Page 24 of Fated to the Wolven Mage

Alaric turned to him, his eyes going wide. He let out a low growl before turning to face me again. “Look, witchling…”

“I have a name,” I snarled. “My name is Cerise.”

“I don’t care,” he seethed. “The fae authorities are looking for us, and if we don’t leave now, you will be in far more danger than you already are.”

I scoffed. “I think I’ll take my chances with the fae.”

“We can find out who did this to your grandmother,” the tawny-haired Wolven said. “We want to find the truth, too. But you have to come with us right now.”

I wanted to laugh in his face. Did they take me for a fool? How could they expect me to believe that?

“Don’t you want to know why she had this?” Alaric lifted the gold trinket again.

Curiosity stirred within me as I recalled the spell I’d caught Gran looking at: Unbinding a magical totem.

Was this what she had been trying to unbind?

If that was the case, then it meant this totem was magically bound to something else. But what?

“We don’t have time for this,” the tawny-haired Wolven muttered.

Alaric shoved the trinket into his pocket and stormed toward me. I stumbled backward, nearly tripping on broken pieces of furniture. “What—what are you doing? Don’t come any closer, or I’ll hex you!”

A bold-faced lie. I was far too terrified and grief-stricken to manage a spell right now.

“If you don’t come willingly, I will carry you myself,” Alaric said. “Either way, you are coming with us.”

“I’ll scream,” I warned, continuing to back away from him.

“Then I’ll knock you out. You can’t escape this, Cerise.”

“No. No!” I reached for my grandmother, but Alaric was blocking my path to her. “I can’t just leave her! I—I have to bury her. You must let me bury her!”

“I am sorry,” Alaric said, but I didn’t believe him.

I cried out as he gripped me around the waist and tossed me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. My head flopped, and I pounded uselessly against his bare back.

“Gran!” I screamed, my arm stretched toward the only family I had left. Storms, I couldn’t leave her body torn open like this! I had to bury her, I had to say goodbye.