Page 25 of The Unbound Witch

By the time I made it back to the cabin, I considered going straight into the room with Raven, but damn, if curiosity didn’t get the best of me. Pushing completely through the front door, as if it did not exist at all, I was met with the poignant stare of Atlas, the beautiful wolf shifter, those vulnerable eyes meeting mine as if I’d just learned a secret about him.

“Good night, Ghosty,” he said, plopping down on the couch, naked as the day he was born. I knew the shifters didn’t lose their clothing when they shifted. I’d seen the change in the past. Arrogant ass. I rolled my eyes and left, content to check on Raven and wait out the final hours of moonlight.

Before the sun rose, Eden woke the two shifters and sent them after the shipmaster. She called him by first name, her eyes twinkling as they left the cottage.

“Feeling better?” I asked Raven as she stepped into the main room of the cottage, the pink returned to her cheeks.

She nodded once, eyeing the Moss Coven Grimoire before taking a reluctant seat at the table and looking over her shoulder at Grey. “Did you ever get a chance to see the Grimoires up close?”

“I don’t remember, actually,” Grey answered, his eyes shifting around the room. “Why?”

Raven twisted her hair into a braid that fell over a shoulder as she shared a smile with him. Eden brought her a cup of tea, standing with her hands on her hips as she waited for her to sip from the tiny porcelain cup.

“Because this one seems different from the others. May I?” She gestured to the book, but Eden shook her head.

“You drink that tea and have some breakfast. Then we can discuss the wonders of the world.”

Raven took a drink before jerking her head back, nearly spitting the concoction over the table. “This is… Is this saffron?”

“For strength,” Eden answered. “If you can get past that flavor, you’ll also find lavender and cloves.”

Raven nodded, dabbing at the tea she’d spilled. “I could have done without the saffron.”

Eden shared a knowing smile. “Maybe, but it’s going to be a long couple of days, and you’re going to need all the help we can get you.” She slid a plate in front of her, topped with eggs and toast and something that might have been ham. A generous breakfast. “Grey, I wondered if you could help me with some final preparations outside before we go?”

“What could you possibly have to set in order here? Do you plan to come back?” I asked, the incredulity in my tone as clear as I could muster.

“I do not plan to return, but should a traveler ever wander by and need immediate shelter, this home would be of use. It has served me well, and I hope to leave it behind in such a manner.”

Raven shared a look with me, swallowing her bite of egg, and that was all the provocation I needed to secretly follow them. They hadn’t gone far, just around the edge of the house where they could not be seen from the few windows along the front of the tiny cottage. I stayed back, listening just in case they could sense my presence.

Grey was carefully explaining that final day at the castle. I wasn’t sure if I was happy with his choice to get into this now, but I was glad he’d chosen not to walk Raven through those memories again. Perhaps Eden could serve as a buffer between Raven and the shifters when they found out. There was no way they were going to take the news lightly. Grey continued, explaining how Raven had disappeared through a door and came back a completely different person, me following behind her, the complete chaos as two spells were cast at once.

Eden cleared her throat. “I need to see it. To be sure this is not a trap. You must understand.”

I couldn’t help my curiosity as they fell quiet, a small gasp the only sound. So, I pushed forward, hoping they wouldn’t know I was there.

“Satisfied?”

Ice shot through my limbs as I jerked ramrod straight. That voice. That awful, familiar voice. Trying to put everything together and failing, there was only one thing I could do. I didn’t think, didn’t stop for a single second as I dashed back to Raven, refusing to consider the ramifications. She needed to know that everything was a fucking lie.

11

RAVEN

Icould feel that ancient book as if it were calling to me even now. Words hissing through the timbered walls of the cottage. It wasn’t real, only the flash of a memory from the room of Grimoires in the castle. But it wasn’t the same. Perhaps it was the lack of magic, but the book was duller, the colors a faint whisper of those I’d seen in the others, as if it too were sick.

Curious, I peeked toward the door to make sure there was no one coming as I reached for the book. It was not mine. I had no business opening it now or ever. But I couldn’t help myself. Until Kirsi popped into view just inside the door, scaring me.

“You have got to stop— What’s wrong?”

“It’s… You need to see it for yourself.”

I stood, the stricken look on Kirsi’s face scaring me as I ran for the door, trusting her. Within seconds, my entire world changed. I hardly registered Eden there at all.

The world stopped rotating. Time suspended as I stared at the man I thought I’d never see again. A crown of thick, dark hair pulled back from his face, that perfectly trimmed beard a bit more disheveled than normal, but otherwise, everything else was exactly right. The eyes, the perfect pout to his bottom lip even in anger, the casual way he stood. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe as I stared at him, so real, and yet it couldn’t be.

I fell to my knees, all strength whisked away from me. “Bastian? You… You’re alive?”