I almost smiled then. I felt the exact same way, I’d simply woken up that day and already been part of the movement, with no say in the matter. But I remembered where I was, and who with, and why, and the smile died on my lips.
He slid the bolts across and opened a heavy wooden door leading out to a small courtyard with a fishpond in the centre and neat flower beds around the sides. Both of which were empty and dry.
“What did you want to say to me that couldn’t have waited until tomorrow?” I asked, voice as cold as ice. I owed this man nothing, and that was exactly what he would get from me.
“We need to discuss this bond you created between us.”
I narrowed my eyes. “How do you know about that?” For all he knew, it could be a curse, or a normal, non-magical sickness. A plague. But he’d used the word ‘bond’.
“Your sisters told me about it, and they called it unbreakable.”
My sisters?
“Where are they?” My tone slipped from cold to downright violent and I raised my hand to grab the front of his black shirt, but he moved quicker than the eye could see in the lowlight.
He gripped my wrist and growled. “In the dungeon, where you belong. And they’ll stay there until you free me from this bond.”
I glowered, our faces just inches apart as he loomed over me. I didn’t want to be bound to this man any more than he wanted to be bound to me. Perhaps I could convince him to free Sal and Lavender if I pretended to help him. It was all I had to go on, it had to be worth a try. I wrenched my arm free and he let me go.
“You bound our lives together by mistake.”
“That’s right.” I turned and walked slowly around the perimeter of the courtyard, and he followed. “But I can’t undo it.”
“They said there’s a ritual, your sisters. To break the bond.”
That caught my attention. I paused, turning to him. “They said what?”
“A ritual, to break the bond. They said you would know it, as High Priestess.”
I raised an eyebrow. A disenchantment ritual, and I already knew it? I’d stupidly left the Book of Enchantments back at the cottage, but I supposed I could run back and get it. Maybe the ritual was in there?
“I’ll have to go back to the cottage, the ritual will be in one of our books.”
The sheriff’s face fell and he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“What is it?” I didn’t like the look of his pained expression.
“I may have…burned down your cottage.”
I stared at him, uncomprehending. I felt the lightning hum under my skin. “I beg your pardon? You did what?”
He rubbed his face, exhaustion radiating from him, but he said nothing.
“You burned down my cottage?”
He slashed a hand through the air. “Enough, I’m sure we can figure out the ritual together.”
I wanted to hurt him again, but there was no point. He’d only steal my energy to heal himself, now we were attached like a parasite and its host. But if there was even a chance we could be freed from the spell…
I dropped onto a stone bench at the far end of the courtyard. “What did Lav and Sal tell you?”
“Only that there was a way to end it, and you would have the answers.”
I scoffed. “Why did they tell you that? What torture did you inflict on my sisters to make them tell you anything about the bond at all?”
“None. I simply said I’d give them a way out of their predicament if they told me everything they knew. And they did.”
I frowned. He’d promised them an escape if they helped us break the bond? “What was the way out you gave them?”
