Page 145 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

Chapter Forty-One

Walker

Cordelia jerked away from Freya and pointed her pale, spindly fingers behind her. In front of her empty throne, the marble stones of the floor shifted. A rectangular hole formed in the ground, but it was quickly filled by a rising slab of obsidian. On it and wearing a simple white shift, Elle laid completely still, except for the small rise and fall of her chest.

My gaze shot to Freya. Her copper eyes were wild with confusion. Magic zapped between us once again, and we both quickly looked away. If the High Witch knew even an ounce of our magic could work while in these horrific cuffs, she would surely entrap us in something more terrible—something like what she had done to Elle.

Nothing visible kept Elle contained to the obsidian dais, but something was clearly off about her. For one, she wasn’t running and screaming. She laid all too serenely on her back with a pleasant, relaxed smile on her face. It reminded me ofFreya’s expression when Josephine had trapped Freya in her own mind, and I had nearly lost her.

“She’s as lovely as she is deadly,” Cordelia promised. She approached Elle and laid a motherly hand on her forehead. “They always are.”

“Whatisshe?” I asked.

“A curse on the world,” Cordelia said and brushed aside on of Elle’s stray hairs.

“Descriptive,” Cady muttered.

“For the past eight hundred years,” Cordelia continued, “chimeras have been born and killed like clockwork. One rises, but it is always destined to fall, just as another is destined to rise after it. You see, even the most charming of them cannot be allowed to live.”

Cordelia lifted her head and drifted closer to us. I fought the urge to squirm.

“Chimeras themselves are not so abhorrent,” she explained, “but they are the lineage of witches’ most dangerous foe. They are the potential hosts for the thing of nightmares.”

“The sorceress,” Freya whispered.

Cordelia’s eyes widened. “You know of her.”

“So, you’re going to kill Elle?” Cady asked. “Because she was born to be the reincarnation of some sorceress?”

The High Witch crouched to Cady’s level. I tensed.

“I am not going to kill your friend,” she promised. “I’m going to save her.”

I recalled the vampire guard’s words.

“By entombing her,” I guessed.

“You’re not the fool you appear to be,” Cordelia replied.

But I was. I had encouraged Freya to come here, intent on doing the right thing, and I had landed us all in more trouble. I had put my sister in danger again. I’d placed Freya in danger.

I had failed the two people I loved most.

“The sorceress cannot be allowed to rise once more,” Cordelia continued and glowered. “Already, she stirs because of whatyou twohave done.”

Cordelia looked pointedly at me and Freya.

“Because Freya transformed me into a warlock?” I guessed.

“Hmm,” Cordelia mused, “I see you did learn something on your journey.”

Cordelia came closer and studied me like I was a science project. The reek of death curdled my stomach.

“You’re the first I’ve seen in a millennium,” she whispered. “It’s why I had to be sure. I worried my memory was failing me.”

I frowned. “What do I have to do with a sorceress?”

“Notasorceress,” Cordelia corrected,“thesorceress.”

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