Page 86 of Fighting for Her Heart

“Come on, bear man!” Zuben frowns. “I thought that you loved her.” He shakes his head. “I know that Ryker has no self control, but I am shocked that you have so quickly given in to hedonistic needs.”

“Hedonistic needs?” I ask, but my voice is hoarse. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Zuben doesn’t react. I’m not even sure that he heard me. And although he clearlyseesme, I realize he’s seeing some kind of alternate universe version of me.

“Evanora.” Zuben turns toward Ember’s mother.

My chest burns with hate. I feel like a fool for trusting her, even a little. Witches can’t be trusted. Ever.

“Let’s get out of here,” Zuben says to Nora. “This pair do not want or deserve to be rescued. They are so full of lust that I cannot even get them to acknowledge we are here. Clearly they never cared about Ember as I do. She will be hurt when she learns of their betrayal, but I will comfort her.”

Nora nods. “But before we leave, let’s look for the coven’s book of spells. If we don’t figure out a way to stop the Keepers of Light, they will keep hunting for Ember.”

“That is an excellent suggestion.” Zuben nods stiffly. “But we must search quickly, before the Keepers of Light return.”

Confusion floods my mind. Then I realize that, not only is Zuben not seeing the truth of what’s happening to Ryker and me—who the fuck knowswhathe’s seeing—but he also can’t tell that there are three other witches in the room besides Nora.

“Look, a hidden bookcase.” Nora gestures to an empty set of silver shackles next to mine. “Can you reach that thick leather-bound book up there? The black one with the silver lettering on the spine?”

Zuben reaches his right arm up toward the wall.

“No, over there.” Nora points to Zuben’s left and he shifts to reach across his body.

“It is wedged into the case,” Zuben says, his voice strained.

Stepping up onto a stone, Nora quickly clips a silver cuff around his wrist.

“Is the book protected by a spell?” Zuben asks, his voice tight.

“Why?” Nora responds. “What’s happening?”

“My wrist is experiencing pain. Also, I cannot fully grasp the book, nor move my arm lower.”

“Turn toward me,” Nora says. “Perhaps I can see what’s going on and break through the spell.”

Zuben turns toward Nora, shifting his back toward the wall, and wincing as his wrist turns inside the silver cuff he can’t see, and then Nora quickly snaps a cuff around his left wrist too, positioning it a few feet away from his hip, just like mine.

Zuben looks down toward the newly bound wrist, confusion all over his face. Then up to his right one, still extended above. “Why can’t I lower my right arm?”

“Try again,” Nora says. “I think I have broken the spell that’s protecting the book.”

Smiling, Zuben stares slightly down and ahead, concentrating intently on something, clearly an illusion, that she’s put before him.

“Is my left wrist held by magic as well?” He directs his attention toward it, and Nora moves quickly.

Unclipping something behind the cuff around his right wrist, she slides his arm down. Then she clamps it into the same position as his left, the same position both my arms and Ryker’s are held in too, our arms splayed, our wrists away from our hips, palms up, elbows exposed.

“Have you found anything interesting in that book,” Nora asks Zuben.

“I cannot understand it,” Zuben answers.

“There’s a chance that the pages are enchanted,” she says to him. “Relax, focus, read and memorize all you can.”

“Zuben!” I shout. “Snap out of it. She’s tricking you.”

But yet again, even though he’s against the same wall and less than five feet away from me, he doesn’t seem to hear a word that comes out of my mouth, and I’m not even positive I hear my own voice.

The other witches leave Ryker. He’s unconscious, drained of fluids and slumped inside the tight silver clamps binding him against the wall. The witches join Nora and they all secure Zuben into similar bindings.