Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
I flung her off the swing. “Oops, sorry.”
She rose from the sand and glared at me. “Dru!”
I laughed, hopped off the swing, then took off running.
“Druella?”
I had blanked again, and Atarah was right beside me. When I glanced up to Adelaide as her heart rate rose, her legs were wobbling, and she stared at me.
“Memories.” I gasped. “Were those your memories or mine?”
She was so shaken that she fell over. However, I ran and caught her with ease. I could feel how weak, how desperate she was.
“Druella?” She gripped on to me tightly, her eyes watering. “Please help me.”
Closing my eyes, I rested my hand on her chest. Feeling a breeze at my back and a hum of magic under my skin.
Witch bounded to me by a single stitch, free her magic in a cinch. Once again, I winced at my rhyming skills, but I could smell the magic from within me and feel the hum of magic alive in my hands.
When I opened my eyes, she was healed, standing upright and looking over her hands in amazement.
“Did I free your magic?” I asked.
“No,” she said and looked up at me, “but I think you may have strengthened mine.”
I frowned. “That was not what I was trying to do. I felt the magic. I was sure it would work. Maybe it was still the wrong spell?”
She didn’t seem concerned, staring at her hand like it was…well, magic.
“Adelaide?” I called her attention. “What is it? Did something else go wrong?”
“You gave me some of your magic, Druella,” she replied.
“So…” I replied slowly.
“You really were part of our coven.”
“What?”
“This spell, however you cast it, was a secret of our coven.”
“Strengthening other witches?”
She frowned, glaring at me. “You say it like it’s not important, but what you just did is…our last line of defense. If we are in dire need during some battle or gravely injured, a circle leader uses their magic to enhance us. Not everyone can do it. It’s so draining and dangerous that it can kill you. In fact, the only witch I think I’ve ever seen do it and live was Axel. That’s why we call it the Final Sacrifice, and yet you didn’t even blink.”
I wanted to shrug. “I was just trying to break the spellbind.”
“It’s fine for now. My magic is strong enough to keep Jason safe for now.”
I opened my mouth to speak when Arsiein stepped in front of her. “Witch, now is the time to be honest with me. When did you arrive here?”
When she didn’t speak, he grabbed her throat, forcing her to look into his eyes. I felt a sudden urge to protect her, but Atarah shook her head, and I stepped back.
“Speak, witch.”
“It’s Adelaide—”
“Does it look like I care?”
She glared at him, breathing hard through her nose in defiance.
“Adelaide, I helped you, at least a little bit, so answer him,” I said to her.
She frowned, her shoulders lowering, and it was only then that Arsiein released her. “I arrived soon after she opened the door of the dead. I sent Shadow to look. She and I have the same eyes, so when she is away from me and wondering in this world, I can see what she sees.”
“So, you were secretly watching us?” Arsiein replied.
“It is not as if I could just barge in here,” she snapped at him. “I had to make sure to catch her alone. But she disappeared. Then, after she reappeared, she was with her boyfriend.”
“The correct human equivalent would be husband,” Atarah stated, walking over to us as well. “So that is also why you were so weak? You’d be using your magic to hide and find Druella for days.”
“Yes, happy now?” she said, stepping back away from us as she clearly did not like being surrounded by vampires.
“Thank you for telling us the truth. We already knew.” Atarah smiled at her before lifting the gray dress she’d finished knitting.
“What do you mean you already knew?” Adelaide asked.
“Father told us. The point of questioning you was to make sure you would tell us the truth,” Arsiein said in return.
“What, why wasn’t I told?” I frowned, not liking that I had been left out.
Atarah giggled. “I think Father isn’t pleased that he can no longer read your mind and is letting you know it.”
“By having mental conversations without me?” I didn’t know Sigbjørn was so petty.
Atarah shrugged.
“So, what happens now?” Adelaide questioned.
“You both get changed and go to the library to help Druella figure out how to undo this damn spell,” Arsiein ordered as he left the room, and Atarah once again held up the long gray knitted dress for her.
“It might be a little chilly for a mortal. Would you like me to make a cardigan?”
“Ugh…No…thank you. This is fine.” Adelaide seemed thrown off by the overwhelming kindness. Now, this was amusing, seeing how a vampire’s charm worked.