“You look like shit,” she finally spoke.
“Yes, I know.” I glared. “Are you going to admit to me that you have it, or should I force you to give it to me?”
Her eyes sparkled at my attitude.
“How many covens have you asked?”
“Seventeen,” I sighed and leaned back in my chair. I would give anything to make Mikel happy again, even though he hatedme. This damn mating bond wouldn’t let me forget that I had hurt Haden too. “The last witch coven said you would be the one who had it. Which makes sense since you are literally named the Deathweaver Coven,” I sighed. “You deal with fate and death. Honestly, I should have come here first.”
Her lips pulled into a smirk. “Well, it depends how much you are willing to sacrifice to get the soul back.”
“I will give anything.” I blew out a long breath. Gods, my eyes strained with exhaustion, and my body ached from restless nights. “Actually, I’ll have some tea.”
Her dead butler walked in a moment later and handed me a cup like he knew I would change my mind. I sipped on the warm tea and sighed. I was fucking exhausted. Sleep had evaded me in the past three weeks. Malamay had failed to mention how fucking long this process was going to take.
“Who is this soul?”
“Remiah Vale,” I whispered. “She was not supposed to die, and I took her soul anyway to save someone else.”
The witch watched me curiously. If she didn’t help me, then I didn’t know what I’d do. I knew this coven had caused such havoc in the past that I almost decided to skip asking altogether. But, of course, the last witch coven told me this was the place to ask. Abram would be pissed if I were here. He hated this coven with the passion of a million stars. They were always interfering in his work.
“Who?” she asked.
“Who?”
“Who did you save?”
“Haden Vale, her brother.”
Even saying his name caused physical pain. Something like warmth flickered in her eyes when she saw my sadness. Crazy bitch.
“Does the goddess have a crush?” she purred.
“He’s my mate,” I snapped at her. “My husband. Are you going to help me, or not?” I raised my voice so loudly that another witch appeared in the room with us. The witch in front of me waved her hand at the other one, making her disappear. She seemed intrigued by my outburst.
“Elowyn,” she muttered. Before I could ask her what she was talking about, she continued. “That’s my name. I will help you because I don’t think there is a bad side to a goddess owing me a favor.”
I sat up straight, my tired eyes focusing on her.
“So, there is a way to get her back with the book?”
She nodded as she stood and smoothed the purple lace of her dress down. The black dress underneath it was formfitting and showed off her colorful tattoos. My gaze fell to her knuckles so I could read the tattoo across them—‘death’ was across her right knuckles and ‘fates’ was on the left. Interesting choice, but I didn’t ask.
“It has never been done, but it’s possible. Follow me.” She didn’t wait for me as she walked out of the room.
“Has anyone tried before?” I asked.
“No, you need someone with a lot of power to pull off something like this.” She paused and looked at me over her shoulder. “A goddess should have the power needed.”
My heart raced as I followed her up the stairs into a lightless room. She clapped her hands, and light flickered throughout the room, illuminating thousands of books piled everywhere. The inch of dust coating everything told me no one had been in here recently. Elowyn started rummaging through the stacks. I wandered around the room looking at all the trinkets and skulls she had lying around.
“Here we are,” she grunted. She held up a dark red book that reminded me of blood. Before she handed the book to me, Icould feel dark magic pulsing from it. I hesitated—theBook of the Dead.
“You said you’d do anything to get her soul back.”
I glared at her as I took the book from her. She gave me a sly smile before rummaging around again.
“You’ll read the passage from page 444.”
