Page 15 of Cursed Magic (Rejected Fate Trilogy #2)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

T he door creaked open, revealing a dimly lit interior that seemed to swallow the light from outside. The air inside was thick with the scent of burnt herbs and something metallic, like blood, but faint. However, the pressure inside was more intense.

A lump formed in my throat as I realized that something had changed in me. I didn’t understand how I could feel this magic so strongly, but the new warm pulse inside me that had appeared after my pack had been slaughtered heated even more.

Ryker’s grip on my arm tightened, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the room.

The cottage was in disarray. Shelves were overturned, their contents scattered across the floor—jars of strange, glowing liquids, bundles of dried herbs, and books with worn leather covers. As I stepped farther inside, the hum of residual magic lingered, tingling against my skin and making a thicker, iridescent sheen inside. In the center of the room, a large circular symbol was drawn on the floor in what looked like ash and blood. It throbbed faintly, a dark, ominous energy emanating from it.

Spinning around, Ryker studied the area outside for an enemy. Something was wrong, and for some reason, I couldn’t ignore the urge to investigate inside.

Removing my arm from his grip, I stepped into the cottage, past Raven, as her fingers moved across her phone. My boots crunched on broken glass and herbs, and the floor groaned. The weight of the magic in the room pressed on me, and shadows twisted in every corner, but none of them formed a remotely human presence.

Raven’s movements were cautious as she scanned every inch of the space. “This isn’t right,” she muttered. “She was always so careful.”

I knelt down, my fingers brushing the edge of the symbol. It was icy to the touch, and it seemed to pull at me like it was trying to draw me in as the new presence inside me flared in warning. I jerked my hand back, my breath catching. “This feels…cold—like a void. Whatever she was doing here, it wasn’t good.”

Ryker raced inside to the far side of the room, his back to the wall, his eyes never leaving mine. “We need to get out of here now. Either something horrible happened to her, or this is a trap.”

There was no sign of the witch. No scent, no trace of her presence beyond the lingering magic. It was as if she had vanished into thin air.

I stood, my eyes meeting Raven’s. “She’s gone,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “But she didn’t leave willingly.”

Raven’s jaw tightened. “It has to be the Blackwoods.”

A tremor ran down my spine. If the witch had been taken and so recently, we were running out of time. “We need to see if we can pick up a trail outside of whatever was spelled here.” I turned toward the door. “Now.”

Before I could move, Ryker caught my arm, his touch firm. “Like I said, this could be a trap.”

“But what if it’s not?” I snapped, pulling free. The idea of abandoning someone who might need our help had me wanting to scream no . How many more innocent people were we going to lose along the way?

“Ember, listen to me. You can’t rush into this. We don’t know what we’re dealing with. If this is a trap—and it does feel like one—then we need to be smart about it. We can’t help anyone if we’re dead.” Ryker approached me slowly as if I were a wounded animal.

Despite a part of me agreeing with him, my feet remained rooted to the spot. “And if it’s not a trap?” I countered, my voice soft but stubborn. “What if she’s still alive? What if she needs our help right now and we just…leave?”

“As much as I was hoping for her to help us, she is a morally gray person.” Raven continued to scan the area, her brows furrowed. “That’s one reason I wanted to come talk to this particular witch.”

That had to be why the Blackwoods came here. If the witches had a network like wolf shifters did, then their witch would be able to locate any of her species that were close by and determine if they were a threat.

He placed his hands on my shoulders, the electric buzz of his touch sizzling right into my soul. “We can locate other witches. She’s not the only one.”

He was right, but…dammit. I’d lost almost my entire pack, and now I was letting another person down. “People just keep dying.” Maybe I was being weak, but something in my soul called for peace. This pointless killing was far more than he artbreaking.

Raven’s phone buzzed, breaking the moment. She glanced at the screen, and her expression hardened. “It’s the queen.”

Coldness swirled inside me, stealing what little warmth I felt and agitating my wolf. It seemed to focus on my heart. “What’s wrong?” If she said the mansion was under attack, I was going to lose my shit.

“She sent over the name of another witch who lives nearby.” Raven pocketed the phone and headed for the door. “She’s ten miles south of here. Apparently, she owes Queen Ambrosia a favor that the queen can call in.”

Ryker dropped his hands and opened the front door. “Then we need to move before the Blackwoods take her as well.”

I suspected he finally agreed that we needed a witch to help us. If Iskaria was alive, then she might be begging for death, depending on her situation. “Let’s not waste any time.”

The three of us darted out of the house, and I wasn’t tempted to glance back. The chill began receding from my body, and the closer we got to the car, the more comfortable my wolf became.

Whatever had happened around and inside the cottage didn’t feel natural.

When we reached the car, we all jumped in and slammed our doors, the sound echoing through the heavy silence that followed. Raven’s hands moved swiftly to the gearshift and then the steering wheel, her eyes fixed on the winding road ahead as she drove. The forest blurred around us, the trees twisting into dark, ominous shapes that seemed to close in with every mile.

Ryker sat behind me, breathing heavily. His fear and frustration were evident, and I had no doubt he wished he’d fought harder to convince me to stay behind at the mansion.

And that was why we shouldn’t go further in any sort of relationship. We couldn’t waste time and energy on each other when our entire species was on the line.

Knuckles blanching from her grip on the steering wheel, Raven pressed her lips into a firm line. Her phone buzzed again, and she glanced at it before tucking it back into her pocket. “The queen’s contact is named Elara. She’s…reluctant to get involved, but she’s agreed to meet with us.”

“That doesn’t sound too promising,” Ryker bit out with a hint of a snarl.

“Well, right now, it’s the best we have.” Raven glanced in the rearview mirror and hissed. “We’ll be there in ten minutes, so she won’t have much time to change her mind.”

But we all knew that ten minutes might already be too late if the Blackwoods had been informed of her.

The road twisted and turned until Raven finally turned onto another narrow dirt path. The car bounced roughly, the tires crunching over gravel and pine needles. The trees here were older, their trunks thicker. I could feel magic before we saw anything. Waves of iridescence and faint wisps of shadows were already shimmering into my vision.

“We must be close,” I whispered like I was afraid the witch could hear me.

Raven took another curve, and another wooden cottage came into view suddenly as though it had been hidden on purpose or by magic. It was even smaller than the first one, the roof sagging under the weight of years and the windows cloudy with grime. There was no warmth in the sight. Instead, I again became uneasy, feeling that we were being watched .

We pulled up to the front, and Raven turned off the engine. “Stay sharp.” Then she reached for her door.

I jumped out of the car, eager to get to this witch before the Blackwoods arrived. I hurried toward the front door before Ryker got out and could stop me. He growled, a low, rumbling sound, but I didn’t care. The Blackwoods could roll up at any moment, and we needed to learn everything we could before they arrived.

Ryker caught up to me, and his hand brushed mine, giving me another jolt. He scanned the perimeter while Raven moved ahead of us, her steps silent, her dark hair blending into the shadows, especially with twilight approaching.

When we made it to the edge of the small front porch, the front door creaked open and a low, commanding voice cut through the chill of the evening air. “Stay where you are.”

A woman with a slender frame stood just beyond the threshold, silhouetted by the dim light of a flickering hearth. Her sharp, pale-green eyes gleamed with a mixture of suspicion and wisdom. Elara.

She stood tall with her shoulders back, wisps of iridescence wafting from her and making it clear that her magic was ready to attack and she would not hesitate to defend herself.

My body froze. I hadn’t expected a warm greeting, but this was cold and standoffish.

Clearly feeling the same tension, Ryker tried to step in front of me.

Raven stopped and lifted both hands. “We mean no harm. We were sent by Queen Ambrosia. She said you would be willing to help us.”

The lines of tension in Elara’s face deepened, and her gaze landed on Ryker. “Queen Ambrosia has been holding this favor”— her nose wrinkled in disgust—“over my head for decades, and I was ready to fulfill it and move on, but not when you bring him to my door.”

Ryker flinched before resuming his normal guarded stance.

My jaw wanted to drop, but I managed to keep it closed. I could only assume she sensed whatever Raven suspected Ryker had let a witch do to him that caused his irises to be covered by that sheen at times.

He stood tall, but I could see his back and neck tighten. He didn’t realize it, but he’d just confirmed to me he was hiding something.

“Ryker?” Raven glanced over her shoulder at him. “What’s wrong with him?”

I pivoted so that I stood next to him, not wanting to miss any facial expressions he might reveal.

“Nothing is wrong with me.” Ryker’s hands fisted, but his face remained a mask of indifference. “All we’re here to do is get some guidance on how to find the people responsible for killing packs and nests and abducting the witch we tried to go to first.”

Elara’s head jerked as she took a step back into the cottage, where the sheen made it a little more difficult for me to see her despite her pale skin. “A witch is missing? Who?”

“Iskaria,” Raven answered quietly. “In the thirty minutes it took for us to talk to her, get ready to leave, and drive there, she vanished into thin air.”

“Oh goddess.” Elara clutched a hand to her chest. “Why would she be taken?” Her brows furrowed, and her eyes darkened.

“We suspect she knew something that the Blackwoods don’t want us to learn.” I wrung my hands, trying to expel my nervous energy. I didn’t like the way she was studying us, as if she could see more than I wanted her to.

“Blackwoods?” Elara tilted her head. “I’ve never heard of that coven, so you should leave.” She tried to close the door, but Raven blurred and caught it before she managed to shut it an inch.

Ryker took a few steps forward, and Elara lifted her free hand, readying to perform magic. I grabbed his arm and yanked him back to me, my pulse racing. Ryker getting closer to her had put her on edge.

“The Blackwoods are a shifter pack, not a coven.” Raven leaned against the doorframe, making it clear she had no intention of leaving despite the threat of magic.

“We don’t get involved in pack business, and frankly, we try to stay out of vampire situations as well.” Elara’s lips pressed into a thin line. There was a flicker of something in her eyes, a reluctant concern she tried to mask. “The vampire queen may think she can call in favors, but I am not one to be swayed by debts alone.”

As the dim light of the setting sun cast long shadows across the cottage, the air grew thick with mistrust. I got a sense that she was done talking with us, and that would be detrimental. We needed something to impact her. “The Blackwoods are slaughtering packs, including mine, and they took out a large vampire nest in the middle of a vibrant town. They have a witch tied to their pack who must be aiding them.”

“That’s not possible. Witches don’t align with other species—it disrupts the balance.” Elara shook her head, but she scowled as if she finally believed me.

“The Blackwoods have crossed a line; why would they stop at just killing vampires and wolves now that they’ve taken Iskaria?” Raven dropped her hand from the door, practically challenging Elara to close it now. “You have a traitor in your ranks.”

Elara’s expression faltered, concern crossing her face before she masked it again. “Iskaria was a reclusive soul, preferring the solitude of her craft. If she’s gone, it’s not by choice.”

Now that she might believe us, we needed to capitalize on that while she was still listening. “That’s exactly why we need your help. The Blackwoods are using the witch affiliated with their pack to hide them from sight.” I was going to tell her that I could still see their shadows, but I paused. She didn’t need to know that because it was something I couldn’t explain. “Also, their scents are repressed to the point that you can’t tell where or who each one is. If they can do that, they’re a threat, not only to the packs but to your kind as well.”

“I can’t believe someone would betray their own kind like this,” Elara spat. “The witch who is helping them has the ability to cloak. That magic is rare. It’s not just about hiding—it’s about erasing someone’s presence entirely, including her own. Finding someone like that won’t be easy.”

Raven froze, and Ryker interjected, “Do you know where we might start?”

Elara’s lips pressed into a thin line, and she turned away, her movements deliberate. She paced the small space between the door and the room lined with bookshelves holding dusty jars. “I know a name. A witch who might still be alive. But I can’t promise anything. She’s…elusive. Dangerous, even. If she’s working with them, she’ll be hidden close to the Blackwoods in the forest. That sort of magic requires close proximity. ”

“Well, their witch lives with their pack.” I’d never realized how separate witches kept themselves from most of us because I’d grown up with the knowledge that a witch lived among a pack. “So that makes sense.”

“No, this witch would need to live in the woods to harness enough magic to pull that stunt off.” She shook her head. “They must have two working with them, both of whom will be close to them.”

Finally, a lead. Not an easy one, but a lead nonetheless. “Is there a way to tell if Iskaria is still alive?” I had to ask because Briar was right. We couldn’t run from this.

Elara pursed her lips like she’d tasted something bad. “I can’t tell you that—only he can.” She pointed right at Ryker.