Page 26 of Kiss of Magic

“Lenore?” Her mouth carved into a spiteful smile. “Lenore’s going to kill you when she finds out you’ve put a dampener on me.”

“We’ll see, won’t we.”

She tried to goad him into an argument but he simply put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes again. She gritted her teeth in frustration. Wretched human.

There was a soft bell-like tone and the crystal glowed. Blake nodded towards it.

“Go ahead. It’s for you.”

Dani picked it up. Her coven leader’s face appeared, pale yellow eyes staring out at her.

“Child, we’ve been so worried. Are you well?”

“No thanks to you. I can’t believe you set a hunter on me. He put a dampener on me. Look!”

She shook her wrist at the crystal but the older witch just sighed.

“We had no choice, my dear. You shouldn’t have run.”

“You can’t make me come back.”

“If you don’t, then people will die. Innocent people. Is that what you want, Dani?”

“Of course not! But you’re asking me to do something that no-one else has to do. It’s not fair.”

“Fair?” Lenore’s voice sharpened. “None of this is fair. And it’s not true to say others aren’t offering their lives. People aredoing exactly that all over Nush’aldaam, child. Look at it. Look at what’s happening.”

Lenore waved her hand and an image materialised in Dani’s mind. A coven. Her witch sisters, standing in a circle, chanting. Faces lined with strain, eyes glazed with fear as their mouths moved in unison, afraid of what would happen if they paused for even a moment.

Another image. A woman creating fireballs with her hands. Aiming at makeshift targets, desperately trying to make the flames bigger. Hotter. Working herself to exhaustion yet refusing to give up.

Dani clutched at her head.

“Stop.”

Another image. People. Lots of people, walking along roads carrying belongings on their backs. Food. Clothes. Babies.Scaredpeople looking for safety against an oncoming storm.

“Stop!”

It wasn’t just pictures. She could hear their words, feel their emotions. Terror, panic, desperation. The experience rolled over her like a juggernaut, overwhelming her senses until she could barely breathe.

“Stop!”

The images dropped away and she inhaled shakily. From the crystal, Lenore spoke.

“Could you feel them? Their despair? That was your doing, child. You ran, when you should have done your duty. And now the seal is in danger of opening.”

“But what you’re asking me to do…”

“I’m asking you to do what you were born to do. You’re the key, Dani. There’s no running from it.” Lenore tilted her head to one side. “Tell me, child, have you heard the whisperings of the demonicus spirits yet?”

Dani paled.

“What do you mean?”

“Like black fingernails scratching in your head, aren’t they? Every witch of the Angelus Coven can hear them. They’re getting louder. For you, they must be particularly stark. Your link to them is stronger than anyone else’s.”

Dani stared unseeingly. The darkness in her mind. She’d thought it was just her temper getting the better of her, but it was worse. Much, much worse. The demons wereconnectedto her.

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