Page 62 of The Coveted
“We all did,” a short, curvy woman with long black hair and tan, warm-toned skin said as she stepped forward.
Soon they had all moved toward us, and I found myself in the arms of each stranger in turn—each witch who’d risked their lives to make me well again—and I couldn’t tell the difference between their auras anymore as I tried to read them, each reflecting the depths of my power back to me. We were all connected now, and I knew it made us more powerful both metaphorically and literally. I thought my magick was doomed to grow weaker and more lost here in the castle, as Lucius’s darkness continued to eclipse all natural magick. But I was wrong.
Surrounded by witches who sang an ancient, familiar tune, I was the strongest I’d ever been.
Chapter20
When I whooshed back into Daelon’s bedroom, everything was still. I was no longer surrounded by the great energetic crest of the secret coven. It was just Daelon and his shield. He sat in the leather chair in the corner of the room. He jumped up when I appeared. My nightgown billowed out around my ankles when I landed, my hair falling forward. I brushed the strands back behind my ears as he sprung at me.
“You’re better,” he said. His eyes searched mine. “I didn’t know what to do. Where to look. Whether or not to tell Lucius… What the hell happened?” His words spilled out, his voice gruff. The vein in his forehead throbbed. “Goddess, Áine. You wouldn’t be able to fathom how worried I’ve been since I awoke from a curse to find yougone.”
“I know. I was safe. And you’re right. I’m better now, even better than before I channeled power from Lucius,” I said quickly, grabbing one of his hands and unclenching his fingers from a fist. “I found our friends. Actually, they found me.”
He grabbed me suddenly, pulling me close to his chest. “Heavens above. I’m just glad you’re okay. You have no idea how sick you looked. How frail. It was like all of the life had drained from your blood. I was so scared, so—”
“I’m okay, Daelon. It’s over,” I said softly.
He took a long exhale and kissed the top of my head. “But it’s not over. Not really. I can’t bear to see him make you sick like that again.”
“But we have help now. Step one of the grand plan is complete. I found our friends who live among the shadows of the castle,” I whispered, willing the hope I’d found in that circle to travel from my palms into him. I had a feeling this small group of witches was only the tip of the iceberg. There had to be many more, like whomever Sebastian alluded to that awakened the statues in the art gallery, just as I had. A great tide of revolution swelled beneath every floorboard, each marble tile, tethered together by an invisible thread woven through every witch, whether they were aware of it yet or not.
Daelon pulled me to the bed, his eyes now sparked with this feeling I passed into his palms. “Tell me everything.”
He was silent for a while after I finished. We lay on our backs on his plush mattress to stare up at the ceiling. The energy in the room was electric.
“You realize how lucky it was that Lucius didn’t come looking for you?”
“I don’t think it was luck. It was everything happening as it should, exactly when it should,” I replied. “He’s too busy concocting evil plans with the witch he raised from the dead.”
“So that was real? That actually happened?”
“Unfortunately,” I muttered. “He wants to turn me into something he can control—to pollute my magick so it can’t destroy him. He wants it all for himself.”
“He wants you to be his Queen,” Daelon said bitterly, his grip on my hand suddenly a little too tight. “That’s what he said to me while you were out of it, before you started screaming at him. He won’t explain anything about thehow. He never does.” His tone was downright venomous.
“HisQueen?Arrogant much?” This was the complete opposite of his mentality just a week ago, but it definitely explained all of his recent behavior. “It’s almost funny, actually. I guess that was one tactic back in medieval times, right? To marry two warring kingdoms together?” Dread bunched in my stomach.
“Stop it, Áine,” Daelon growled. “Marriage,” he muttered. “So human.”
“Witches don’t get married? What about Abraham and Serena?” They were the only monogamous witch relationship I’d seen up close in the castle, and their love for each other was embedded deep into the interconnected nature of their auras. It was a solace to read such energy considering that of the other witches around them, with their untamed lust, callousness, and unquenchable thirst.
Daelon sighed. I could tell he struggled switching topics, still brooding over Lucius’s latest scheme and my place in it. “They had a handfasting ceremony, yes. They’re bound for life.” His thumb brushed over mine. “It’s not a legal institution, nor is it practiced the same way across the realm. Some witches carry on the tradition and others don’t. Some are handfasted in groups. It’s rare in the castle, for obvious reasons.”
His tone was still harsh, but it soon softened. “It’s supposed to be something sacred. A spiritual union, divinely ordained by the Goddess through the High Priestess. The celebration lasts for days. That’s how it was in our coven, at least. I only ever got the chance to witness one.” He swallowed, emotions flitting through the depths of his deep brown eyes.
I breathed in deeply, a wave of unspoken vulnerability crashing into us both. “Daelon, Lucius wants nothing to do with me in that way. It’s political, strategic. And it will literally never, ever happen. I will never be hisanything.” I straddled him, forcing him to meet my eyes. His features were tenser than I’d ever seen. I raised my hand tentatively to brush across his sharp cheekbone, and he caught it in his, giving it a small kiss. “Amos is going to find out how I can get to the Akashic Records. And then we’re going to escape before Lucius can take even one more step. We have everything on our side, and he has nothing and no one on his.”
“I wouldn’t saynothing. His power apparently knows no natural bounds.” He grabbed my waist, his grip fierce. “But you’re right. We will win this game Lucius is playing. Because we have to. And more importantly, you will never behis.”
I was going to protest his emphasis onmore importantly,but he’d flipped us over so that I was underneath him now. He craned his head, his lips just a feather apart from mine.
“Who do you belong to?” He cradled my face, his thumb brushing across my upper lip.
The whole universe. Every witch and human and every realm of existence.“You,” I said, because it was just as true.
The intensity of his dark brown eyes was enough to tie my stomach in knots. I swallowed, and his hand moved down to rest on the sensitive sides of my neck. It felt like he held my life in his fingers, but it didn’t frighten me. I had never felt safer, the chaos of my thoughts finally settling and growing still. All of the tension from our disagreements rose up, only adding to the heightened intensity of Daelon’s grasp on my throat, his body pressed firmly against mine.
“What happened at the after-party, little witch?” His tone had never been more dangerous, like a venomous snake poised to sink its teeth into its victim’s flesh. He held the air of the Commander of the Guard, authority and compulsion eclipsing everything soft and gentle. “Answer me.”
