Page 53 of When Day Breaks

The castle grounds are blanketed with a cloaking spell, but if ever the guards needed to act on an intrusion of some sort in the daylight, they have about ten seconds to eliminate the threat before the sun sets them on fire.

I enter in my access code to direct the gate to open, the metal creaking as it glides open slowly. Once it's open, I lead Lucyndaout to the street where I caught her staring at the castle not long ago. She didn't know I was that car, but I was captured by her curiosity. Not many people are aware of what is hidden in Hollows Trace but I allowed visibility to her because I knew it would one day be her home.

We started to walk down the road toward Mainstreet.

"For one,” I start. “The coven leader, Nathairia, swore that I would need her help one day and if I ever journeyed to claim it, the boundary would be called off and the witches would be allowed full access to us, their magic, and our kingdom once more."

"But what would a witch want with a group of vampires?" Her question is one I've thought about as well. And the answer—before everything that happened—would have been a simple one . . . nothing. Witches really only granted cloaking spells for Society grounds and any other kind of minor magic we might have needed and in turn, we left them alone. That's how it is in most cases with witches and vampires around the world.

But in this case. I know the witches will want more from us. It's only a matter of time.

"It's complicated." I decide to tell Lucynda, knowing that she'll only have more questions to my answers and in all honesty, it won't be of much relevance for now. "As it is, the witch was right and she had my day."

"What did you need her help for?" Cyn shivers slightly under her coat as the snow starts to fall a tad heavier now, almost to the street we need to be on.

I look down at my sweet sin and wonder if she knows just how far I would go to mend the hurt I've caused, how far I would go to protect her. But as I tell her my reasoning for needing the witches help, I can tell she's slightly surprised.

"You,"I whisper. "I knew she was the only one who could help diminish the fires you'd set and I had hoped she'd be able to helpwith your condition somehow. So I sent for her. She's the one who provided the herbs, and she returned the kingdom back to its pristine order." Her eyes meet mine, my words sinking into her ears.

She swallows, maybe feeling guilt that I needed to break the boundary to save her. But I'd do it again. "So, she's pretty powerful then," she states, realizing that we're not the only creatures in the world alongside Outsiders and that there is a force more powerful than either of us . . . for the most part.

"The most powerful witch I know," I admit the truth. Nathairia is truly a force to be reckoned with, but I wonder if it ever came down to it, if she truly could stand against the curse that plagues my wife. I hope we never have to know.

"Well, what happens next? Why didn't you just ask for help from another coven?"

"I could have, but no other coven of witches could be nearly as strong as Nathairia alone is," I respond. "I knew she'd be able to do the job and part of me hoped she wanted the release of the boundary for her and her coven."

"How were you able to control the boundary? Like, what made you believe they weren't just going to disobey and . . . I don't know, kill you all?" She shrugs and I chuckle. Her curiosity intrigues me.

But she's right. They could kill us all.

"Again, it's a complicated story but in short, we were able to control their use of magic outside of their coven grounds and because I called for her help, they now have that control back."

Silence falls once more between us as we walk toward the bend of where the road splits into Mainstreet straight ahead or Whispering Pines Way off on our right.

I can see her eyes glisten with the want to continue forward. She moved to this town mainly because I forced her here but she fell in love with it all on her own and I wonder if she misses herlittle life above the bookstore for the weeks of normalcy I allowed her.

"You saidcoven grounds,"she repeats as I walk her across the road. "Do they reside here in Shadow Creek?"

"Just on the other side of Whispering Pines." I nod my head in the direction where we’re headed, knowing that beyond the hills of houses and quiet neighborhoods, the coven can be found.

"Is that where you're taking me?" she asks as we get to the other side and head down the road leading into the Whispering Pines neighborhoods.

"No. I won't mess with the witches any more than I need to. And while Nathairia might come to collect for the favors she provided me, I'll wait until she does. Just know that whatever she comes for, might not be for any reason of good." I gaze into her eyes and she listens to me talk, knowing that it will be the last we talk about the witches for now.

I walk her down the road, the sun hidden behind the trees. The forest nearly identical to the ones Hollows Trace is buried in only here, there are houses and driveways hidden between.

"So then where are you taking me?" Her soft voice reaches my ears as her warm hand holds on to mine.

This feels normal if I ever knew what normal could feel like. We didn'tmanifestto the destination, and we're having a normal conversation—albeit the topic of witches and magic—and the snow is falling against our heads as we travel down a family-friendly, magicless neighborhood.

Simplicity.

I turn her down a private road as we venture just a little further into the hills of elegant houses and towering trees.

"Lucynda," I say her name in a sincere tone, squeezing her hand once more. "I'm going to take you to visit Valaria . . . my mother."

18

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