Page 16 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

I broke the only law we had yet to break.

I exposed magic to humans.

Chapter Five

Freya

Shock, fear, and the heady thrum of Walker’s magic muddled my thoughts. Standing there in a vortex of his own electricity, he reminded me of a god, but not Zeus.

Prometheus.

And because of him, we would all burn.

You’re supposed to be a goddessdamned Coven Mother,I told myself,think.

I didn’t feel like a Coven Mother. I only felt afraid. I took a few calming breaths and tried to think of what my mother would do. The truth was she never would have allowed Walker’s unchecked power to go this far. I wished I hadn’t left Arion back at the apartments with Cadence. I wished someone—anyone—was standing beside me, but I was alone.

Even louder than before, thunder boomed. The clouds swirled across the dark night and eclipsed the beaming moon.

The cuffs.

These past weeks, I always carried an extra set in my tote, which I had stashed in Walker’s truck upon my arrival. I raced down the short hill and snatched the canvas bag out of thetruck bed. Printed boldly on the beige fabric, Hecate’s three faces stared back at me in judgment.

As I raced up the hill, I focused on Walker. Once I got his magic under control, I would worry about erasing the humans’ memories.

It was a spell so dangerous, I had never done it before.

There’s a first time for everything.

As I closed in on Walker, the electric currents dancing across his skin stopped. The clouds dissipated, and the thunder ceased. I smiled at Walker in relief, but his expression was marred by fear.

My steps faltered.

“You stopped it,” I said, “right?”

Walker shook his head.

If the cowboy didn’t stop himself, what did?

I searched for an unseen adversary but discovered something far more chilling. Walker’s magic wasn’t the only thing at a standstill. Brody and Sawyer stood in the barn doorway wearing matching horrified expressions—expressions that didn’t shift at all. Halfway to his mouth, Brody’s hand hung midair, like it was frozen, except no ice encased his skin.

At first glance, I thought Nathan’s hand rested on his holster. It didn’t. Unwavering, it was stuck an inch above it.

Magic thickened the air. Like breathing in perfume, it was sickly sweet but acridly bitter. I reached for my own magic, but I couldn’t access it. When I focused on the rich ground beneath me and the sky full of energy above me, Istillcouldn’t summon it.

Was this what humans felt like?

It was awful.

Walker’s gaze caught something over my shoulder. “Freya,” he whispered and dipped his chin.

I turned and gasped.

She was a thing of nightmares. She was a thing of dreams. I had always wanted to meet her, yet I had dreaded this moment for months. Though no portraits or photos of her could be found, High Witch Cordelia stood before me.

She couldn’t have been anyone or anything else.

Her perfectly unblemished, smooth skin was so fair, it was almost transparent. A purple vein webbed over her temple. Her hair, which was piled atop her head in an intricate updo, was as white and shining as the moon. Her ghostly white dress billowed around her like fog. Every feature of her face was delicately crafted, from the gentle arch of her cheek to the curve of her cupid’s bow. Her haunting gray eyes bored into mine.

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