Page 51 of Bloodline Unbound

She twitched her fingers and a thick leather-bound book floated up again. It opened to a section of family trees.

“These are all the witch families?” I asked. It should have been weird to consider myself a legacy witch, but the truth of it settled into my bones and my brain snapped into alignment with that most basic fact even as a million more questions craved answers.

“More or less. One of my ancestors was quite tricky and collected a drop of blood from every witch she ever encountered, applying it to the book. Her magic tracked the connections.”

The idea of giving Melinda any of my blood made me queasy, but maybe it was the best option?

Melinda smirked. “If you want to find out who your birth parents were and to which line you belong, then yes, you’ll need to give me your blood.”

I jerked back. Her power was unnerving. “I don’t know anything about legacy witches. Could I learn more before I consider that?”

“Of course, sweetness. Let me arrange that for you since I’ll be leaving soon.” A flick of her fingers had a small knife darting toward her, mother-of-pearl inlaid into the wood handle. She nicked her thumb and ran the pad of it down the spine of the book, whispering something I couldn’t quite hear. “There we go. You can borrow this book for a while. Please do keep it safe. It’s been in my family for quite some time. I’ve bound it to me so I can call it to return at any point. There should be plenty of information in here to get you started with understanding the history of your people. Your specific magic will have to be determined by trial and error since every witch is different. Very little of our magic types are hereditary so you can have interesting mixes among family.”

“Who told you to unbind Logan?” Caden asked. “You said you were told to, but none of us said anything.”

Melinda snorted. “I wouldn’t have listened to you even if you had. I listen to my patron gods, not a prissy panther. But, to answer your question, Hecate requested, and I’m not about to deny a goddess.”

“She’s my?—”

“Patron, yes. She made that quite clear. I don’t mean to rush you, but we’re on a rather tight schedule. Are you ready to go out into the forest to practice?”

“Sure. I guess it couldn’t hurt.” My legs were still a bit unsteady as I rose, and Caden looped his arm around my waist.

“Perfect.” Melinda led us out onto a balcony at the back of the shop and down some rickety steps with a liberal sprinkling of lichen decorating the wood.

The ground was mossy and almost blindingly green. I loved it. Something about moss just made me want to strip naked and roll around on it.

We walked about half an hour straight into the forest. I probably should’ve been slightly concerned in case Melinda turned out to be an axe murderer or something, but the trees felt so peaceful.

“Clothes off.” Melinda unceremoniously shucked off her dress and shoes as we entered a small clearing. She was bare beneath the fabric.

“I’m sorry, what?” I wrapped my arms around myself.

“We’re doing this old school, sweetness. Skyclad.”

I glanced back to Caden and Seth before taking a deep breath and dropping my sweater into the moss. I peeled off each item of clothing in turn, ridiculously aware of all of them watching me. I could have told them to look away, but if I was going to be prancing in the woods with Melinda, what was the point in trying to retain modesty?

Seth sucked in a sharp breath as I wiggled out of my leggings, fingers paused nervously at the waistband of my panties. I closed my eyes and shoved them down, letting them fall, and unhooking my bra before I could think otherwise. I wasn’t going to bend down and gather it all up. I wasn’t too concerned with them seeing me naked, but I wasn’t about to flash Seth with my pussy.

“Perfect,” Melinda said with a smile as she kneeled down. “Come, have a lay down.”

“You weren’t supposed to be a mind reader about my impulses to roll naked in moss.”

Melinda laughed. “It’s something I do regularly.” She patted the squishy green ground next to her.

I sank down, my knees cushioned, and the urge to fall face-first into it was too great to resist.

“This is amazing.” I breathed deeply. The power of the forest washed over me like a gentle stream.

“It gets better,” Melinda assured me. “Roll over.”

I flipped onto my back and wiggled happily against the moss. I needed an entire bed made out of this.

“Focus on rooting into the earth and ask the forest to let you see through its eyes.”

The visualization was easy and something I did every time I worked with the divine. Energetic roots sank down into the ground and I opened the request to the enormity of the millions of trees around me.

My head spun and my stomach churned, thousands upon thousands of plants and creatures filtering information to me.

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