Page 159 of Castings & Curses

A Wilde warlock rushed to Sage, dangling the bracelet. Sage sniffed it, frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Rafael asked.

“It’s dead.” Zelda grinned at Sage’s proclamation. “Her air magic rendered it void.” Sage tossed the bracelet on the ground. “Undo the bond. Rafael chooses me.”

“Where’s your proof?” Zelda palmed her moonstone ring as if gaining power from it. “I will not undo the bond. You’re overstepping your boundaries, Sage Wilde.” She held her hand out to Rafael, and he retreated a step. “You chose me. Come. You’re mine. I will not release you to this stupid child.”

More anger than he’d ever experienced thrashed through him again. He didn’t know a way out, other than to let Sage duke it out for him. Otherwise, he’d be stuck bound to this old hag until when? Until she died? Until he died?Two hundred bucks for a clue, Alex.

Sage shivered, flexed her hand in his, and he let go, flinging off the magic she emitted. An intangible roiling mass of fire, loamy air, a drizzle of water and vines growing out of the ground and snaking over the patio alarmed the crowd into backing away from Sage. Her eyes turned dark as night, surrounded by a glimmering silver halo. Shimmery bands of white magic whipped and swirled around her, the electricity crackling in the air.

“Do you trust me?” she asked, her breath warm against his ear.

Without a doubt, he nodded. He had found his home in her, and he’d cherish her with every fiber of his being… and fight to the death for her.

“What do you want, Rafael? Who do you want to bond.” Outside sounds dropped to nothing, unable to compete with the dynamic hum of Sage’s magic.

He lifted his head, raised his voice for the crowd ogling the train wreck on the patio. “I never chose Zelda Helwig. I demand she release whatever fucked-up bond and spells she dumped on me. I choose the light, the sunshine, the magic, the home I found among the Wilde coven. I choose Sage Wilde.” His bold stare shot switchblades at Zelda.If only.“Release me now or I will destroy you.” He ripped the chain off his neck and flung the pendant where it clinked to the pavers at Zelda’s feet.

Two more wild cats sprang off her and surrounded her feet, growling and snarling. His own bobcat tattoo—not that he’d accepted it—remained static on his arm.

“Big words from an untrained warlock.” A glower flitted across her features. “I can asphyxiate you in two seconds. Or do you prefer to die in an inferno?”

“You heard him. Release him. Now.” Sage advanced a step toward Zelda. A bobcat screeched at her, forcing her to freeze. Rafael stretched out his arm to hold her back, as if to protect her.

A cacophony of loud gasps echoed through the crowd. Zelda jerked back from Sage, clutching her neck, her features screwed up in horror. Rafael checked Sage from his peripheral vision. The black and silver of her eyes, the tangible aural glowing bands drifting and seething around her scared the life out of him. And everyone else by the alarm on their faces and the distance they put between themselves and Sage.

Wind funnels stirred up a symphony of sound as they whipped the tree branches around them. Evergreen needles gyrated in the air. Rain coalesced into a typhoon, dripping from a clear blue sky. Tiny stars tumbled from the sky, trickling within the wind and water. Embers and ashes fell upon the Helwigs and their supporters, their magic ineffectual against the stars singeing their clothing. Sage circled her hand and drew a blue fire ring around the patio, preventing escape or containing the magic. Didn’t matter.

Zelda twirled her arms above her head, stirring up a wind storm. It plucked on Rafael’s center of magic. He needed an outlet to rid his body of her, but he didn’t know how yet.

“Drop the magic, Sage,” Zelda screeched.

“Break the bond,” she replied, calm radiating off her despite the magical chaos. “He chose me.”

“I will not. I invoked my right to bond him. A fight over a warlock during a lottery means the warlock walks away. He can’t choose or bond any witch from our region for three years. Read the bylaws.” She threw Sage’s words back at her.

Was it true? Rafael’s racing heart stuttered.

A band of air whacked Rafael across the face, smothering him, muffling him above all. The bands spiraled around him, cementing him to the pavers. His thoughts remained clear, and he could still see and talk. The magic inside him remained. He fought the witch-air, knowing he couldn’t use magic against Zelda. The bond prevented him from doing so. But something inside him disputed that notion, and he worked on internalizing his thoughts to match his magical action and reaction.

“Screw you, Zelda. You broke the rules when you magically raped him.” Lightning bolts erupted over Zelda’s head, threatening, but not harming. Yet. Sage’s owl familiar directed the bolts in a ring of fire surrounding the Helwig coven members.

Zelda signaled Imelda and several witches from her coven, and they broke apart the fire ring, blasting wind, water, and their own fire through it. Another signal and they hurled a combined fiery ball, propelled by witch-air, at Sage.

Sage thwarted the attack, but the effort strained her. Perspiration formed on her upper lip, and her cheeks blazed crimson. Her magic thrust Zelda’s entire coven and her allies to the edge of the woods.

The threats to Sage drove Rafael’s every command into the magic inside him, battling against Zelda’s influence. He cracked his knuckles, the sound loud against the swirling and popping magic. “How dare you threaten my witch, you fucking bitch?” He chucked fire-tinged air at Zelda, catching her off guard, giving her no chance of a counterattack. How was he able to use magic against Zelda? The fire and air felt eerily similar to the magic Sage wielded.

As Sage had threatened, figurative flying monkeys and ninja fairies broke out to fight Zelda’s ineffectual air magic. Rafael stood, arms outstretched, immune to any magic. Another few seconds flew by that seemed like hours, air against air, fire against fire, intangible but powerful. After one last thrust of rebound magic at Zelda, her hands scratched at her neck, her mouth hung open in horror, and she crumpled to the ground in a heap of billowing black clothing. Her bobcat familiars clambered onto her body and morphed into their tattoo forms beneath her clothing. The bobcat that’d so far remained dormant on Rafael’s arm, slithered off his skin in earth-tone shades of ink. The ink blotches slinked to Zelda’s body where she reabsorbed them on her right hand.

Magic faded, and the air stilled. Zelda gasped out several gusts of air and sparks dripped off her fingers, splatting onto the pavers. That foreign entity inside Rafael disintegrated into dust and rushed out of him, alleviating the pain he’d felt since Sage broke Zelda’s spells. The fire eating him alive tempered and dulled. He’d decimated his connection to Zelda. Again, how the hell had he managed it?

Imelda rushed to her sister’s prone body and squatted on the ground. Her fingers searched for a pulse until she stood, spine rigid and glowered at Rafael. “You’ve killed her.” Not one tear filled her eyes.

Seething, Sage stood next to Rafael, smelling of burnt sage and brimstone. Crackling, stinging magic wafted off her and mingled within the residual magic. He’d take it any day over Zelda’s toxic magic.

“No. She killed herself,” Sage said. “A warlock is incapable of using magic against his bonded witch. She brought this on herself by defying the witchworld laws.”

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