Page 69 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

“But those of you who are like me, who aren’t willing to let him die alone and in pain at the hand of someone who knows her sons were in the wrong, it’s our time to help Leo.”

“What do we do?” someone in the crowd asked, and I understood their trepidation. Even with my limited understanding of magic, I had felt Katarina’s awe-inspiring power. She’d destroyed my house without so much as blinking, which was telling of what she could do to simple flesh and bone.

“We fight. I don’t know the specifics yet, but I’m sure if we all put our heads together and call on every single ally who’s willing to join the fight, I’m willing to bet we could beat the odds. Again. A month ago, many people would have told us we were insane for trying to go after the brothers, but we defeated them. I believe we can do that again.”

Murmurs erupted throughout the people gathered, and I left them to it as I headed to the house. There had to be maps or literature or something I could rustle up from the debris. I would see who chose to join us eventually, but I wanted everyone to make their choice out from under my watchful eye. Again, the whole pressure thing.

I wasn’t worried. Leo had made his choice, sure, but I’d made mine.

And it was time for one last plan.

19

LEO

Iwas prepared to die. That was such a strange sentiment to have since I’d spent my life fighting for survival, but it was the truth. The gem had led me on quite the long journey, especially on human foot, and in my hours of walking I’d had even more time to digest the reality of what was going to happen.

Sure, I wished I’d had more time with Ven, and I wished I didn’t have to go through the pain I was about to go through, but it would be worth it.

At least, that’s what I told myself.

The gem’s light finally dimmed, and I looked ahead. The foliage shifted apart, revealing a deep-set shadow even my enhanced vision couldn’t see through. The entire thing was foreboding and dripped of evil.

As far as I knew, there were no residences or cities anywhere near here. It was rare to find such places of wilderness within America, and I was sure Katarina’s heavy enchantment was to thank for it. As much as I was all for anything that helped keep the wilderness as the wilderness, the way the witch went about things felt so unnatural.

Taking a deep breath, I walked forward and stepped into the dark. The time it took to travel through that space was barely a breath of a second, and yeah, that made my skin crawl. That strange lack of light was almost oily in nature. Viscous, slippery, clinging to my skin with an almost desperate persistence.

Once I stepped through the other side, I half-expected to come out encased in the stuff, but there wasn’t even a speck of it on me. Rather unsettling.

I quickly forgot about that phenomenon when I looked up and saw what could only be Katarina’s home. We were still in the forest, but it was different. Gnarled trees curled in unnatural ways. Leaves ranged from pitch black to deep purple to oil green and shifted color with the breeze. The foliage was overgrown, and leaves were just as likely to have teeth at their tips as they were to have thorns. Flowers bloomed crimson, and I swore they dripped actual blood from their silken petals.

At the center of it all was quite possibly the biggest living organism I had ever seen. It was a tree to rival all other trees, standing so high and wide that its shadow blocked out all light around it. Built into the center of that tree’s trunk was a witch’s cabin but dialed up to eleven. Everything about it screamed luxury and opulence, from the polished wood walls to the mass of gemstones encrusted in meticulously rendered murals across different parts of it. Even the roof tiles seemed to be made from precious metals with crystals embedded within them. It was easy to see where her sons had gotten their lavish taste, but the warlocks had all seemed to go for new age, whereas Katarina’s home spoke of old money. Ancient money. Money that was just as likely to be carved of bone as it was to be squeezed out of blood.

It made sense. She’d had centuries to accumulate wealth, and she used to be a lot less tame than she had been when she crashed my birthday party.

It was weird to think that her casually destroying half of Ven’s house with a flick of her hand was tame, but it absolutely was. While she hadn’t been a common fixture in stories growing up, I had heard she’d eradicated entire villages by turning their bodies inside out. She’d raised cathedrals high into the sky only to slam them back into the ground. Katarina had done things that made an impression. The woman who had arrived at Ven’s had seemed much more reasonable, which was why I trusted her to keep her promise after I was gone.

Hopefully, that trust wasn’t misplaced.

The sound of a door opening caught my attention, and I glanced at the entrance. Katarina stepped out. She wasn’t dressed in the black leathers akin to armor. She was wearing a beautiful, flowing, red dress, the kind that looked to have been handcrafted in another age. Given what I knew about her, it probably had been.

“You’re early.”

That really was the one way I could have surprised her. She’d expected me to either surrender myself or to fight, but arriving like I had a schedule probably wasn’t on her list of probabilities. Who, when only given a week left to live, would waste an entire day of it?

Me, apparently. But it was worth it to make sure Ven and everyone else I loved was safe.

“I didn’t want to be late.”

“Your punctuality is appreciated.” She tilted her head a bit, and those unnaturally bright eyes of her narrowed. “You didn’t want your lover to try to convince you not to come, did you?”

I didn’t know if women were naturally more perceptive, or if Katarina had done this to so many people that she knew from experience. Either way, I shrugged. She didn’t need to know everything about me. I was sacrificing my life to save people she was intent on harming. That would have to be enough.

“Come inside, dear. I’d rather not do this out on the lawn.”

“Or you could not do this at all.”

It was a long shot, but I had to try.

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