Page 94 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

Cady was mere feet away from me. Burns reddened her skin, but her chest rose and fell with the tiniest movements of breath.

“She needs healing,” Elle rasped.

She can be healed.

In that moment, there was nothing I wouldn’t do to save my sister. I whirled, and the witch on my back loosened her hold and hissed. I channeled every ounce of hot magic that writhed under my skin to gather where my wrists touched the cuffs. My skin burned hotter than the wildfire that now surrounded us, but the cuffs melted just enough for me to slip them off.

Lightning crackled on my skin, and my magic healed my burned wrists in an instant. I rolled to my feet and raised my hand at the blonde witch who had dared cuff me. Lightning spread from my palm and struck her squarely in the chest. The force of my magic flung her back, and she slammed into a tree.

With my magic pulsing in the air, I crouched in front of Elle and Cady. I wanted to hold my little sister and will her back into good health, but we weren’t safe yet.

The High Witch sauntered closer with a face as smooth as glass. She wore a gauzy white gown that repelled anything living on the jungle floor from sticking to it. Her magic made the air taut. Ryder snarled and thrashed, but the High Witch’s cloaked henchwomen kept him trapped within the confines of swirling fire, wind, and rock. As Freya crouched over the bloody remains of her familiar, the connection between us flared, and I felt her pain.

Had entering that cave changed something between us? Had it solidified the bond between our magic?

Ten minutes ago, the idea would’ve comforted me. Now, it turned my stomach.

“Run,” Ryder snarled and thrashed against his magical confines. His gaze bored into Elle’s.“Run, dammit!”

I rallied my lightning, but Elle stirred behind me.

“I will go with you willingly,” she said softly, “if you leave them be. Their debt is paid.”

As Ryder fought against the magic that ensnared him, his skin sizzled and his bones popped, but he couldn’t get through the cloaked witches.

“Interesting,” High Witch Cordelia mused. She tapped a finger against her burgundy-painted lips. “So interesting, I’m willing to agree to your terms.”

Ryder roared, and the trees shook from the force of his bellowing. Shock planted me in place. My mind was a flurry of one repeating thought.

Save Cady.

Save Cady.

Save Cady.

When Elle asked me to help her to her feet, I willed my lightning to quiet and did as she asked. She slowly made her way toward the High Witch, and I didn’t try to stop her. When she passed Ryder, who railed against the circling magic like a wild beast, she paused.

“Too many have already died to try to stop fate,” she told him and shook her head softly. “I’ll be okay, Ryder. I promise.”

As the High Witch gently took Elle’s hand and blipped them out of existence in a flash of golden light, I stood as still as death.

???

Freya

I pieced together the marred flesh of my familiar, and amethyst blood coated my hands.

All my fault,the thought echoed in my head,this is all my fault.

As Cordelia’s Handmaidens portaled after their leader, the spell holding Ryder back vanished with them. He howled, and every hair on my body raised. He charged me, but I didn’t move.

Whatever he wanted to do to me, I deserved it.

I deserved worse.

“Wait!” Walker commanded.

I looked over my shoulder. Ryder barreled toward me with his claws out, but lightning struck his path, and he skirted to a stop. He turned his glowing, animalistic gaze on Walker.

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