Page 116 of The Unbound Witch

Bastian rubbed his hand down his face. “Does this just never end?”

“I’m going,” Raven said. “I’ve got some questions of my own to ask, if they are so knowledgeable.”

She was hiding something. Behind her forced smiles and overly calm demeanor. She wouldn’t make eye contact with me and that was always a clear sign of something wrong. I’d pester if I needed to, but not in a room full of people. She might have been able to keep it from them, but not from me.

“I’m going too,” Torryn added.

“You can barely walk,” Atlas bit out, all teasing gone.

The shifters faced off, both serious.

“You’re not my keeper, little pup. I said I’m going and that’s that.”

Atlas lifted an eyebrow to Bastian.

The king only shook his head, raising a shoulder. “I don’t give a shit who’s going where, but it’s not happening tonight. We hunker down, get some rest, eat a real meal and start tomorrow fresh. Apparently, it’s going to be another full day of murder. I can’t handle those days on an empty stomach.”

He grabbed Raven’s hand and pulled her through the Fire Coven door without another word.

“I bet they’re going to—”

Nym slapped her hand over Atlas' mouth and he licked it. Twisting her face in disgust, she pretended to gag and wiped her hand down his chest.

“Keep your slobber to yourself, wolf,” she teased.

He wiggled his eyebrows, looking at me. “No wonder you like her so much. She’s delicious.”

I smirked. “You have no idea, Atty.”

“Spare us all the details, Kir.” Tor chuckled, leaning over the counter to shift his body weight.

* * *

“Still got that salt, Pup?”I asked, inching closer to Atlas as we waited some distance away from the edge of the Cliffs of Fiannah.

Located at the very southern tip of the Moon Coven, I’d never been here. In fact, I didn’t know many witches who had ever ventured this far south. There may have been whispers of wraiths, but that was never the problem. The cliffs were dangerous. So high in the air, and a straight shot down to the tumbling ocean where white capped waves crashed into the crags.

Atlas patted his chest, indicating a pocket somewhere beneath his jacket. “Never leave home without it, Ghosty.”

Wraiths swarmed the cliffs, darting into a small cove and back out, some coming to float near us, though none of them spoke, only watched. Bastian stepped forward, breaking himself from Raven long enough to request an audience with Meliora.

“You will wait, Dark King,” one of the ghosts answered, flying away and vanishing over the edge.

We inched closer to the edge of the high cliffs, looking down over the water as we waited for the wraith to return. It seemed to take hours. In fact, it probably did. The wraiths had eternity to suffer this life, a few hours were nothing to them. Especially to someone as old as they claimed this Meliora to be.

The moans of the wraiths filled the sea salt air as we stared at the ocean. Torryn shifted back and forth on his feet several times. He’d insisted he come and, though no one thought he should, no one argued against it either.

Eventually, the wraith with long, flowing hair returned, a mischievous smile on her face, as several others joined her. “Meliora will see you,” she said, looking only at me.

“And my friends?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

She shook her head. “Only you. And the death witch. No one else may enter. Including you, King.”

Bastian’s dark, silvery eyes found Raven’s as he bit back his immediate anger. “This is my kingdom. I will go wherever I please.”

The wraith tilted her head slowly, the long tendrils of her hair moving as if they floated in water. “You may, in fact, enter. But if you want the answers you seek, you will not. Only the wish and the death witch.”

He took a step forward, but Atlas stopped him. “Let them go. There’s no sense in drawing it out.”