Alexia shook her head. “Cora and I were sent by your father to retrieve you.”
“I don’t have a father,” Bridget snapped.
“You do.”
“No. This ring was my mother’s.” Bridget fumed, holding up her hand. “I remember her dying. I remember taking it before the doctors took her away.”
“Bridget, maybe let her explain,” Archer said softly, stopping her from her unconscious assault forward.
Bridget whipped her gaze to him. With an accusatory glare, she asked, “Did you know?”
Immediately, she bit her tongue.Did you know.Why did she ask the question like she believed Alexia? Shedidn’t. Desperately, she tried to think of any memory she had before the age of seven. After several moments oftrying, nothing popped in her head. Panicking, she closed her eyes. The room spun. Everything spun. She didn’t know what to think. At that moment, she desperately wished for Cade. He’d be able to search her head for memories. He’d be able to reasonably explain Alexia’s lies. Or truths. She wasn’t sure what her shaking body believed anymore. Nylah must have sensed her distress, because she felt her sister gently grab her hand. Her heart rate calmed.
“He didn’t, but I’m guessing he overheard something,” Alexia said. “I met Cora in an Andarrian jail. She traveled there to ask for help for the covens. The king had just stopped all trade with Vassuryn. She didn’t have a warm welcome. Let’s just say magic is not a popular subject in our homeland.”
Hearingour homelandmade Bridget sick to her stomach. She wanted no connection to the girl in front of her. “And why were you in jail?” she asked blithely.
“I’d been falsely accused of murdering a girl from school. We shared a cell and grew close. One day, Cora was plucked from the masses to chat with someone. Someone important. Someone with power. Days later, so was I. I learned Cora had been asked to go to Pontas to retrieve you and that she bartered for my release, as well. As a Witch, she’d be able to travel through Elyria and Vassuryn undetected.”
“Pontas?” Bridget echoed, the word settling like a weight in her chest. Dread crept up her spine. Of all the towns in Vassuryn, Pontas was the one Cora had avoided at any cost. The Gemini coven had been attacked there… byCade.
Because of her.
She’d been there. The scars along her stomach twitched beneath her clothes, an involuntary reminder. Whatever she couldn’t remember, her body did. The sheer physicality of it still seemed imprinted on her.
“It’s where we found you unconscious at an abandoned farm with the Gemini coven, along with Quinn and Archer.”
Once again, Bridget glared at Archer. How much had he not told her?
He held up his hands and pleaded, “Bridget, I swear, I didn’t know about any of this. When we came across them in Pontas, they said they’d been looking for a way to the human realm and were told Quinn might know about a gate. Quinn believed them, but I was skeptical. It seemed like too much of a coincidence. That's why I told them who you were.”
Believing him, she turned her hateful stare back to Alexia. “How could you possibly have known I’d be there?”
A shadow passed over Alexia’s face. “Andarre has been under attack for the last year. Creatures from the sea rise up from the waters and attack the coastal towns every few months. According to Cora, the royal family enlisted a Shaman to help. They said to find you. The Shaman told your father when and where you’d be.”
“I don’t believe you,” Bridget said, trying to keep her voice even. A Shaman sent them to her? What would she do? Throw knives at sea creatures?
“Yes, you do. It’s why you’re so angry. You hate that it explains what Cora did to you. I admit, she took it too far sometimes. It was revenge, I think, for what she’d gone through in that jail, and for them not helping the covens.”
Bridget was going to kill her if she didn’t shut up. Alexia needed to leave. She needed to leave right now. Before she did more than punch her. “Whatever mission you think you’re on, you’ve failed. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“It’s not only Andarre that’s in danger. It’s Elyria. It’s Vassuyn,” Alexia snarled. “It’s your duty—”
Bridget let out a sharp laugh. Her duty? What duty did she have to people she’d never met? “No. I’m never going back to that world again. You may believe some curse has been broken, but I won’t risk my sister. I won’t put her in danger.”
Unreadable, Alexia took a step forward. “I had a feeling you’d say that.”
Before Bridget could blink, Alexia grabbed Nylah and plunged a syringe into her neck. Panic exploded through her chest. She lunged forward and caught her sister before she hit the ground. Nylah coughed and rubbed at her neck. Bridget’s stomach lurched as every horrifying possibility played out her in mind.
Pulling her sister closer, Bridget demanded, “What did you do?”
“It’s a simple poison. I found the ingredients by the gate. The herbs by themselves are harmless, but together…” Alexia said, making Bridget’s heart fall to the ground. “It was supposed to be for you, but I think this plan works better. Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. For now. It’s slow-spreading. Luckily, the antidote is in Andarre.”
Archer ripped the vial out of her hand and immediately started analyzing it. “Give me that. I’ll come up with something,” he told Bridget. “You know I will.”
Grasping Nylah tightly, Bridget sent Alexia the most venomous glare she could muster. “I’m going to kill you.”
“What she needs isn’t grown here. There’s nothing you can do,” Alexia explained, unbothered. “Also, I forgot to mention that your father has my family. He’s not going to release them until I come back with you. So… when do we leave?”
