Page 139 of The Unbound Witch
The voice of a king, a fearsome and confident man, had been reduced to hardly a sound. Broken and gutted, kneeling before me. I dropped to the ground, taking his face in mine, forcing him to look into my eyes as he always did me. The tears were like a knife to my chest, silent as he fought them away, but he couldn’t stop their fall.
“You die, I die.” He spoke the words like a promise. The Dark King’s vow to the world that had damned him so long ago.
“I will wait for you at the gates to eternity. You live your life and you see this world patched back together.”
He grabbed me, pulling me into his arms as he buried his face into the crook of my neck. “This world can fucking burn.”
His conviction. His pure anger and devastation broke my resolve to stay strong. The ache in my chest burned. I couldn’t take in a full breath, remembering the short amount of time we’d had to discover love and get lost in it. To have it ripped away so soon was this world’s final betrayal.
“Bash,” Atlas said, kneeling to put a heavy hand on his brother’s shoulder. “We have to go.”
I tried to pull away, but he would not let me. Simply stood, lifting me in his arms, and turned.
“I’ll go with you,” Kirsi whispered into my ear, unseen by anyone else. “When this world takes you, I will go, too.”
I nodded, the back of my eyes stinging as fresh tears formed. At least I wouldn’t be alone.
A line of Moss witches formed at the base of the decline from Endora’s home. Hands to their sides, no sign of threat. It didn’t matter to Bastian, though. He needed a fight. Needed someone to punish for fate’s cruel hand. He set me gently on the ground. I tried to reach for him, but he tugged away, storming down to face the witches, each step seemed to build the anger swelling inside of him.
He held his arms wide open, chest bared. “I have no magic,” he shouted. “Your coven leader saw to that. I’ve sent food to you. I’ve offered you shelter. I’ve tried and tried to fix what she continued to break. And I fucking lost. So, I’m here now. Punish me.”
“No!” I screamed, running.
None of the witches moved. Bastian surged forward, grabbing one of the men by the collar and pulling him to his face. “You want to be a hero today?”
I collided with Bastian, shoving myself between the two men. “This isn’t how you deal with this,” I shouted, spinning to face the witches as Atty hauled Bastian backward. “Your coven leader is dead. All of the coven leaders are dead, save one. This man has been fighting to save you foryearsand he’s been villainized for it. There are no more covens. We are one now. One people. And if any of you makes a single move against anyone standing here, shifter, wraith or otherwise, I will end your fucking lives. Today is the day you make the choice. Continue to drink the poison or end your suffering and walk back down to your homes with some damn dignity.”
Nym moved to my side, her tiger limping to sit at hers. Kirsi inched up to the other and then Eden beside her. Without realizing it, I’d drawn the clouds in, covering the sun. A bolt of lightning cracked like a promise waiting to be dealt. One by one, they turned, fading the rest of the way to their village. Eden Mossbrook said goodbye to us with a whisper, beaten and bruised, then followed the witches from her childhood memories. I hoped, watching her half white and half black hair fade away, somewhere along this mountain she would find the peace she’d spent her whole life looking for.
I turned, gutted to see Atlas holding Bastian back as he stared at the witches in silent ferocity, his eyebrows drawn as if a knife had been planted into his broken heart. He screamed in anger. Screamed again and again until Atlas hauled him into a hug and held him as his shoulders wracked with grief.
I couldn’t handle the way my throat closed. The splintering of my own heart as I watched that beast of a man break in so many ways. An agonizing ache deep in my bones, in my core, fractured me in a way I knew I’d never be able to claw my way back from. My very soul shattered into pieces so infinitesimal they would be scattered to the wind before anyone could collect them.
He loved me so desperately, the guilt was hard to fight off. I should have never let him in. Should have fought harder those days in the castle. Should never have read a single note that fluttered from the ceiling. Never visited those gardens. I took one final look at the Dark King and turned, regret the only comfort as I walked away.
The book was easy to find when my mind was absolutely numb. Nym and Kirsi followed me silently and we traveled all the way down the mountain, through the pass, and up to a cove, easily missed if you hadn’t been summoned by an ancient magical book trapped inside. Wrapped in a dark cloth to further conceal it in the back of the cave, Kirsi and Nym almost didn’t see it.
But the whispers were there. Those ancient thoughts of a book cursed by the witches it had empowered. I unwrapped the Grimoire so similar to the Moon Coven book and the memories of my grandmother and then my mother slammed into me. Wrinkled fingers brushing the textured leather, beautiful hands turning the pages. I placed my hand on the cool green stone on the outside of the book and let the power soothe my aching soul.
Wrapping the book back up, I handed it to Kir. She only studied my eyes, looking for signs of life as she tucked a strand of wild black hair behind my ear. “You are not alone.”
Forcing a smile, a tear fell, betraying me. “I know.”
I could hear the voices of the men below the cave. They’d followed, of course, though kept their distance as Bastian worked through the hurdles in his mind. I couldn’t blame him for his range of emotions. I’d lived them too.
When Kirsi disappeared with the Moss Coven Grimoire, racing it away to the safety of the other books, and far from the Fire Coven stone, I wondered if we’d find that place of power. The hidden pedestal Bastian’s mother had used to bind me to those books. I had a feeling I knew where it was and maybe he did too. I couldn’t ask him, though. Not now, while the world was still his enemy, and me, the reason for his heartache.
61
RAVEN
Bastian crouched beside my borrowed bed. “Can we talk?”
He’d barely been able to look at me the entire trip across the Moss Coven. He had brushed his fingers over mine several times, had paused each time I spoke to Atlas or Nym. But he couldn’t look at me without breaking, couldn’t figure out how to push past his own sorrow, even as we stopped to eat. Now, sleeping in an abandoned cottage just outside the border, I wondered if he’d considered mine.
I lifted the blanket from my lap and stood from the dusty floor, following him out of the tiny hut. Without a word, he wrapped his arms around me and pointed to the nearly full moon. I nodded, swallowing my sadness once again as I closed my eyes and let that milky power seep into my skin, rejuvenating me in a way I needed so desperately, it hurt.
My head throbbed with pain. Several times today, the world had blurred and swayed. I thought maybe Nym had noticed as she pushed herself to my side and steadied me, silently. But I’d lived in this torment alone for so long now, another day was not going to be the end of me.