Page 95 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

“You let her go,” Ryder growled. “Youhelpedher leave.”

“I know,” Walker said quietly. “And I’m sorry, but I’ll do anything to get her back. I just need Cady healed first, and there’s only one of us who can do it.”

Ryder glowered at me, but a peek of his human side crept into his face when he studied Cady. With a howl, he shifted into his wolf form and ran into the jungle.

As Walker gently scooped his sister into his arms and laid her beside Arion, I couldn’t meet his gaze.

All my fault.

The least damaged parts of Cadence’s skin were covered in blisters, and the worst were charred down to her pearly, white bones and red muscles. Her clothes were tattered, and even the ends of her brown hair had burned above her shoulders. Her chest barely rose and fell.

Life clung to Arion. Despite the gaping wound in his abdomen, he still fought to live, but he didn’t have much time left. He needed me, but so did Cadence.

“What do you need?” Walker asked.

I stared at him blankly. There were too many answers to his question.

“To heal her,” Walker continued. His jaw clenched and unclenched. “What ingredients, Freya?”

Right.

I took a steadying breath. If Walker could be strong in the face of this, so could I. I had the rest of my life to be plagued by guilt, but right now, two lives were on the line.

I refused to let either of them go.

I scrambled for ingredients that would be available to us in the jungle, instead of in our native mountains. Ingredient after ingredient, I crossed off, until I thought of something that would be plentiful in the tropical forest.

“Aloe,” I said and slipped into the cool, calm mindset of Coven Mother. “I’ll use soil too. It can kickstart her magic into healing herself.”

As Walker stood to find what I needed, I spoke again. “And honey, but I’ll find it.”

As Walker searched for aloe, I forced my mind to calm and my senses to stretch. I listened to every rustle of leaves, trickle of water, and scuttle of animals. Finally, I heard it—the buzz of bees.

I pressed soil into Cady’s wounds, and she whimpered, so I whispered a Cooling spell, and she quieted. When her breaths steadied, I did the same for Arion, except I commanded the dirt to Mend. Though Arion had no earth affinity, I prayed the soil was imbued with its own inherent magic, considering the magic that emanated from the island itself.

I raced into the jungle, east of the cliffs, and toward the bees. A huge hive hung off a low branch. I tucked myself behind a tree and readied my magic.

“Sorry about this,” I whispered and used a harsh gust of wind to break off a piece of the hive and carry it to me.

When I reached Cadence, sticky hive in hand, Walker crouched over his sister protectively. When a twig snappedunder my foot, he glared at me with lightning-colored eyes. His magic hummed in the air, but it quieted when he recognized me. Though he didn’t speak, he scooted out of my way and stared at his sister.

When I realized both Arion and Cady were still alive, I breathed a small sigh of relief and rubbed sticky honey into their wounds.

“You can apply that,” I told Walker.

He ripped open the uprooted aloe and smeared it on Cady and Arion. Their blood mingled on our hands, but there was nothing to be done about the contamination but hope their bodies could rid themselves of infection once magic restored their wounds.

“Okay,” I said in a forcedly steadied voice. “Take my hand. I’ll need some of your magic if I’m to save them both.”

Walker hesitated but held out his hand. I tried not to cringe at that fracture in trust and instead focused on the magic brimming under his skin. When I siphoned from my coven’s magic or even Arion’s, there was always a level of resistance, but Walker was different. Walker’s magic joined mine like a new instrument in a symphony.

As magic lifted my hair and thrummed in my bones, I snatched my hand out of his grasp.

“That’s plenty,” I gasped and laid my hands on Arion and Cady.

As I whispered the healing spell, I vowed to the Goddess this would be the last time I hurt those I cared about. I pleaded with her to save them, and that if she did, I would never let them pay for my mistakes again. Most importantly, I vowed to do everything in my power to take down the High Witch.

If it was the last thing I accomplished, Cordelia would regret crossing a Redfern.

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