Page 133 of The Unbound Witch

“Death demon. Nice.”

“Always the child,” Kirsi answered with an eye roll, though she couldn’t conceal her smirk.

Nym grabbed Bastian’s arm, jutting her chin toward the tree line. “Where’s she going?”

Willow, creeped through the cover of trees, swatting at branches and looking over her shoulder as if to be sure no one followed. We hunkered down, watching as Kir floated away. Atlas shifted, slinking deeper into the forest next, clearly unwilling to let Kirsi go by herself when he could also hunt. We were summoned moments later, though none were prepared for the sight within the small clearing.

Eden Mossbrook hung suspended in the air by the magic of a black salt circle. Candles, unfazed by wind, melted below her arched back, hands out to her sides, fingertips dripping blood into small basins within the circle. My stomach rolled at the sight. No one spoke for several seconds, blinking and staring in shock.

“What the fuck?” Nym breathed, reaching for the comfort of her familiar, as Talon stepped closer, nudging Scoop in the satchel at her side, just to be sure he was still secure.

“Oh hell.” I struggled to find words. “Could she be… Is Endora trying to split the Grimoires again?”

Nym took a step forward, but I stopped her. “Don’t. You cannot break that salt circle. If you do, she could die. Thirteen candles, see?”

“So we just fucking leave her there?”

“Just… I need a minute,” I said, weighing our options as I scanned the small clearing.

Atlas had Willow pinned to the ground by the throat, a single movement and he’d snap her neck. The tear that fell from her eyes was indication enough. He’d given a chunk of his life to Eden. Had left his home behind to protect her. He’d left her in that cottage and she’d been taken. Not dead, thankfully, but turned into some sort of magical sacrifice. And this traitorous soul had been sent to babysit her. To sit and watch the life stolen from her body. What kind of sick person could stomach that?

“Willow. What the fuck are you doing?” Kirsi snapped. “Endora is not the god you make her out to be.”

She couldn’t answer, could only let another tear drop down her scarred face beneath the maw of the growling wolf.

I walked forward, running my fingers through his coarse white fur. “Let her go, Atlas.”

He snarled once, and then stepped away, leaving the trace of his fangs in her neck, a match to the scars on her face. She gasped and scrambled backward, crashing into Bastian’s boots. He kicked her forward, stepping to push a boot over the wounds in her throat.

She lifted a hand to cast upon him, rasping. “You have no magic, shifter.”

I struck her with a beam of lightning. Fast and controlled. She yelled, her back arching with pain. Mirroring Eden. Poor Eden, trapped in that salt circle. Half white hair and half black hanging inches above the flames of the candles.

“You will not speak unless I allow it,” Bastian said.

And though they were gone, only a memory now, I could have sworn the shadows he’d once controlled seeped from him. But I blinked and they were gone. Willow nodded, her gulp audible as Atlas circled Eden’s prison, passing Willow with another snarl.

She nodded slowly, staring at me.

“Why is Endora lying to everyone? What does she want with Eden?” Bastian released his foot, giving only an inch.

She blinked away another tear. “She wants you to go to hell.”

I ground my teeth, stepping closer. “Specifically, what is she doing? And don’t fuck with me, Willow. Today is not the day.”

“She’s trying to remove the ability to shift.” She struggled, wiggling.

Bastian pressed his foot down until she stopped moving and then released. “Answer the question and stop fighting it.”

“Eden’s blood is from two covens. Her father… It doesn’t matter. The shifters are killing the witches everywhere again. You don’t understand,” she rushed out, pleading with me. “The Storm Coven—”

The Dark King cut her off again.

“The shifters had nothing to do with the fall of the Storm Coven. Nor Whisper, nor Moon.”

Her body jerked at the word Moon.

“Oh, your leader didn’t tell you?” I squatted to get in her face. “Endora obliterated our beautiful covenstead, just to capture her harmless daughter.”