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“Why didn’t you tell me not to take the bounty? You could have prevented all of this! They are planning to kill her!”

Cassandra didn’t seem to fear me, though I wasn’t sure what I would do in this state. To my shock, she head-butted me, forcing me to drop my hands while she swept her leg out. I fell hard, landing on my back in the grass. She stared down at me, dusting off her hands. Where had she learned that?The Oracle who left the halls of Întuneric had never held a weapon. She had changed so much since she left me behind.

“You were meant to take that bounty. You were meant to be moping in a graveyard in Texas while they imprisoned your mate in Salem, and she waited for execution.”

“Why?” I asked, leaping to my feet. “Why was I meant to betray her?”

A spark of foolish hope flared within me. Had there been some outside force making me betray Phoebe? Maybe I’d had no choice in the matter. I discarded the idea as easily as it formed. There was no one here to blame but me. I should have told her about the bounty, about the compulsion to complete it. The words would now seem false and desperate.

“Have you ever heard of a witch’s true mate?”

“Witches don’t have predestined mates.” It’s why I had such trouble with Phoebe in the beginning.

“They’ve fallen to the status of myths. A witch’s true mate shares more than just eternity with them. Their mating is an equal exchange. In a true mating, they can even share each other’spower.”

“But I’m not a witch. I have no magic to give her.” If I had any, I would have forfeited it to her immediately, praying it kept her safe. She wouldn’t forgive this. Her face when they took her, those tears falling silently down her face, had shredded me.

“No shit. But what do you have that she doesn’t?”

I had speed, strength, and age. “Are you saying Phoebe is as strong as a vampire now? As strong as me?” Why wouldn’t she just tell me how to get to Phoebe? How to fix this? I couldn’t get the sight of her tears out of my mind.

“Not in the way you’re thinking. A witch’s powers draw from their very essence, draining them of energy when they do multiple powerful spells, but you have that in abundance. What’s better for an extremely powerful witch than a ten-thousand-year-old vampire to draw energy from?”

“How does that help me now? I still need to get to her!” I was happy to let Phoebe protect herself, but I needed to be at her side when she fought them. My madness was returning with a vengeance at the separation.

“Men! So thick! Needing everything spelled out for them.” Her tone became condescending. “What does she have that you don’t?”

The ability to rift.Could I access that power through our bond? I kissed Cassandra’s forehead. “Thank you for this, Cassie. You know how much I love you.”

“I know.” She turned away, saying over her shoulder as she strutted back through the cemetery. “I sent some reinforcements ahead for you, just in case.”

As she disappeared among the headstones, I sat on the ground, trying to figure out how to call up Phoebe’s power. I thought back to the times she’d used magic around me. What had she done? I concentrated and made a circular motion with my hand like she had when she opened that rift in New Orleans. Nothing happened, and already my frustration was mounting. I should be able to access her powers, but I couldn’t. What if Cassie was wrong? What if I couldn’t access her powers? What if they had found a way to cut her off from me? What if she was already dead?

No, no, no, I was not going there. When a vampire lost a mate, they went mad, unable to differentiate between friend and foe. Who would execute me if that happened? Who became king?

These thoughts were useless, and I had to stop and focus on my task. I closed my eyes, pulling up the image of Phoebe’s face. I remembered the first time I saw her and the first time we kissed. The memory of when I claimed her nearly broke me. I held tight to how I felt at the sound of her laugh and how her eyes sparkled when her competitive streak kicked in. I inhaled deeply, imagining her scent, immersing myself in it. How she consumed me, frustrated, and fascinated me.

My eyes flashed open as a rift appeared, but it was the smallest one I’d seen. I bolted to my feet, reaching for it, but it was too small even to put my hand through. Phoebe was the key, as she was to most things concerning me. I closed my eyes again, thinking of how she hustled the vampire elders with magic at chess. The way she tricked me into obsessing about a show with avampire slayer. My skin tightened at the memory of how she trailed her fingers on my chest after we made love. She made the future something to look forward to instead of something to dread. Barely opening my eyes, I saw the rift was larger but still not big enough for me to fit.

I remembered how I felt when I woke up and realized she had stayed after saving my life, how she submitted to me in bed but fought for her way everywhere else. How I loved her, how I couldn’t imagine life without her. I would do anything to be at her side now. The sounds of voices raised in anger rang around me. The rift was large enough, and I saw Phoebe alone, facing the witches on the other side.

I threw myself through. My fangs bared at the Council members who threatened her. I stood by her side, where I belonged.

XXXVII

The Realm of Mortals.

The Witches Council,

Salem, Massachusetts.

Silas Cren reaches over to another council member, shaking them, hoping to rouse them.

Tick-tock, Phoebe, tick-tock. This is my chance to run. The choice I should have made instead of trusting the Council to a fair verdict.

I RECALLED MY FATHER’S BOOMINGlaugh and my mother’s soft singing. If they hadn’t plotted to destroy me, would I still be in my childhood home in Texas, surrounded by my family? I would have never met Lucien and been betrayed by him.

I felt the fear radiating from them. They were right to be afraid of me. If they hadn’t been so stubborn in their prejudices, maybe other witches would have bonded with an immortal battery.