don’t dare talk to them, just in case they suddenly change their minds about this. I was worried the truth and the offer of freedom with me for the shifters wouldn’t be enough for them to push past who my mother is. I haven’t even given myself a moment to think about all the horror stories I was taught as a kid about the enchantress. How she destroyed the world, killed millions of humans and witches, turning them into the Mindless to make an army for herself. Did she do all of that, or was it a lie? I want to know and I want to meet her. Even if it is risky, even if I’m not certain she won’t use me like the Umbral Authority has. She is my only family left. I plan to look for her as soon as it is safe.
It doesn’t take us long to find a bloodstone. The ancient stone is half-covered in mud and dirt. Dark ivy crawls across the stone, digging into the stone and lifting parts of the stone to make it uneven.
