Page 1

Chapter 1

Zhong

E veryone was hurting, but Hasumi wasn’t here to ease the pain.

“Are you happy now?” Andy growled at her sister, as they faced off in the clearing where so much carnage had occurred.

Where each of them had lost someone dear to them, and where Andy, I was certain, had lost even more than that. She had lost the fragile sense of safety she had built around her. She had lost her ability to stay detached from the conflict that threatened to tear apart two realms.

“I knew it!” My master’s voice rose gradually in volume until she was shouting in her sister’s face. “I knew if I let myself get pulled into your…your stupid heroics and delusions of grandeur, I would regret it!”

Bella was just as raw as Andy, but she showed it in a different way. Where our Lovell was bright and overflowing with fiery rage, her sister burned quieter, darker. She had lost someone too, but instead of burning with it, she iced over. Went cold.

Belladonna lifted her chin, her eyes red but dry, her tears tucked away so she could focus on her purpose. “This is bigger than your pain,” she told her sister, her voice deceptively calm. As if no pain could reach her. “Bigger than both of us.”

Andy sneered at her, waving a hand around the decimated forest refuge. “No shit, Sherlock. Do you know how many people we murdered today? Do you even care? And for what? Was it worth Junaid’s life?” Her voice cracked, the raw pain in it obvious to anyone who listened. “Because it sure as shit wasn’t worth Hasumi’s life. Nothing could ever be worth that, you cold-hearted bitch!”

Bella remained calm and cool in the face of her sister’s burning anguish. “Death is part of battle,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest and planting her feet in a firm posture that said she wouldn’t be cowed. “There is always a risk when you stand up for something you believe in. Junaid knew that. I’m sure your water weaver knew it too.”

It sounded so matter of fact. But I think we all heard the way her voice wavered, just a little, when she said her lost jinn’s name.

“Oh, fuck you!” Andy bit out. “You’re just as heartless as the rest of our fucking relatives. I should have known better than to ever get involved with you and your bullshit. You’re a fanatic, just like they were. You just think you’re better than the rest because you’re on the opposite side of the war this time. But that doesn’t make you any less insane.”

Bella drew in a deep, slow breath, and I thought maybe Andy had just hit her where it hurt. But she refused to show it. “Is that what you really think? That my blood is tainted, and I’m just as evil as the people who birthed me? That I’m nothing more than the Lovell name?”

Andy snorted and pointed to where Junaid’s body had been laid out beside half a dozen innocent people who had been killed by the cult. Already the ice jinn’s physical form was fading, slowly returning him to the elements that had birthed him. “I don’t know,” Andy said flatly. “Why don’t you ask them. Would they be dead if you hadn’t filled their heads with rebel ideals and fighting spirit? Or would they be safely hidden away from the conflict, where they belong?”

Bella’s voice didn’t change, but her face turned red, and her posture went rigid. I glanced at the others, wondering just when we should step in… or if attempting to interfere would only get us caught in the crossfire. Andy and Bella were both very powerful witches.

“You think you’re any better than me?” Bella said softly. “You’re a Lovell too, Oleander, or did you forget? Your name is just as poisonous as mine. If I’m tainted by my blood and my heritage, then so are you, little sister.” She arched her brows and stared Andy down with ice in her veins. “You didn’t have to come when I called for you. Doesn’t that mean it’s your fault that your little water spirit got vaporized? Doesn’t it make you just as responsible for these people’s fate as I am?”

“Hasumi,” Andy bit out. “Their name was Hasumi. Don’t try to make them into a nameless, faceless thing so you don’t have to feel guilty.”

“I’m not like you,” Andy growled, fisting her hands at her sides, her magical signature fluctuating with her anger and pain. “I’ll never be like you. Because I fucking care about other people. Clearly you couldn’t give a fuck less that the jinn who saved you from our family is dead. Was that all Junaid was to you? Just a tool? There to keep you safe, but easily tossed aside once he served his purpose?”

The crack of Bella’s hand meeting Andy’s cheek echoed across the clearing.

And that was the point where I’d had enough. They could yell at each other all they wanted. But I wouldn’t stand by and let Andy be hit by anyone, even her sister. And if they had resorted to slapping, it was only a matter of time before dangerous spells started flying.

Striding forward, I grabbed my master and slung her over my shoulder, ignoring her kicking and screaming. Dyre and Ambrose slipped between us and Bella, the darkness in the air warning her not to overstep again. Elijah’s warm glow radiated from behind me, and I heard him whispering to Andy, attempting to soothe her hurt and anger. My wings spread wide, and I pulled myself up to my full height, glaring at Belladonna over Dyre and Ambrose’s heads.

“Touch her again, and you will regret ever being born, Lovell or otherwise,” I ground out.

Bella’s eyes still flashed with anger, but she bowed her head in acknowledgement, her lips pressed into a firm line, no doubt to keep from spewing more senseless words that would only cause more fighting. “Take her away,” she finally bit out. “Get her out of my sight.”

Then, she aimed her words at Andy’s rear end. “I’ll talk to you when you remember who you are,” she informed her sister. “But not a second before.”

With that, Belladonna Lovell pulled an athame from her belt, slashed it across her arm, and used some sort of blood and earth magic to open a questionable portal that I hoped led back to our pocket world.

I gave her one more glare for good measure, then stepped through the portal with my grumbling bundle of witch still slung over my shoulder.

The moment we reached the courtyard, Andy slapped my back. “Put me down, asshole. I have feet.”

“No,” I said firmly, disobeying my master for the first time in… ever, I think. “You aren’t in any state to be around other people. You’re going to your room before you hurt them as much as you just hurt your sister.”

I expected more of a struggle, but she went limp, all the fight going out of her as I carried her inside and toward the stairs. Pausing at the bottom of the staircase, I turned back and looked for Aahil. “You too,” I told him, putting a bit of unaccustomed authority into my voice. “Upstairs, now.”

The beautiful, wrecked little jinn narrowed his golden-brown eyes at me, but surprised me by walking past me and up the stairs as commanded. He left little black smudges where his feet touched the stairs, and licks of flame curled along his bare back and shoulders, and down his arms. But he went.

I glanced at the others, suddenly concerned that I was being selfish by taking Andy away from them when we were all still reeling, hurting. But Ambrose clapped me on the shoulder and gave me a soft, sad smile. “I’ve got them,” he said with a nod toward Dyre, Elijah, and Niamh. “Go on and tend to Andy and Aahil, big guy. You’re better with that duo than the rest of us.”

And he didn’t have to say it, the thought was right there, shared between us as our eyes met. Hasumi was the one who was good with Andy and Aahil when they were truly struggling. But Hasumi wasn’t here. So, they got me instead.

What I wouldn’t give for the water weaver to magically appear before us and wrap all of our mangled hearts in comfort and peace. Tears fell down my cheeks, but I ignored them. Andy needed me. And Aahil too. This loss would hit them worse than the rest of us. Not that we didn’t all love Hasumi, but… that was just how it was.

Sighing, I turned and headed up the stairs with my defeated witch and the tiny flaming terror. Hopefully I would survive my silly, overprotective urges. But then I paused. Someone was following us, their footsteps nearly silent, keeping back, apart from the rest, as if they didn’t really know where to go.

“River,” I said casually. “Would you mind running ahead and getting a bath started in Andy’s room? Then go get the pile of blankets and cushions from Aahil’s room and bring it over?”

Aahil had already disappeared down the hallway, but I knew he’d be waiting for us. Luckily, he wasn’t there to hear my request for someone else to go touching his things.

River’s deep voice was subdued. “Of course. If… you’re sure?”

Andy surprised me when she spoke. I half thought she had passed out, with how docile she was being. “River,” she said tiredly. “Just listen to the gargoyle. He’s usually right when it comes to fussing over everyone like a big, mushy, bleeding heart.”

I didn’t take her insult to heart. She was mostly teasing. And for the rest, well, she was still hurting, and I wouldn’t hold a few snarky words against her. “Please,” I said to the shifter.

River’s warm hand touched my shoulder lightly in passing as he jogged up the stairs with a new purpose.

Goddess, I missed Hasumi so much. They’d know what to do. Know exactly what everyone needed. But I was all we had.