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“For me?“ Blaise demanded with disbelief before handing it off to Stone. “Last time I checked, I was a grown ass man.”

Stone looked a bit troubled by the smell, but he kept quiet as he passed it to Aqua.

Once all his dragons had the scent, they phased out.

When the world reformed, it wasn’t at all what Alessandro had been expecting.

“What in the endless hells?” Blaise lost his breath as they took in the sight of what had once been the Eastern Elven Kingdom.

A thin layer of ice covered the roads, the people, the shops.

Deep ice, his signature move.

Meant to protect and contain inorganic matter, using the spell against living people would produce harm.

“They’re all alive. ” Aqua noted as she examined one elf looking through a shop window at a green silk gown.

“How?” Stone demanded, looking towards his master.

Alessandro couldn’t believe what he was feeling under the layer of the ice curse. “It’s a protection rune.” He looked around the ground for signs of their existence. His first instinct was to look for them engraved on the cobblestones.

“No way.” Stone’s eyes were on the trees that surrounded the entrance to the kingdom, particularly the roots. He took off into the sky and Alessandro realized what had caught the dragon’s attention.

Blaise and Aqua joined him and Alessandro watched as Aqua paled and Blaise’s eyes shone. Stone was speechless.

Alessandro didn’t need to fly up to take in what they saw. He could feel the shape of Rowan’s magic now that he knew where to look for it.

The insane woman had used the roots of the forest surrounding the Eastern Elven Kingdom to make a giant protection rune imbued with her blood as its nexus of power. He also came upon a more minor rune that was so clever he couldn’t help but smirk.

She really needed absolutely nothing from him, did she?

He walked towards the center of the square where the smaller rune was exuding power. At the foot of a larger than usual hydrangea tree, in between a thick collection of colorful tulips, sat a man he had seen on the news coverage of the wolves in Greece. He had put up a struggle to get out of the wooden and magic bonds that shackled his hands to the trunk of the tree. His disheveled hair, red face and sweat drenched appearance suggested it. A trail of broken tulips ended where the witch sat. He huffed and puffed against the nulling magic holding him in place.

A Chloe Darling special.

“Dae Kang.” Stone landed next to Alessandro.

Alessandro crouched until he was eye level with the man.

“I thought the Coven was no longer looking to recruit Rowan Dahl.”

“Does this really look like a recruiting attempt?”

“Ah. So now it’s time to take out the threat?”

“She shouldn’t have believed she was safe. She should’ve kept her powers hidden. The Coven had no clue how much power she was hiding.” He scoffed, “Stupid woman.”

It was a quick punch, but it knocked the witch’s head back as Alessandro’s fist collided with his nose.

He let out a yelp of pain and whined for a few moments as streams of blood splurged from the break.

Blaise snickered.

Alessandro waited until the witch sat back up, his eyes wary. “Exactly what has the woman done to deserve such a response from your people?”

Refusing to answer, the man turned his face away.

Alessandro raised an eyebrow.