Page 2 of Adepts and Alchemists
“What was that?” he asked.
“Out,” I said, my voice coming easier now. At least that had remained somewhat similar. Vocal cords mattered, but there was so much more that made up the way someone spoke. There was an undeniable amount ofmein the statement, and it made Anthony’s eyes shine with barely suppressed joy.
For a moment, it was all I could do not to cup his face and bring his lips crashing down onto mine. I’d always been able to get lost in his eyes, and I’d never seen him look so pleased in all the years I’d known him. Our arrangement had been a fraught, complicated thing. Something we had to keep secret from most of the Hexus Rangers that he worked alongside. They wouldn’t like their sheriff’s aberrantly magical son dating a noted dark witch. I knew why he had to keep me like a dirty secret, but it still hurt.
It was part of the reason I’d been alone when Murrain struck. Anthony and I had had a fight. The last thing we’d ever said to each other had been shouted in a moment of pique. If I had it to do over again, I would have told him I loved him. And that was pretty crazy because witches weren’t supposed to get caught up in men. And we definitely weren’t supposed to fall in love with them.
It was hideously ironic that I’d gotten my wish and Istillcouldn’t give him a straight answer. There was no time to have that talk. I needed to get out of Haven Hollow and take as many members of the coven as I could with me.
“Out, I repeated. “We need to… get out of here, now.” I breathed in deeply and then allowed the words to flow out ofme. “Andrea isn’t stupid. She’ll realize her mistake quickly—that she took Lydia and not me.” I paused then as I tried to figure out a way to deal with this mess. “I need my mother’s book of shadows. I’m sure one of the redacted spells will contain something useful to thwart Murrain. I’ll trust you to find a way to get it to me.”
Furious mutters broke out all around me. I couldn’t hear every word being said but the consensus was clear. No one agreed with my assessment. Because none of them knew the Masked Lords the way I did. If they understood the kind of danger they were in, they’d have been queued up behind me the instant I made the suggestion. Only Anthony kept silent, riding out the rising tide of voices. He knew what we faced. What I was trying to spare them the reality of. Running would feel ridiculous right now, but it might be the difference between success against Murrain and a crime scene that would make the most seasoned cop lose their lunch. Murrain had done it to me. He could just as easily do it to them. I didn’t trust that the Hollow’s wards hadn’t been compromised. And that meant I needed to find a safe base and regroup with my newfound allies.
“She’s right,” Anthony said, his quiet voice somehow carrying over the much louder personalities in the room. Everyone stilled, compelled by magic to listen. “You can’t stay here,” he continued as he looked at them. “If Murrain has decided to move on the Hollow, its witches will be his first target.”
“Why?” Wanda asked, pushing to the front of the crowd.
High Witch Wandamellia Depraysie’s eyes held an almost permanent smolder, the fire of her magic shining through even the paler shade. I aligned most closely with fire too, which made me like her on principle. Paired with the pugnacious set of her jaw, I had the thought I might like her quite a bit if we wereever acquainted—as witch to witch. As it was, I couldn’t afford to argue with her.
“I don’t have time to argue with you all,” I voiced my concern. “Come with me or don’t, but I’m actually trying to be helpful for once.”
“Why should we listen to you?” Wanda asked.
I sighed out my frustration. “The reasons are myriad and complicated. Can you settle for the evergreen ‘we’re too dangerous to be left alive’ explanation and move on?”
Wanda sat up a little straighter, clearly not expecting such a large or brash voice to escape Lydia’s mouth. The gypsy wasn’t always a shrinking violet, but she wasn’t assertive either. It was endlessly frustrating to watch her pare herself back to suit the needs of others. She shouldn’t have been forced to take up less space. She deserved to flourish, to push herself to the absolute limit without regard for what anyone else thought. At least the incubus had been nudging her in the right direction. But now...
But now, she was gone and he was alone.
I couldn’t help it. I searched the room for him. It was automatic. There was only one other person in the house who might understand even a fraction of the wound I’d been dealt when my other half was pried away. Lydia had been his mate. My friend. My constant mental companion.
My breath didn’t catch when I locked eyes with Angelo. My heart went a little faster, yes. Mated or not, he couldn’t help what he was. Worse, Lydia’s body was keyed into his pheromones, which meant he could rouse my libido without even trying. I found that endlessly irritating. I managed to get my pulse firmly under control a moment later. His gaze was hard and accusatory, not speculative. If Angelo pinned me and had his way with me at this very moment, it would be hate sex, pure and simple. There was nothing kind in his expression. He knew she was gone and he blamed me.
That made two of us.
Chapter Two
Indigo
I think Wanda might have argued with me about our plans, if not for a small, frightened sound coming from the balcony above.
When I glanced up, what I saw made my heart clench in sudden and irrational guilt. There was a boy watching the proceedings from above. My screams had probably drawn him from his sleep. Judging from the shade of his hair, his mother was likely the gypsy woman. Poppy. A cousin to Lydia.
Though calling him a ‘boy’ seemed to be selling him short. He was at that awkward pubescent stage where he was neither a boy nor a man, but an unpredictable mixture of both. Teenager. Old enough to understand certain truths, but young enough that he still found them frightening. I was fairly sure he’d overheard what I’d said. From the stricken look on his face, it had scared the crap out of him.
Poppy’s eyes went round when she spotted him at the head of the stairs. “What are you doing up, Finn?”
He shivered, clutching the railing a little harder than necessary. “I heard something. I came to see if everyone was okay and then I heard...” Finn’s pale eyes fastened on me. His mouth twisted, as though he might be sick. “She’s telling the truth, Mom. We need to go.”
The mood in the room shifted from stubborn to solemn in an instant. I wasn’t sure why a child’s words held more weight than mine, but I wasn’t going to argue if it produced results. Every member of the coven exchanged a glance. Even Wanda looked a little less haughty than she’d been a second ago.
“Are you sure?” she asked, voice gentler than I’d ever heard it.
Finn nodded. “I just… I have this really bad feeling about what might happen if we don’t listen to what she said.”
His hands dropped to his stomach. He reallydidlook like he was about to be sick. I vaguely recalled that the boy had a talent of some kind, but I’d forgotten what it was in the midst of all the mayhem. I still felt like yesterday’s omelet. Scrambled and covered in questionable stains.
“Trust Indigo,” Angelo muttered, face creasing into arrogant lines as he stared me down. I could practically taste the contempt dripping from every word. “That’s rich.”