Page 13 of The Veil of Blood and Magic

Of course, after The Great Purge, he’d given everyone a chance to submit, to live, as long as any with magical capabilities submitted to getting a license with restrictions on when and how they could use it, with severe repercussions if anyone used unlicensed magic. So many agreed after too many lives were lost, but most half-bloods and below lived in hiding, never wanting to draw attention.

Likely how she’s survived as long.

Which made her all the more valuable.

The Collector will pay handsomely for a rare find like her.

“She’s something more,” I finally say, shifting on the tree to look at him. “Can’t you feel it?” Even now, while she’s asleep under my spell, I can feel something clawing at my magic, trying to rip it to shreds. That’s more than the seductive allure of a full-blood succubus.

Jagger slides his fingers over his strings, eyes on her over the fire. His lips purse as he closes his eyes. He hums a little, an unconscious tick he has due to the nature of his power. He nods before opening his eyes again. “You’re right,” he says. “There’s something else there. It’s probably why I couldn’t hold her mindvery long. She has mental shielding the likes of which I’ve never seen. Even better than yours.”

I cock a brow and let out a contemplative grunt.

“She’s powerful,” Jagger continues. “Watching her tear up the core would be enough to tell me that.”

Heat streaks through my veins at the memory of her cutting down the collector core. Goddess, she moved like smoke and sliced smoother than silk. It was mesmerizing, and that was without her even using a drop of her inherent influence power.

“What do you think she is?”

I shake my head, fingering the necklace that hangs just beneath the base of my throat. I twirl the golden star between my thumb and forefinger, the mechanisms of the necklace allowing the internal piece of the shape to move in endless circles.

“I’m not sure,” I admit. And I fuckinghatenot knowing what we’re dealing with. “A monster,” I continue. “But what kind?”

I’m more speaking to myself than to Jagger, who’s used to it. We’ve been inseparable since our early days at the Drifter Academy, and though I’ll never admit it to him, he’s a brother to me. We’ve been on countless missions together, living and breathing monsters, tracking, hunting, and securing them. All in the hopes to finally gain what the Collector holds over our heads. Because there isn’t a drifter alive who isn’t in debt to the Collector in some way or another—though, some of us enjoy the bounty hunter role more than others. Jagger and I see the job as a way to work off the debt, but I can’t deny I enjoy the hunt. I just wish we could do it like they did in the days before The Great Purge, when drifters only hunted malicious monsters dead set on ripping through innocent lives. Back then drifters worked on their own terms, for the good of the townships or royal families that hired them, with nothing at stake but our own lives.

“She could be the one,” I say, never taking my eyes off of her. I can’t stop watching her, waiting for whatever power she has toclaw through my spell. For her to wake up and bare those pretty little fangs at me again.

Just the thought of it has my cock twitching.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

She’s a target. A bounty. Nothing more.

Maybe it’s because it’s been ages since I’ve been surprised. Ages since I’ve been impressed or stumped by any creature, mortal or monster. And when we caught wind of her curious scent at the tavern, I never thought she’d be the trouble she is.

We’re missing something. I’m sure of it.

And I hate the anticipation humming beneath my skin, excited and hungry to find out exactly what.

“She’ll fight us the entire way,” he says.

“Are you afraid?”

“No,” he says, strumming his guitar. “But it’s a long road to Lingate and we’ll have to hand her over in pristine condition. With the fight she put up at the tavern…it won’t be easy.”

“Nothing worth it ever is.”

“Do you think she’s worth it?” Jagger asks, his voice dipping into an almost pitying tone.

I flash him a warning glare. I don’t want his pity.

He glares right back, not rescinding his question.

“If she gets me what I lost?” I ask. “Then whatever trouble she brings with her will be worth it.”

Jagger nods, like he was expecting my answer, and plays a few more notes on his guitar. The forest where we made our little camp swallows the notes, giving the place an eerie feel that fits my nerves. Sleep will be impossible for me tonight. Not while I still don’t know what we’re dealing with.

“I’ve had your back since we were two younglings who didn’t know the proper end of a sword,” Jagger says. “So I’m with you, but playing with this sort of fire will probably get us killed.”

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