Page 141 of The Unbound Witch

Until Atlas cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to interrupt.”

“Then don’t.” Bastian groaned.

“What do we do with these?” Nym asked, balancing two of the Grimoires.

Scoop yowled from his satchel and Kirsi dove, letting him out. He swirled once below her, shocking everyone before bounding away down the hallway. As if he’d been here a thousand times. But then he’d known the castle from before, so maybe he’d only gone to look for her again. As he always did when set loose and not at Talon’s side.

Following Bastian through the castle, I tried to burn it to memory. The darkened twists and turns I’d taken that night following Breya felt like a lifetime ago, walking through the lightness. Eventually, we made it to the parlor just outside the Grimoire room. Six books and seven pedestals. We placed them one by one and then the stone as Bastian looked at me, waiting for a sign.

“These aren’t it. It’s in the catacombs. I’m sure.” I couldn’t help the trepidation in my voice. The fear of disappointing him when he’d been trying so hard to move beyond his own grief.

“Raven?” he asked, rushing for me.

I hadn’t felt it. The blood dripping from my nose. Hadn’t noticed the turn of my stomach. I closed my eyes, swallowing down bile as the world tilted.

“Raven?” he repeated, his voice desperate.

One breath and two breaths. Steady and even. I dug my fingers into his arm, righting myself. Peeling my eyes open to see five solemn faces staring into mine. That of a wish, eyebrows drawn, sad and worried. A golden witch, her beast at her feet, holding her breath. Two shifters and a king, afraid to face a battle they may never win.

I swayed and blinked slowly. “I’m okay.”

The pull from the books overwhelmed me now. Each digging their magical talons into me, desperately demanding I end this. I moved around the room silently, brushing my hand over each of them, feeling for that heartbeat to draw me.

“It’s directly below this room. It’s pulsing like a heartbeat. In theheartof the kingdom.”

Again, we were moving, winding through hallways and around the statues. Past the gilded doorways and below the painted ceilings. Urgency and desperation in every footstep. I swayed again and Torryn lifted me from the ground, carrying me when I could not manage.

Down and down and down we went until we stood on dirt floors weaving around pillars of ancient stones. Bastian led us diligently, looking up numerous times until we ran into a wall. He punched the surface, looking back at me with so much dread on his face I could only imagine what I looked like.

He pulled out the stone and placed it into my hands. “Can you feel it, my love?”

Not a breath was heard as I closed my eyes and focused on the fading power of the Grimoires. The scars embedded into Moss, the faintest of whispers from fire. We were running out of time. For them, and for me.

“It’s beyond that wall.”

“We can’t bring it down with magic,” Nym said, gently. “With six books of power directly above us, we don’t dare.”

“Set me down.”

Tor treated me like a feather, so very carefully, as he placed me on the floor. I stepped to the wall of stone, placing my hand upon it. “It’s here.”

“Kirsi,” Bastian said slowly.

“I’m already moving, King,” she answered.

“Get those books as far away from here as fast as you can. Go south, past the watchtower. At midday, you turn around and bring them back.”

“I’ll go with you,” Nym offered, staring into Kirsi’s soul.

Atlas stepped forward. “Me too.”

But Kir shook her head. “No. Not this time. I’ll go alone.”

She vanished into the ceiling, and that was the last we heard from her.

An hour passed. I clutched the stone to my chest, eventually willing each beat of power until I was pumping my own into it on a rhythm. Praying it would be enough.

“Bastian, we have to bring the wall down. We cannot wait.”