Page 119 of Fated In Blood

“Don’t touch that silver, little slayer. It will leave a burn on your skin that hurts like Hades.”

“I won’t.” I’d been careful not to even brush my wrist against the intricate setting on the end, where that enormous ruby gleamed. “It’s heavier than I imagined. And I can sense the magic flowing through it.”

My eyes flipped up to meet Blake’s. “Witch magic feels…strange.”

The words were barely out of my mouth when a shiver of cold rippled up my arm and through my shoulder…

“Fuck.” I dropped the knife, sending the priceless blade clattering across the table like a common butter knife. I writhed, trying to escape the burning between my shoulder blades.

“Evie, what’s wrong?” Blake gripped my wrist, one hand behind my head, cradling my neck as agony seared through me. “Talk to me.”

“The mark, the markhurts,” I sobbed through gritted teeth, trying to claw at my back. God, the cold was so intense I expected to smell burning flesh. “Please,please…”

“Blake, get her out of?—”

I had no warning, not even a word before a howling wind engulfed me, sweeping me away. I screamed out a curse, then Blake’s name, but the wind tore those away, too. His arm wrapped around the small of my back, crushing me against him, my face buried in his chest so I could finally catch my breath.

“Hang on. That sensation was the brand triggering. Silas was getting close.”

“You could have warned me before you dragged me away. I think I’m going to throw up,” I muttered into his shirt.

“I’m sorry.” His lips brushed my ear. “All I thought about was getting you out.”

His words shouldn’t have made me feel warm all over, they really shouldn’t have, but goddamn, I was a sucker. I swear, he’d been such an asshole to me, I should make him work harder for forgiveness, but my treacherous body—to tightly pressed against his—had other ideas.

“Almost there.”

God, I hoped so, because I wasn’t feeling so good.

Then everything stopped, which was almost as bad as when everything was moving. I hadn’t even gotten my bearings before I heaved the contents of my stomach into the grass.

“Why do I feel like shit?” I moaned, sounding like a whiny brat and totally relying on Blake to hold me up, which was embarrassing. “I’ve done this a bunch of times before.”

“Because of that brand on your shoulder. Simply put, tracking magic grows…roots, which make it incredibly difficult to remove the mark. But the magic threads have infiltrated every part of you, so when you act in opposition to the brand, the magic…doesn’t like it and reacts.”

“What are you talking about, Blake? I haverootsin me now?”

“Silas was close enough to trigger the brand, and he basically poisoned you with magic.”

“Ifeelpoisoned. This is awful.” But now that I had my feet on the ground, the nausea was fading, along with the burning sensation. I straightened, rubbing that odd tightness beneath my heart, like I’d pulled a muscle or something.

Blake froze, his intense gaze fixed on my hand clutching at my shirt, a small, slightly hopeful smile on his face.

“I had to put distance between us and Silas.” His voice was so soft I could barely hear him.

“Riordan will catch up; he stayed behind to do some reconnaissance. Don’t worry, the dagger is in his possession. He’ll take it back to Crimson House and lock it in the safe in his office. It’s plenty secure.” Blake carefully let me go, hands resting lightly on my hips until I got my shaking knees to stop wobbling. “Better?”

“Better. At least the world stopped spinning.”

And now that it had, I didn’t know where to look first. At the enormous, rambling white house—more of a castle, really, given it had no less than five turrets—surrounded by pink cherry trees in full bloom, or across the sweep of dark-blue water sparkling beneath the sun, dotted with sailboats.

Or toward Manhattan, rising in the far-off distance like a mouthful of clustered teeth.

“Blake…where exactly are we?”

Blake hesitated as he surveyed my face then offered me his hand. “We’re in Raven’s Hollow. Come on little slayer, let’s see a witch about removing a tracking spell, shall we?”

Even I had to smile at that, sliding my hand into his. Only because I didn’t know where we were going and definitelynotbecause it felt good to have his big, warm palm wrap around mine.

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