Page 59 of The Unbound Witch

“Back to the shop, then?” I asked. “We can't take these guys to your parents. Your dad will lose it.”

Bastian waved a hand and a door appeared outside the magically sealed room. He spoke only to Nym. “This door will vanish as soon as we all step through. If you need anything, Nonet will help you. Should you choose to leave this room, the barrier will fall and right now, we can't promise it's going to save you.”

She clutched the ruffled edges of her dress. “Thank you, Your Grace.”

“There's something else,” he said, eyes locked on my witch. “There will be no magic here once Raven adds the final drop of blood to that basin. It’s the only thing we can do to try to save you.”

“What?” Nym and I asked at the same time.

“Why me?” Raven asked.

“Because you are the most powerful witch in the room. Your blood will complete the barrier. We take away the magic completely, and hopefully we can stop the Harrowing from striking.”

Whatever passed between them in that moment felt intimate and invasive. Even for me. And Raven and I had no secrets, for the most part.

A shade of red raced across her cheeks and down her neck as she cast her eyes away, looking at Nym. “I won't do it if you don't agree. Not having access to magic can be suffocating.”

“You will also lose your connection to Talon,” I warned, noting the worst part of this.

The spirit blessed marking on her forehead glowed golden, illuminating the dull room. “But I'm not locked in? If I can't handle it, I can just leave. And Talon can be here with me.”

As if on cue, the massive white tiger she'd called forward with her magic padded into the room, Scoop on his heels as if he were his shadow.

The Dark King dipped his chin. All royalty and sovereign promises as he let her be the decision maker of her own fate. “It may be painful at first.”

I moved to her side, brushing her arm with my own. Hair standing on edge, chills ran over her body as she instinctively shifted toward me. “You do not have to do this. It's possible you still have time. The Harrowing has been running through the covens for many years.”

Her eyes lit with solid conviction. “I'm not afraid. I am ready.”

I looked over my shoulder to the others. “Give us a moment?”

Atlas wiggled his eyebrows. “Just a moment, eh? You sure it doesn't take longer to—”

Torryn grabbed him by the back of the neck and dragged him through the magical door. Raven promised to return to complete the spell and followed Bastian out, the latter shifting to Grey before they stepped through. And then we were alone again.

I moved my fingers down her arms as I leaned in close. “There's no place I won't search to save you, no one I won't fight.”

She smirked. “Just don't go back to the afterlife. Not yet.”

“I can't.” I leaned my head down, wishing I could feel the pressure of her against me. “I still have to figure out who killed me.”

25

RAVEN

The door was the same as it had always been, with a sloping roof overhead nearly touching the ground. I hurried by the small window to my parents’ living room, half covered with a bush. Ensuring nobody had seen, I glanced toward my father’s hedges by the main street. They were perfectly trimmed, as always, the stack of firewood exactly ten rows high. A lonely spider had spun its web over the far end of the woodpile, but Dein Moonstone would never cast him out. He’d sworn a web was a symbol from the goddess, promising that hard work would always pay off.

“Please?” Kirsi asked for the third time.

She'd left Nym behind, but not easily. And when Kirsi needed a distraction from reality, she put up a thousand walls and focused on nonsense and heavy sarcasm.

“No. You cannot pop in and scare them. You know them. They are already panicking behind that door.”

“Then why are we standing here staring at it?” She floated in front of me, giving me a look I'd seen a million times. An eyebrow peaked, and her mouth twisted into a mischievous grin.

I'd finally have to tell my parents my whole story, including falling for The Dark King before killing him. The plan was to lace truth with lies, planting information to get Nik to come to me. Explaining that the king had manipulated me. Just in case Willow or Ophelia had spread information about us. They'd never stand for my relationship with Bastian, but it didn't matter. I needed information, too. Pushing forward, I stepped directly through Kirsi. She gasped.

“Asshole,” she hissed in my ear before vanishing. “I'm officially haunting you for the rest of your life.”