Her gaze landed on me.
“Interesting,” she said softly.
The mark on my shoulder pulsed again, harder this time.
The hedge responded instantly, branches tightening as the remaining shadows thrashed against them. Two shadows slipped above, and I felt the Hedge twist them into my control, diving after the shadows taunting Keegan.
Another slid by and shot toward Luna, and a vine from the ground twisted around the shadow, creating a torpedo, which darted toward another batch of shadows.
But the Priestess wasn’t watching the vines.
She was watching me.
And she was smiling.
I hated that smile.
Keegan pushed himself up from the ground with a low growl.
His wolf eyes flicked toward me briefly, something like surprise flashing through them as the hedge surged around us.
Then he lunged back into the fight, driving two shadows away from the witches near the treeline.
The town didn’t break.
If anything, it pushed harder.
The orcs fought harder as they forced their way toward the center of the clearing. Magic flared around them as the witches joined in—quick flashes of light, bursts of color that cracked through the gloom like fireworks in the wrong season.
Bella streaked past me in a blur of copper and red, too fast for the shadows to catch, her movements sharp and precise as she cut through the fight.
Across the clearing, the Priestess lifted one hand.
She didn’t rush.
She didn’t need to.
The shadows that still lingered pulled back from the others and drifted toward me again, circling in slow, patient loops.
They weren’t striking this time.
They were waiting.
The mark on my shoulder throbbed.
Once.
Hard enough that it stole my breath.
My grip on the hedge slipped for just a heartbeat.
The vines shuddered. Branches rattled together like something had shaken them from the inside.
And that was all the shadows needed.
They slid through the gap.
I tried to pull the spell tight again, but the moment had already passed.
