Page 97 of The Fearless Witch

“Last chance,” he spat, his glare making my blood turn to ice. “Where is… Samara?”

A drop of blood trickled down his nose, but he didn’t seem to notice. If he was straining to keep us all contained, it didn’t show in his hold on the spell that was binding us.

“We don’t… have her!” I snarled, gritting my teeth in silent rage. All that power inside of me and here I was, helpless like a newborn witch. This shouldn’t have happened. He shouldn’t have happened.

Mathias cursed under his breath, words too quiet to distinguish, then he stepped away from me. I waited for the fatal blow, for any blow, but he just gave me a disgusted look before turning in a circle and sneering.

“Weak!” he shouted over the cries of pain and fear. “You are all weak!” I tried to push against his spell again, but the pressure forced me on my hands, the bones threatening to break. “Say your goodbyes while you still can! Once my shackles are off… I’m coming for you! I’m coming for all witchkind!” Bloody spit flew from his mouth, the runes on his forehead pulsing. “Let’s see how you all like… being exterminated without mercy!”

He glanced at me one last time and in a blink of an eye, he was gone. The force keeping us down vanished, and I fell forward, barely catching myself before my mouth filled with dirt. A pair of arms helped me up and a second later, I was running toward the rift where Roman had disappeared.

“Roman!” I screamed when I noticed the dirty, bloody fingers gripping at the edge.

Isaac reached him before I did, grabbing his hands and hoisting him up. I wrapped my arms around his torso even before he was fully up, relief flooding my body when I felt his cold skin against mine. A quick look around told me the others were still alive and mostly unharmed.

The witches were slowly getting back to their feet, translocating away faster than I could stop them. Once the last of them were gone, the shifters swarmed us, their silence and horrified gazes louder than any words.

“Nobody died,” Beleth said, looking around with a frown. There was tension in his gaze and the same type of apprehension I felt. We had just faced a goddamn male witch, the most feared creature in the world, and nobody had died.

“Don’t look so disappointed,” Isaac sneered at him. “He wasn’t here for us, so that’s why he—”

“No,” I whispered when Roman finally raised his head, meeting my eyes and nodding. “It’s not because he didn’t care, it’s because he couldn’t. His orders still hold. At least one of them.”

Everyone gawked with bewildered expressions.

“You knew about him?” Isaac gasped, a note of betrayal making his voice crack. “How? When? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I asked her not to,” Roman said before I could reply. Isaac glared at him, drawing back and leaving Roman to lean on me for support. “We’ll tell you everything later. Everything. Right now, we have something more important to do.”

“Yeah, get off this plane,” Beleth murmured, turning on his heel as if to leave, but when Malakai caught his elbow, he stopped. He kept his gaze averted, though.

I looked at each of the faces staring expectantly at me, forcing myself to meet Isaac’s eyes and hold them. I could see the betrayal there, the sadness and hurt, and I knew it was only going to get worse when he heard the rest. Still, when I slid my fingers into his, he didn’t pull away.

“We need to find Samara,” I said, taking a deep breath that did nothing to calm my terrified heart. “And then… we need to figure out how to beat the unbeatable.”

Chapter 38

Samara

My head was pounding. Again. And this time, it wasn’t just the head.

I tried to push myself up, but my hands were shaking so much, I crashed back onto the ground. No, not ground. Bed. I was in a small, but soft bed, covered by clean covers and wearing… clean clothes.

I wasn’t sure why that startled me at first but I gathered all my strength and sat upright. My body tilted back as I lost my balance and landed heavily on the mattress.

Groaning, I rolled onto my hands and knees, wincing as the bandages under my pajamas tightened painfully over my skin. Someone had bothered to tend to my wounds. Meticulously, it seemed.

Wounds. The attack. The hunter. Mariam!

“Lily!” I gasped, rushing out of bed only for my wobbly feet to crumble beneath me. I fell on the ground, pain shooting through my thigh where one of the blades had torn the muscle. I wasn’t fully healed, which meant I couldn’t have been unconscious that long. Or perhaps it wasn’t me who healed them, but whoever put on those bandages hadn’t bothered to suppress my magic.

I didn’t get it. Why would they let me have a weapon? Why would…

A door creaked nearby, and I looked up, blinking against the darkness of the room. A light buzzed overhead, and I shielded my eyes, watching through my fingers as a pair of feet strode toward me.

“You’re awake. Good.” A familiar voice spoke and any hope I held about what happened being a dream vanished.

I let my arm fall, studying the woman looming over me. I didn’t like one bit how she stood with her hands on her hips, staring down at me, but I wasn’t sure I could get up and I didn’t want her to see how weak I was.

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