That was affirmative.
‘I haven’t slept since you left,’he rambled on. ‘I’m at the border of the Witch Lands with Belladonna Mongrave, the high priestess. She says that if you can steal a fey blade and cut off the cuffs while saying a special incantation, it will remove the magic of the cuffs and you can get your powers back and fight.’
Relief rushed through me, but then slowly turned into terror. Steal a fey blade? How the hell would I do that? And how would me speaking the incantation do anything? I wasn’t a witch.
‘Demi, listen, I had to tell her what you are. That you’re half Paladin. Because I know Paladins have witch magic. She said so long as the magic is strong enough in you, it should work.’
I’d never even tried a spell with Raven, it all freaked me out to be honest. I wanted to stick with being a shifter and not dabble in that stuff. But to be free of these chains, I could do it this one time.
‘Now the fey blade. It won’t look like a knife they cut meat with, it would be a decorative handle or ornate type with engravings. Every fey has a fey blade they are given at birth from their fathers.’
Damn, he knew a lot. I nodded as if he could see me. Okay, steal a fey blade from a psycho dark fey that turned so evil their own people made them separate and split their lands … no biggie.
My gaze scanned the darkness and found a glow off in the distance that indicated it might be a fire. Maybe I should wait until morning…
‘It must be dark there by now, do you see any cabins or tents or anything that shows someone is living inside? Best to do this at night while you have the element of surprise.’
Damn. He really had thought this out.
‘Once you cut them off…’He paused as if he’d rehearsed this,‘Your scent will become stronger and they’ll hunt you.’
Well, wasn’t that the fucking bedtime story I needed.
‘But I’ve weighed the odds and calculations a hundred times, and you’re safer using your powers and having your wolf than if you are trying to hide with the cuffs on, especially if you’re bleeding. There’s just no way you will make it to the Witch Lands without getting those cuffs off.’
I stopped walking. Witch Lands? Last time we spoke he said I only had to get to Light Fey City. Maybe that’s what he meant. He was just with the witches now and he would meet me in Light Fey City with Prime Minister Locke.
He didn’t speak, and his mention of meeting me in the Witch Lands started to bug me.
‘Witch Lands?’I whispered mentally, hoping that without speaking too loudly, I wouldn’t get zapped. No such luck.
He was silent a long time. So much so that I was debating enduring the pain of asking again.
‘We’re at war, and the light fey have joined the other side. It’s just us and the witches now.’
I stopped dead in my tracks, hoping I hadn’t heard him right.
War? I’d been gone a few days and he’d started a war?
My mother said that if one side ever joined the other, making it four on two, the smaller side would be decimated. I started walking toward the campfire again, if only to keep moving and not freak out too much.
‘No. Why? Me?’I hissed as the cuffs burned into my freshly healing skin, but I didn’t care. I had to know.
Silence again. I was closer to the fire now. I could see two hulking shapes hunched over the fire and talking softly, so I froze and awaited Sawyer’s reply.
‘When I went to Vampire City to retrieve you, Locke stopped me and said I had no legal ground to be there. He put an ankle monitor on me and said that I needed to remain in Wolf City until the murder investigation was over.’
An ankle monitor. Holy shit.
‘So I killed him.’
Oh. My. God.
‘Sawyer! You didn’t!’I hissed at the pain from the cuffs.
I could feel his anger threading through our imprint, raw and unbridled.‘Oh yes I did. We found out he’s been in league with the vampires since the night he met you. They both want you and are willing to work together to get you. He tried to keep me from rescuing you so I took him out of the equation. No one’s going to come in the way of my bringing you home safely, Demi. No one.’
My boyfriend went on revenge murder sprees more than I liked to admit, but it was kind of sweet.
