Dina hung up after saying goodbye and I felt horrible. It was my fault all these wonderful people were risking their lives. Had I picked another master than Severin, would they even have taken Astrea? No, I couldn’t go there. If I hadn’t met Severin… Just the thought of never knowing him… This fated thing truly was the real deal; my heart couldn’t even take thinking about never meeting him.
“No matter what happens,” Severin said. “We will rescue your sister, my heart. You have my word.”
If only he could promise no one would get hurt, too.
Chapter 16
Severin
It was a struggle to breathe as we parked inside the area where Astrea was held prisoner. My vampire instincts wanted to keep Felix safe. With our bond left incomplete, he was weak.Too weak. I had fought myself for the two-hour drive, not wanting Felix to know how much of a struggle this was for me, and now it wastoo late. We were here.
The four other cars parked next to us. We had found a restaurant parking lot, knowing we needed to tread carefully as we neared the house.
Dina and Peter were already out of the car, standing by and waiting for me and Felix to exit, too. I got out and rushed to Felix’s side, not wanting to leave him unprotected even for a second.
I eyed the witches that came with us, they had hidden their necklaces and crystals from view, making them appear human from a distance. They really had thought about everything.
I grabbed Felix’s hand in mine, and together with the witches, we walked down the street filled with houses on both sides.
“The red house,” the witch, Jenny, whispered from the front. She’d whispered it so only Peter and I would hear. I believed the other witches already knew what our target location was, and I was grateful she wanted to fill us in on it, too.
Leaning my head closer to Felix, I whispered the same to him. His gaze shot to the house and he nodded. The lack of witches—of people in general—was obvious, and I could not help but feel like we were walking into a trap.
I whispered, “Can you hear anyone, brother?”
A beat of silence. “No,” Peter whispered back.
No other words were spoken between us. We both knew this could not be anything good.
We stopped in front of the red house, letting the witches do their thing, making sure the house ward would not hurt us as we approached. Before they finished waving their crystals in the air, the front door opened and an old man appeared.
“No need for that,” he said, his voice hoarse from old age. “I already removed the ward to let you in.” He stepped aside and bowed for us to enter.
“This is definitely a trap,” Peter whispered, loud enough for the witches around us to hear.
“I saw you were coming for her,” the old man continued, not caring that we were whispering amongst ourselves. “I made them go away for the day, told them you would be in another town, gathering allies. They all went.”
“What?” Dina said. I believed her to be as confused as I was.
“I am a seer. Forgive me for not protecting Astrea from her curse, but I was a selfish man and wished for my grandson to meet his fated, and this was the only way.” The old man gestured for us to follow him inside, and I was too curious not to follow.
Dina, Felix, Peter, and I, all moved up the house steps leading to the front door. Five witches followed behind us, all silent and likely just as curious as us.
The old man stood in front of a staircase and pointed to it. “Astrea is upstairs, still cursed into a deep sleep. You will find her in the first room to the left.” Peter went to go up, but the old man stopped him, holding up his right hand. “What you search for is in the basement.”
“What I search for?” Peter questioned. The old man simply nodded, offering nothing else. Peter looked to me for guidance, and I nodded for him to go along with whatever the old man had planned. Two witches followed Peter, while the rest of us went upstairs. I held on to Felix’s hand as tightly as possible without breaking his bones.
Dina rushed ahead of us, entering the room first. There was no one else, no ambush from hidden witches, nothing. The only person in the room was a sleeping woman on the bed.
“Astrea,” Felix’s voice was filled with emotion, it hit me so hard I needed to steel myself against the doorframe. My fated was hurting and even without our bond in place, I still felt it. His pain was my pain.
He kneeled in front of the bed, holding his sister’s hand in his as tears trailed down his cheeks. I saw just how afraid he had been then.How utterly terrified he had been of losing her. She was the only family he had left, the only family by blood. We were his family now, too, but that did not mean Astrea would mean anything less to my Felix.
“We need to hurry,” Dina reminded us. “We’re lucky they aren’t here now, but we still don’t know if we can trust the seer.”
Felix stood, wiping his cheeks with his shirt sleeve and nodded. I squeezed his shoulder, before gently picking Astrea up from the bed. I was not supposed to be the one carrying her. Peter was supposed to take care of her so I could keep my focus on Felix, but Peter was needed elsewhere, so I needed to split my focus until we were back in the car.
Dina hurried in front of us, descending the stairs as the rest of us followed. I kept my gaze on Felix while I carried his sister, not daring to let him out of my sight for even a second.
