“I’m never going to stop protecting us,” Vitoria said, already moving toward the center of the clearing. “We need to start before they send patrols into the Bloodwood.”
Vitoria traced the ritual circle, her movements precise and practiced. This was what I envied most, not her power, but her certainty.
“Aperio,” she whispered, and the circle burst open like a wound.
Magic spilled into the clearing in waves of heat and light that made my heart race and my blood sing. Vitoria’s fire magic pulsed outward. Wild, dangerous, beautiful. Flames spiraled up from her palms in ribbons of orange and gold, sending sparks dancing through the air like living things. Something deep in my chest responded with a longing so fierce it nearly brought me to my knees.
“By fire’s light and water’s flow,” she began, scarlet power threading through the air.
I drew from Silas’s deep well of strength and joined her. Scattering the best of our runestones into the magic-seeped circle. Katarina placed her own. “By shadow’s cloak and earth’s stronghold.”
A deep, thrumming call came from Silas, his warning before massive talons dug into the earth from behind me and he launched into the air with power that seemed like it could level the city.
Someone was coming.
“Vitoria,” I warned.
“Hurry. We can’t stop,” she said, panicked eyes looking back to the trees. But there was no time.
“Velaros,” I breathed, conjuring a deep, dense fog, filling the clearing so thoroughly we could hardly see one another.
I knew why she wanted this. It was selfless. She could hide her nature behind a spell I couldn’t seem to grasp, appearing as a nymph. But I’d always be a witch. And that scared her. She loved me enough to risk everything, even her own life.
In unison, we lifted our hoods, concealing our features as the fog thickened, turning red beneath the Blood Moon. Seconds later, I could no longer see the women who stood in the circle with me. I could only feel the deep pulse of power.
“Inoctuim tres,” Kat said, and without being able to see them, I knew her vines were creeping across the ground, outside of the spell circle, searching.
Silas called again, pleading for me to release him. Let him hunt and kill. But he wasn’t registered. He was free. If a hunter saw him near practicing witches and made it back to the city,hewould become their target. I couldn’t let that happen. Not if there was another choice.
My hands shook as I knelt in the circle, trying to focus on the runestones scattered before me. Every instinct I had screamed that we were running out of time.
“Inscriptio,” I whispered, pressing my palms to the first stone. Magic flowed from my fingers into the granite, carving protection runes so deep they glowed white-hot. But it was taking too long. Each stone needed individual attention, individual power, and we had seven more to go before I could make a single ward. Only Rune Weavers had this power. And there were so few of us left.
Silas’s calls were getting more frequent now, more urgent. Short, sharp warnings that made my spine crawl.
“How much longer?” Vitoria’s voice was strained. I could feel her fire magic wavering as she fought to maintain the circle’s integrity.
“I need three more minutes,” I said, moving to the second stone.
“We don’t have three minutes.” Kat hissed, trying to hold the circle and control her vines creeping farther into the darkness. “They’re hunters, not monsters. And there are at least six of them. Moving fast, beasts in tow.”
Two more stones done. My fingers found the smooth obsidian, and I pressed my magic into it, feeling the familiar burn as power left my body and etched into rock. “Protegus permanens.”
Silas roared.
Not a call. Not a warning. A battle cry.
“They’re here,” I breathed.
The fog began to move eerily, swirling in patterns that had nothing to do with wind.
“Vitoria—”
“I know.” Her voice was tight with effort. “The circle’s failing. I can’t?—”
The first arrow whistled past my ear.
“Down!” Kat shouted.
