Page 154 of Owned

The words echoed through the courtyard and I felt some small satisfaction that I’d saved the lives of the people who had kidnapped me— They had betrayed Lucian and tried to kill me… but did they deserve such a death at Lucian’s hands?

“Some might think so,”the grimoire whispered.

My jaw tightened, and I shut my eyes tight.

How had I ever missed the whispers of the dark presence in my mind?

I should have appreciated their absence while the keylines had muffled my magic.

“Would you really go back to what you were?”the grimoire hissed.

No.

The realization was instantaneous.

Even if I had the choice, I wouldn’t go back to what I was.

A few months ago, I couldn’t even light a candle without assistance…

“Why would you give this up?”

Perhaps that was the problem…

I was shoved into the back seat of a waiting SUV and the door slammed shut behind me.

I perched uncomfortably on the leather seats and then spun around to look out the back window at the courtyard.

The remaining Necromi—so few of them now—stood slowly to their feet while Bastian and Valen shouted at them. Bastian’s gestures were angry and sharp while Titus stood with Lucian, glaring at the scene.

One of the Necromi turned to look over their shoulder at the vehicle. Our eyes met, and a chill skittered across my skin.

He was the first to break eye-contact, and he turned back to the others who were being herded across the courtyard.

My breath fogged the glass as I watched the scene unfold.

Titus stood with Lucian, his magic a visible haze of icy green as it wrapped around his torso.

There was something dangerous in Titus’s expression as his dark eyes followed the Necromi who shuffled away.

Something I couldn’t quite read.

It was like watching carrion birds circling above a half-dead carcass.

They moved out of my line of sight as the vehicle pulled away from the fortress.

The driver was silent, and the cool interior was claustrophobic after the open sky of the courtyard.

I drew my knees up to my chest and hugged them tightly.

I missed my stepbrothers’ presence.

Even Bastian’s.

“He’ll never let you go,”the grimoire whispered.

No. He wouldn’t.

I knew that.

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