Page 4 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

Freya

Exhaustion blurred my vision and weighed my limbs, but I couldn’t move from Walker’s side even if I wanted to. I wouldn’t. His chest rose and fell and rose again, but he was so very still otherwise. Fear fractured my conviction.

Is he nothing but a breathing corpse?

Did I make him into a monster?

Had I damned my coven for nothing?

Boom.

Lightning streaked across the maroon sky.

As Walker jolted upright, someone snatched Cadence out of the way. I scrambled out of Walker’s path, but he gripped my hand in his. Rich, skin-tingling magic radiated from him. As his electric, unnaturally bright gaze met mine, my jaw went slack. Cadence gasped, but I didn’t let my focus on the cowboy waver. I couldn’t—not yet.

“Cowboy,” I said, “how do you feel?”

Recognition relaxed his face, and he looked more like the Walker I knew. I buried the relief that threatened to boil over.With his free hand, he palmed my face. I shivered from the magic dancing on his skin.

“Sweetheart,” he whispered. Concern mottled his features. “I remember. Iremember.Cadence?”

Searching for her, he whipped his head. Electricity zapped my face, and I hissed in pain. Walker’s relief upon seeing his sister was short-lived. As his gaze fixed on what was probably a fairly red mark on my cheek, his expression crumpled. He tore his hand free from mine and scooted away from me. Cadence lurched forward to comfort her brother.

Walker’s command boomed across the field. “Stay back!”

Cadence froze, but her watery-eyed smile didn’t fall.

“Walkie,” she whispered. “You’reokay.”

Judging by his wide-eyed gaze, he wasn’t convinced.

“Breathe,” I told him. “Pretend you’re handling a spooked horse and just breathe, Walker. You’re going to be okay.”

“It’s not really me I’m worried about,” he argued.

I allowed my relief to flourish and smiled. “That’s what helps me know we’ll all be okay. You’re still you.”

“Sure,” Lyra muttered. “We’ll be fine until the High Witch arrives to smite us all.”

I ignored the Elder. The High Witch hadn’t shown her face yet. I wasn’t convinced she was as all-knowing and powerful as I’d been told.

Besides, I had just turned a man into a witch. I wasn’t sure I caredhowpowerful she was.

???

Walker

Strength—magic—hummed in my veins and threatened to overwhelm me. It had been thrilling until I’dzappedFreya. Her small gasp of pain echoed in my ears, and I couldn’t tear my gaze from the red mark on her cheek. The worst part was she didn’t care that I had hurt her. Cadence surged forward and retreated in a constant battle with herself not to hug me. I wanted to ask about Dad, but I feared any more powerful emotions, and the magic would pour out of me without my control.

Freya’s coven surrounded us. All of them eyed me warily, though I couldn’t blame them. Something was wrong. I remembered the battle, the Bloodblade, and Gwendolynn Moonflower’s vague offer of second life, but none of that explained the magic heightening my senses and heating my veins.

Freya inched closer but didn’t attempt to touch me. “You’re a witch.”

I laughed and recited her own words. “There are nomalewitches, Freya.”

I waited for her to laugh in response, but she just stared at me with uncharacteristic wariness. Cadence watched me with a grin so wide, it probably hurt.

“Witch?” I repeated dumbly. “Like a magic-wielding, female creature?”

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