Page 125 of The Unbound Witch

Every year of his life showed there as I knelt beside him, pushing away the heartache. Reaching to close his eyes, my throat filled with daggers, the lump now a weapon against me. Those last moments I’d had with him … I’d tried to save him from Nikos at the same time he’d tried to do the same. Our relationship had struggled these past years, and it was all my fault for not seeing the truth behind the man that remained guilty of so many hateful things.

Kir laid her head on my shoulder as I clutched my father’s hand, trembling and sobbing and overwhelmed with so much emotion I could hardly think straight anymore. Kirsi’s tears fell as steadily as my own as we mourned our losses, and even each other. We hardly saw the sun fall from the sky. Didn’t notice the men that walked up beside us, dropped to the ground and remained a constant steadying force as we held each other.

“Shall we have a pyre?” Kirsi whispered sometime later.

We looked out over the destroyed expanse of the Moon Coven to the small fires scattered throughout. So many losses, so many witches. So much destruction.

“Yes.” I pushed myself off the ground, slipping the blade from my father’s belt, and handed it to Bastian. “And then it’s time to end this.”

51

KIRSI

Standing back in the empty space where the shop had been was like opening a fresh wound. I had no idea why we’d come back here. There was nothing left. But no one questioned it when our souls led us home. No one stopped to ask where we were going or what the next plan might have been; we simply moved in numbed pain back to the only place we’d had together.

She was only a phantom at first. A beautiful witch’s outline in the dust settling over the square, lit by moonlight, that powerful beast clawing at the dirt as he stretched his hind quarters, waiting for her command. The pain in my heart clutched at my throat as Nym approached, reaching into her cloak and setting a tiny black panther on the ground.

I cried out, dropped to the earth, as Scoop walked slowly toward Raven. He’d lived. Through all the chaos and destruction, he’d somehow made it out alive. The other half of my spirit blessed soul, bound to walk this world searching for me.

I could nearly see that fucking captain opening the back door and booting him out to safety the second all hell broke loose. I’d never be able to thank him for that. Though a small part of me still hoped he and Eden lived, that would hold them at the mercy of Endora and I’m not sure that was a hell anyone should have to endure. Especially after Eden’s life of near solitude.

She kept her distance, watching as I reached for Scoop and scratched behind his ear, fighting the urge to take him into my arms and never let him go. The tether to him might have been severed, but I felt him in my heart just as much as I did when I was a witch. It hurt so fucking much that he didn’t seem to feel the same. He couldn’t recognize me from Atlas. I was simply an unknown being to him. Potential danger to his wild soul.

As Raven lifted Scoop from the ground, I shared a look with her before crossing the road to speak with Nym.

“You know, then?” she asked.

No pretenses, no bullshit. The fact that I’d always loved that about her stung.

Lifting my chin, I threw up every wall around my heart. “You should have told me. Everything I’ve done has been to try to protect you because I love you and you couldn’t tell me.”

Her words were hardly a whisper. “You love me?”

“It wouldn’t hurt so fucking bad if I didn’t.”

She moved forward, reaching to stroke a long, brown finger down my cheek. I didn’t try to feel it. I didn’t want to.

“There’s been enough hurt today. I can’t have this moment with you right now because I need to sort it out in my mind. Thank you for finding Scoop.”

Her green eyes lit with fire as she held her ground. “I’m coming with you, Kir. You know that. You can be furious, you can hate me, you can push me away, but I’m not leaving. Maybe I wasn’t brave enough to tell you the truth, maybe I was trying to find the right time, I don’t know. But none of this is over. Not you and I. Not the Harrowing. This is where I’m supposed to be, and you know that.”

“I may never forgive you.”

“Then I guess we’ll just have to figure that out too, Kirsi Moondance, because I refuse to let this go. There’s too much good here. Bastian found a way to forgive Raven and someday, you’ll do the same for me.”

When she brushed past me and joined the group, I think I loved her even more. And then I think I hated myself for it. Forgiveness was so far away, but at least she was still fighting when I was too weak to try.

“Okay?” Atlas asked, scaring the shit out of me.

“Damnit, wolf. Don’t sneak up on people like that.”

His smile beamed in the moonlight. “I had no idea you were such a scaredy cat. Makes sense though, really.”

I rolled my eyes. “What do you want?”

“We’re going to have to go to the Storm Coven and get that Grimoire from the silent witches. Bastian’s magic is gone, which means the barrier around the ones in the Fire Coven is down again. We need to get them and secure them, and you and I are the fastest. Plus, the silenced witches there know you. Raven says they’ll trust you.”

“So, the plan is to put four books that shouldn’t be together, together?”