Shadow

by Christina Garner

  Shadow

  Book Four in The Witches of Coventry House

  Christina Garner

  cWc Publishing

  Copyright © 2020 by Christina Garner

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover by Deranged Doctor Design

  Contents

  Join Me

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Epilogue

  Thanks for reading Shadow

  Also by Christina Garner

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  “We carry the stain of our choices.”

  ~ Eden

  Prologue

  Agamon itched with anticipation.

  As a young man—and more so as a god—he’d abhorred being made to wait for anything. His needs were paramount; he’d punished any delay.

  But imprisonment had taught him patience, and now he reveled in the knowledge he was close—closer than he’d ever been to freedom.

  The one witch powerful enough to liberate him from this cell was on the run, stripped of all she held dear. He sensed her now, reeling as her identity unraveled in the wake of such loss.

  In the space left behind, Agamon would slip in, and their real work would begin.

  She wasn’t yet ready, but she would be. And if not…he had other tricks up his sleeve.

  He slid his tongue across his lips.

  Soon.

  Chapter 1

  Eden gripped the seatbelt with shaking hands. The car—like the rest of her life—was moving much too fast.

  “Slow down.” She shot Ash a warning glance.

  He didn’t answer but eased off the gas. A fraction.

  “I know we’re in a hurry, but there’s not much point if you kill us before we get wherever it is we’re going.”

  Ash still hadn’t shared that information. Eden had just given up everything—Quinn, Sarah, her place at Coventry House—and he was playing coy? It was infuriating.

  Thinking of Quinn made her remember their goodbye…the softness of his lips when she’d kissed him. She touched her own mouth and wondered if it had been their last. She’d been such a coward—only telling him she had to go and asking Kai to make it clear Eden wasn’t just leaving, but leaving him behind.

  The memory sliced deep into her heart, and she blinked back tears. She’d done it to protect him—him and Sarah. Without a clean break, they would look for her, and that would only get them killed. She only prayed she would be home soon and could make them understand.

  “Remember.” Ash took a turn so fast he swung wide into the opposite lane. “When we get to Coventry House, you say nothing. You go into your room, grab your passport, and you’re out. No more long good-byes, understand?”

  His expression was pointed, and Eden responded with a flat stare. “It wasn’t long.”

  “It was long enough.”

  Ash accelerated, and Eden pivoted in her seat to stare him down. “What are you—”

  “See that car?” Ash flicked his eyes toward the rearview mirror.

  Eden spied the silver sedan behind them in the side-view. “What about it?”

  “It’s been behind us for three minutes and took that last corner even faster than I did.”

  Eden’s flesh pebbled, her hand instinctively finding the skin above her heart. She’d wiped away the physical mark—made in blood by Agamon’s followers—but Ash had warned her its stain remained and would act as a tracking device.

  “They found us already?” Eden’s pulse pounded.

  “Looks that way.”

  They were on the outskirts of Somerland, still fifteen minutes from Coventry House. Tires squealed as Ash turned down a side street.

  Eden kept her eyes glued to the side mirror, watching as the sedan kept pace. “What do we do?”

  Ash glanced from the rearview back to the road, his jaw set with determination. “Hold on.”

  He took another turn, doubling back the way they’d come. Soon they were on the highway again, racing at top speed. The car pacing them refused to let up, always two lengths behind.

  “Still want me to slow down?” Ash kept his gaze ahead, but his expression was wry.

  “Yes, perfect time for an I-told-you-so. Congratulations on being right.”

  “It’s not about being right. It’s about keeping you alive, which is what I’m trying to do.”

  He jammed his foot down harder on the gas pedal, but their pace stayed the same. The rental car was already giving all it had.

  Ash cut an exasperated glance. “Can you do something, please?”

  Eden stared at him, incredulous. “Something like what?”

  “I don’t know, you’re a witch. Magic something up.”

  Magic.

  Eden felt like an idiot, but she hadn’t been fully in control of her own power for weeks. Using it hadn’t occurred to her.

  She unsnapped her seatbelt and spun around. Bes’tal was gone—thank the gods—but his knowledge remained. She cycled through her options. A fireball seemed overkill, and these were humans. She could make out the faces of both driver and passenger. They weren’t even as feral as the three she’d just defeated back in the cave. They looked…normal. Ordinary. However much they were willing to kill her to free Agamon, she didn’t want human death on her hands.

  What about Mikel?

  An image of the council member she’d once had affection for flashed in her mind, his eyes glazed over with death.

  Mikel’s greed was his demise. If he hadn’t drawn in the power, it couldn’t have killed him.

  “Any day now…” Ash was impatience personified.

  “I’ve got it,” Eden said. “Just give me one more…” Two tiny missiles of energy shot from her hand. They split in midair, one finding its target in the left tire, the other in the right. Their pursuers slowed, and soon were thudding along on tires flattened to their rims.

  Eden turned around and slump
ed in her seat.

  “Thanks.” Ash decelerated, though his eyes darted, searching for the next threat. “I wasn’t going to lose them driving this tin can.”

  Eden gave a dismissive wave. “I should have helped sooner.” A moment passed, and then Eden spoke again. “There won’t be a way to cut back toward Coventry House on another road. You have to turn around.”

  Ash glanced at her sideways. “We’re not going back.”

  “What? We have to.”

  “It’s too dangerous now.”

  “What about my passport? You said I needed it to get to this mystery place of yours.”

  “Check the glove box.”

  Eden opened the compartment. Sitting atop the rental paperwork were two burgundy passports with Romania listed as the country of origin.

  Romania?

  She didn’t have time to dwell. She flipped open the first and found a picture of Ash. The second revealed an image of his sister, Ani. The same Ani who had attacked her—along with Sarah and Jules—in an effort to get the stone relic Eden had possessed.

  “What am I supposed to do with this?” Eden looked nothing like Ani.

  “Again…witch stuff.”

  Eden exhaled, wondering which was worse: impersonating the psycho who’d tried to kill her or having to be grateful to Alex for forcing her to learn the spell for glamours.

  Ash kept a vigilant eye on the road while Eden chewed on her fingernails beside him. When he noticed, she forced her hands to her lap.

  This isn’t fair.

  Eden hated the petulant tone in her head, but couldn’t escape it. This wasn’t fair. None of it. She’d finally freed herself of Bes’tal, only to end up still unable to control her fate.

  The pain on Quinn’s face, the look of confusion on Sarah’s… Eden could barely stand the memory. She’d wanted desperately to explain, but if they’d known the deranged followers of a god wanted her dead, they wouldn’t have let her go. And then the pair who had just been chasing her in that sedan would have found them all huddled together somewhere, trying to work out a solution. Those two wouldn’t have hesitated to kill the people Eden loved just to get to her. Ash was far from trustworthy, but that didn’t mean he was wrong.

  Scenery zoomed by, but Eden took little notice. She’d wanted to see Coventry House one last time.

  Not one last time. You’ll be back.

  Ash had said he knew people who could remove the mark over her heart. Once they’d done so, she would come home. How long could this trip really take—a week?

  But fear gnawed and left her with the sinking suspicion not everything was as it seemed…that she wouldn’t be able to just pick up her life as though nothing had happened. She’d tried more than once and had never succeeded. That was the other reason she’d asked Kai to make sure Quinn and Sarah let her go.

  Eden didn’t know things the way Sarah sometimes did—via second sight—but it didn’t take a prophet to see what was true. The borahn demon had been right. There was something wrong with her—some reason darkness followed wherever she went. No matter how many rituals and wise women Eden sought out, she would never be rid of this shadow. Not in the way Sarah deserved. Not in the way Quinn needed.

  Eden sensed the mark on her chest and knew it wasn’t the only one. There was another stain—deeper—that she’d never be free of. What else could explain why she’d willingly jumped into the arms of the terrifying borahn at the age of six? What other reason could there be for how darkness and evil sought her out and clung to her, as Bes’tal had, and now Agamon’s acolytes?

  Like attracts like.

  She scrubbed a tear from her eye, unwilling to cry in front of Ash. He didn’t understand what she’d given up and wouldn’t care.

  “Wait.” The road sign came into sharp focus as they drove past.

  “What is it?” Ash’s eyes darted to the rearview mirror and then to her.

  “Take the next exit. I need to make a stop.”

  Ash shook his head. “You’re gonna have to hold it. We can’t take chances.”

  “I said, ‘take the next exit.’ I might be going with you, but I’m not your captive.”

  Ash kept his eyes on the road as he gestured to the backseat. “There’s probably a bottle back there if you’re really desperate. I’m not sure that will work for a girl, but—”

  “I don’t have to pee, okay? Now take the next exit, or this time, when I ‘magic something up,’ you aren’t going to like the results.”

  Ash’s chiseled jaw tightened with anger as he eased off the highway. His stop at the sign was more abrupt than strictly necessary, and he flashed an obsequious grin. “Where to, m’lady?”

  Eden didn’t smile back. Where they were going, there wasn’t much to smile about.

  “That way.” Eden pointed toward Haverland, a mile in the distance. “There’s something I need at the black market.”

  “In a world of terrible ideas, you’ve somehow managed to pick the worst.” Ash shoved ungloved hands into his pockets.

  His jacket was too thin for the cold of a New England fall. Eden pulled her own coat more tightly around herself as they stalked the alley behind a row of shops.

  “Yep.” Eden concentrated on the air around them, trying to sense the cloaking spell. “Your objection has been noted.”

  When she’d played host to Bes’tal’s stolen souls, they’d grown louder when she’d gotten close, drawn to the market’s power. Now she was on her own and struggling. It didn’t matter that she was in the same physical location; the entrance often shifted, though only by degrees. Her entry would need to be precise, and she could only find it energetically.

  She tensed with impatience and the knowledge of what was to come.

  “Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? The black market is crawling with spies. Any one of them could—”

  “This won’t take long.” Eden stretched out her hand, sensing the air around it.

  She knew full well what she was about to do was crazy. And dangerous. Crazy dangerous. But as they’d passed the sign for Haverland, she’d felt a compulsion she couldn’t ignore. Even in the frigid cold, her body burned with it.

  “Will you at least tell me what you need so badly you’re willing to risk both of our lives for it?”

  Eden cast a glance over her shoulder. “Are you saying you’re afraid?”

  “Nice try, but you’re not going to manipulate me into—”

  “If you’re not afraid, then maybe you just don’t like being kept in the dark about where you’re being led. Hmm…” Eden tapped a finger to her lips. “If only I knew what that was like.”

  Ash considered. “Fair point.” He glanced to his left. “I guess now we’re even.”

  He took two steps and disappeared, swallowed by the magic of the black market.

  Eden hurried after him.

  “We are not even,” she sputtered, crossing the barrier.

  “I don’t make the rules.” Ash shrugged.

  Rules? What rules?

  Eden would have continued the argument—Ash not knowing her reason for coming to the market was most certainly not akin to Eden getting on a plane without knowing their destination—but now inside the market, her senses were overloaded, and she was struck mute.

  The musky smell of animals mingled with fragrant incense and herbs. Sounds of shopkeepers hawking their wares nearly drowned out customers haggling for the best price. All around them, people strolled and darted—some shopping, others working.

  “Here we are.” Ash spread his hands. “Buy what you need.”

  But Eden didn’t need to purchase something; she needed to find something—a place. The auction block where kidnapped witches were right now being sold into slavery to people so desperate for power they would buy a human being.

  She turned in a circle, scanning for anything familiar. But even if they’d entered in the same location as she had with Sarah, her surroundings in the market appeared completely different.

 
“If you tell me what you’re looking for, I might be able to help find it.” Ash spoke as though talking to a child. He pitched his voice low. “And we might be able to get out of here before the entire underworld notices you’re here.”

  Eden’s vision darted this way and that, suddenly feeling as if all eyes were on her. In a flash, it came to her.

  “Well, that’s…different.” Ash cocked his head to the side, studying her.

  Eden glanced at a mirror in a nearby booth and smoothed her now blond hair. “Happy?”

  “It makes you slightly less recognizable, but it doesn’t solve your other problem.”

  Ash’s eyes drifted to her chest, and Eden instinctively folded her arms.

  Eden was going to retort, but something familiar caught her eye. “This way.”

  She strode to the end of the row and turned down a new one—these stalls a bit messier than the others. She kept walking, the booths becoming more haphazard the farther she went.

  And then there it was.

  Eden paused in front of the thick, wooden door.

  Anger burned in Eden’s belly, remembering the first time she’d entered this place.

  Beside her, Ash shifted with impatience. Or was it trepidation?

  “You don’t have to come in.” Eden rested a hand on the iron handle.