As we drove away from the king’s house, a million thoughts ran through my mind. But the single most prominent was how in the hell were we going to get these girls out of a building we hadn’t even seen, while Luka and I were guests of honor at a fight packed with supernaturals?
The only solution might involve whoring my best friend out as a feeder, and that made me sick.
Chapter Ten
In case anyone was watching,we stayed at the hotel another six hours to make it seem like we were resting, then we hightailed it out of there. I texted Milika and told her we were invited for fight night and to be ready to flee then. She took forever to respond, and her text was riddled with typos, but she said she would be ready, and would help in any way she could. I asked her for a map of the city, pointing out where the breeding house was, and she said she would get back to me.
We had less than a week to plan a takeover of a foreign magical place, and it was nerve racking. The second we got home, Luka called a meeting with Demi and the others for the very next day when they would all be back from their missions of scouting out the other cities. I laid low with my mom and Maple doing wedding stuff, and tried not to stress about the impending takeover of Night City.
“I was thinking a light blush cream for your bridesmaids’ dresses.” My mom showed me a few styles in a catalogue.
“Ohh yeah, those are pretty!” Sage, Maple, and Demi had all agreed to be my bridesmaids, with Liv being my maid of honor.
There was a knock at the door and I stood. “I’ll get it.”
Mom and Maple had really taken to this plan-my-wedding thing, and I liked it because all I had to do was point to stuff I adored and they made it happen. This knock on the door was probably a delivery of wedding stuff.
Pulling open the door, I greeted the delivery person in a khaki uniform, who handed me a small white box. “Aspen Rose?” he asked.
I nodded, taking the box from him. “Thanks,” I said, and he dipped his head once before turning to jog back to his truck.
Shutting the door, I started to rip open the package. “Let me guess, it’s my veil?” I asked my mom.
She smiled. “Could be, but looks too small. Maybe it’s your—”
I yelped in pain, cutting her off as I’d reached into the box and grasped a cold hard stone. A shock ran up my arm and into my chest, squeezing my heart.
“Aspen!” my mom yelled.
I staggered backward, dropping the box and shaking my arm out as if it would make the pain lessen.
When the box hit the ground, a light blue crystal rolled out.
“Don’t touch it,” I barked at my mother, who bent to pick it up. I knew this feeling somehow.
I’d just been spelled.
Using my foot, I dug through the rest of the box’s contents until I found what I was looking for.
A card.
Kicking the card open, I knelt down and read:
Aspen,for the lovely bride to be. Now you can’t ever kill me.
-Maz
My mom lookedat me with concern. “A spell?”
Even she knew. Frick, this was bad, this was really bad.
I chewed my lip, shaking my arm again. The pain was lessening; my chest felt lighter. But I couldn’t escape the feeling that something permanent had just been done to me.
“Call Luka.” I gulped.
My mom nodded and ran to the kitchen, where her phone was. About ten minutes later Luka charged into the room with Demi and a young woman my age. A witch, my nose told me. She had dark hair and was holding a bundle of smoking sage. She fanned it toward me and it burst into flames.
“Oh dear,” the witch said.
