Page 98 of The Unbound Witch

When Raven, Torryn, Bastian and the wolf came through the River Coven door, I dared not move. I didn’t want to scare him. But as Atlas came close, kneeling with a giant smile on his face to see the connection we’d made, Scoop hissed and scrambled away.

“I just want to pet you, buddy,” he said as Scoop stopped at Crow’s feet, clawing at his pants until he lifted him.

I pushed away the ache in my soul at the blatant rejection.

“You saved our butts, Kir,” Bash said, walking over to look at the book. “But we’ve got to get this thing out of here. Tor and Atty, with me to the castle.”

I swooped in front of the king, halting him before he went through the door. “I know it’s getting late, but we need to keep going if we are going to get answers. Can we bring Atlas with us, or do you need him?”

Bastian, in Grey’s form, bit his lip to hide his smile. “Are you telling me youwantlittle Atty to go with you?”

“Excuse me, Bash… I’m a fucking blast.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, wolf. Your choice?”

“Obviously, I’d rather go with the pretty girls than stare at those mugs all night. You’ll be fine without me?”

“Yes. We should be back by morning.”

* * *

They sleptin a pile of old blankets on the floor with full bellies. Atlas had run off to the Fire Coven, snagged some stew meat and breads and cheese, claiming he’d put it on Torryn’s tab, and the moment everyone was stuffed, their eyelids grew heavy and one by one, they fell asleep, listening to the captain blow on some strange instrument he kept in his pocket.

I spent the night below the moon, stroking the fur of my familiar and wishing we had the bond we once did. They didn’t know. None of them did. We could complete the seance for the wraith, get the information to stop the Harrowing and save the remaining witches, but then where would I be? The wraith’s heavy words sat like an anchor on top of my chest. The witches didn’t care about the wraiths. But even the wraith had called me a witch. So what was I? I could touch things, though she could not. I could feel. Could even hear a heartbeat, somewhere. Was it Scoop’s? Being spirit blessed had to mean something when you were a spirit, didn’t it? Did I break the rules because of it? Even still, would they perform the same ceremony for me when this nightmare was over? I stared up at the stars, repeating the recipe over and over in my mind. It could be my deliverance.

The chatter of voices outside the cottage woke Atlas early. We’d shaken Nym awake, grabbed the seance items we needed from the shop, and headed toward the floating isles of the Whisper Coven before anyone else stirred. Time was ticking, and we only had so long until another of the coven leaders got too brave and tried to bring down the world.

38

RAVEN

Ijerked awake, shoving the blanket off me with my heart racing. The world tipped to the side as I sat up too fast and nearly lost my vision. That single stroke of disorientation sent a wave of pain directly to my brain. Instinctively, I reached for my nose and, when my fingers came away red yet again, I looked around the room, locking eyes with Eden who’d jumped from her place on the floor to get me a hand towel.

When she knelt beside me, she reached for my head, but I knew what she’d find. Tiny beads of sweat covered my neck, cooling the fever. She’d find them on my head as well.

I grabbed her wrist as she tried to pull away. “You cannot tell him. Not yet. Not until I figure it out.”

“And how are you going to do that? A stroke of luck? This is reckless. And dangerous and he needs to know. If something happens to you …”

Her voice trailed off, but the implication was there. He’d never recover. And I knew it. With every part of my soul. We were bonded. Our destinies entwined since the moment his mother had that vision. And as the window of time began to close on us, I wondered if I’d ever be able to tell him. To watch him mourn me before I left this world.

I held the cloth to my nose until it stopped bleeding and cast to send it away, refusing to get up for just a few more moments as I considered my next words carefully. “I need you to promise me you’ll give me more time. Once this stuff with the Grimoires and the Harrowing is handled, I’ll tell him everything. I don’t want him to worry more than he already is. He doesn’t need another distraction.”

“If it worsens, I will not keep this from him.”

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath as I wiped away any evidence of sweat with the sleeve of the shirt I wore. “Thank you. I know what I’m asking isn’t easy.”

“No,” she snapped. “It’s foolish.”

“What’s foolish?”

Torryn’s deep, timbered voice caused us both to jump. We hadn’t heard them enter and I was glad they hadn’t heard more.

“Chasing dangerous witches hoarding explosives,” Eden answered with ease. “But here we are, all the same.”

She kneeled down to wake Crow, swiping his hair from his brow so gently, the captain hardly stirred.

Bastian didn’t feed into the conversation at all, moving directly to the map still laid across the counter. “Where to this morning, Little Witch?”