My eyebrow raises. “I should have fucking figured that out. Not very original, is she?”
Raven doesn’t answer, but opens the gate slowly, cringing as it creaks loudly. “Shit, I forgot about that. Get out of here. Go now!” she hisses, just as a swoosh of wind from upstairs causes the open door at the top of the stairs to bang. “Run! Transport into the night!” Raven orders.
“No fucking way,” I tell Raven. “Stay on my heels.” I make my way back and scramble up the rickety old stairs as quickly as I can. The minute I’m out, I curse under my breath not seeing Raven behind me. Damn it all to hell. All of this for nothing, they got her anyways. I’m going to have to go back in.
I’ve barely started down the steps again, this time with my longsword drawn when Raven’s green and kaleidoscope eyesbegin to swirl in the dark while her fingertips spark with electricity that gives off some light. “Raven!”
“Go fast, run. I’ll catch up to you later!” she yells as I scramble back up the stairs. The minute I get to the safety of outside, Corvinus, Romano, Overmaster Descallia and Lucianna reach me.
I stare at each of them, momentarily unsure what to say, my heart still pounding in my chest. “Raven’s okay,” I say, just as she appears from thin air and joins our side. But that’s all I can say. The disapproval in their eyes is too heavy, the night has been too emotional, and yet again, they probably all think it’s my fault, and this time, it truly is. “I’m sorry for the mess I’ve made,” I tell them before disappearing into the night.
9
CORVINUS
Romano pulls Raven toward him, his eyes scanning down her body. “Did she injure you?” he asks, while all I can think about is the hurt that was in Embry’s eyes before she disappeared.
Raven shakes her head. “No, you know she wouldn’t do that. Auntie’s just pissy right now. She must have put me to sleep with one of her spells. I woke up in one of the cages in the lower level and Embry was there trying to get me out.”
A swooshing noise overhead sends a gust of wind into the air as Devora flies from the top of the academy roof, circling high.
“Transport!” Raven cries as Romano wraps his arms around her, and we transport to the safety of the great room of Master Romano’s estate. Overmaster Descallia stands tall at the recently repainted windows, his eyes red and filled with fury. “Come closer, and I’ll burn you to ashes!” he roars into the night.
Willow and Madria race forward and hug first Raven and then Lucianna while their mates join Descallia, me, and Romano. “We’re so glad you called,” Willow says to Lucianna. She turns to Raven. “Hope you and Master Romano don’t mind but we fixed the place up a little bit. Someone was a wee bit pissy, huh?” she asks.
“And then some,” Raven says. “She’s out of control tonight.”
Romano’s hard to calm down. He’s fuming. “Aunt of yours or not, that witch has gotten on my last nerve. Next time she and I meet we’re going to come to an agreement about what I find acceptable behavior because this is not fucking it, no matter what her perceived issue is.”
Raven blows out a breath. “She’s stressed. I’m not saying it’s not her fault, but for years she’s tried to keep this secret, believing that it protects the witches when in reality it doesn’t at all. It’s her job Romano, and it’s no different than the position you all find yourselves in, but granted she was completely out of line.”
My jaw tightens with frustration. They can sit around blaming and shielding people from blame but that doesn’t fucking bring Embry back. “I’m going after Embry. Who knows what will happen if that witch finds her in the mood she’s in.”
Raven’s fingers begin to pop with electric energy. “Everyone just settle down. Devora will not hurt Embry. I’m sorry to do this after everyone came to rescue me but I need to talk to Embry alone.”
My eyes narrow. “You know where she is?” I don’t like it one fucking bit. First Embry disappears and now Raven wants to cut out in the night alone. “We’ll follow you. Take us to where she went.”
“I do, but…”
“Good, then we’ll go.”
Her eyes go wide, and she shakes her head. “I think we’ve caused enough unrest in the forest tonight. The poor creatures don’t know what to do or where to hide. Let’s let things calm down. I will go see Embry and meet you back here in half an hour.”
Romano is fit to be tied, and I’m sure as hell not liking it either. “What’s so important that you need to talk to Embry alone?” Lucianna asks gently.
“The shadow books. I’ll explain when I get back,” she says, disappearing right before our eyes. Descallia growls his fury. “Damn these witches and their games,” he growls, but I’m not sticking around long enough to deal with him and Romano having it out about the witches. Because we all know that Romano is going to defend Raven to the end of time, and Descallia will calm down and realize it’s not her fault after a short while. Right now, I couldn’t care fucking less.
Embry could have only gone one place, and I know exactly where that is. “I’ll be back,” I tell the rest of them, transporting to the edge of the Mystic Forest without any other warning at all.
I fly through the woods, not caring two fucks what creatures are around, and who I run into. All I can think of is Embry, alone, thinking that everyone blames her for the mess with the vampires and witches. It’s not her fault that Devora kept this secret from everyone all these years, or that she went back on her word to Descallia or any number of things. Embry is just caught in the middle of something, but just like the last time, she can be depended on to defend her friends.
And this time, someone is going to fucking defend her. I’m going to have Raven’s back, no matter what.
She went after Embry faster than anyone, with not one care or thought for her own safety in a world filled with witches who could do her drastic harm. My feet land on the ground, and I scan the area carefully, frustrated that my sense of direction is somehow off. Just the other day, right around that bend was the cavern, and now it’s nowhere to be seen. My boots trudge over the dead branches and crunchy leaves looking for anything that I may have missed, but nothing is the same.
I can’t fucking be wrong.
The breeze shifts and Embry’s scent fills the air. Now that I have her scent, I know that I’m right. Something is completely off in the Mystic Forest and it’s not me because I can smell that female from a mile away. I glance around, my keen eyes taking in all the markers, the large oak tree with a scar, the pathway, clearing, all the same, but not one sign of the damn witch’s door.
