I stared at the open page of the book. It seemed like a simple enough ritual, but with two special magics: the wand and a curse-breaking demon. “I’m sure it’ll work,” I whispered.
“Just a small warning,” Francine said. “Once a curse or a bond is broken, there’s no turning back. It can’t be undone. So before doing this, be sure of your choice.”
I closed the book and laid my hands flat against the cover. “I’m sure.”
Was I? It wasn’t as if I had a choice.
Up until now, I had been so caught up in the research, in the thrill of discovery. But had it been because I thought there was no way of undoing the bond? Now that the answer was literally in my hands, the thrill was gone, replaced by sorrow.
“Grandma, I had one of those dreams again,” Harper said, fishing me out of my dark mind. “Can you interpret it?” She went on, telling Francine about what she had seen in her dream: a vast field with dark skies, hands rising from the ground, and dead birds flying toward her.
“It’s an omen,” Francine said. “Something bad will happen soon.”
“To me?” Harper asked, her voice thin.
Francine shook her head. “Not necessarily. It could be to your school? To the entire demon hunter society.”
The girls and I exchanged a significant glance. Yes, something bad would happen soon. A big war with King Brikan and I was right in the center.
I frowned, confused. “You can interpret dreams?”
Francine looked at me. “It’s one of my many talents. I can help decipher most dreams, find their meaning, and if they are more, I’ll know that too.” Her delicate brows dipped down. “Why? Do you have a dream you want interpreted?”
I cleared my throat. “It’s more of a recurring nightmare, actually.” I told her all about the nightmare with Brianne and Cindy, but I didn’t tell her they were my half-sisters, and that King Brikan was our father.
“You never told me about that,” Claire whispered, clearly disappointed with me.
“It’s just … it felt too creepy and I was trying to forget it, instead of talking about it.” Which was the truth. I hoped she believed me and wasn’t mad at me. “But since we started talking about dreams …”
“You thought I could help you,” Francine continued for me. She scooted to the edge of the couch. “All right. Give me your hands, my dear.” Without hesitation, I placed my hands in her open ones. “Now, close your eyes and relax. Try to clear your mind.”
With so much going on, clearing my mind was freaking hard, but I closed my eyes and tried anyway. I felt as Francine’s power reached for me, and poked in my mind. I had never had anyone trying to enter my mind and I wasn’t sure if I could stop it or not, but I tried relaxing some more and giving her free flow of all my thoughts, even if she ended up finding out things I wasn’t willing to share with anyone.
I felt Francine’s tension rippling for me.
A moment later, Francine stood up. “All right. That’s not a nightmare. That’s a spell in the form of a nightmare to bring you torment.”
I blinked. “W-what?”
“Girls, help me here.” Francine started pushing the coffee table away. We helped her out with that, and also with rolling the rug away.
A witch circle was drawn on the floor under the rug. “Sit down,” she told me as she also took a spot on the floor, right in the center of the circle. She glanced at Harper and Claire. “You two might want to stand back a little.”
“What’s going on?” Claire asked, her tone fearful.
“I think a demon cast a spell to enter Erin’s dreams, and show her something that would bring her agony.”
“A demon?” Harper asked in a whisper.
I glanced to Claire. A demon? There was only one demon who could have done that to me. My dear father, the supreme demon, had been tormenting me for fun. My mother told me he liked playing games. So here was one more of his games.
Francine patted the spot on the floor in front of her. “I’ll put a stop to that right now.”
Still a little shocked, I sat down on the floor with Francine and gave her my hands again. “What now?”
“Just try to relax again,” she said. “I’ll do the rest.”
I rolled my shoulders and closed my eyes. Despite trying to clear my head, the images surged up. The nightmare. Brianne and Cindy standing right here with me. Just the three of us in this living room.
“Help me,” they asked, their voices a thin whisper.
My chest tightened. How I wished I could help.
I heard a low chant and looked around. There wasn’t anyone else in here. But despite not being more than a whisper, the chant was strong.
I felt its magic wrapping around me. Expanding through the space. Reaching my half-sisters.
A crack appeared on the floor and bright light shone through.
I shot up and stepped back. “What the hell.”
The crack grew and more light spilled through, bathing the entire room in a white daze. I covered my eyes as the light surrounded me.
I felt it pressing against me, making me breathless, then a tug and snap inside my mind, and a shock of pain that made me yelp.
Then it was all gone.
I opened my eyes, amazed that I was still seated on the floor with Francine, my hands in hers.
I gasped for air.
“Done,” Francine announce, letting go of me. “I cut the link with whatever demon it was. The nightmares won’t bother you anymore.”
I pressed a hand to my chest, willing my heart to slow down. I felt like I had just run a marathon and I hadn’t even moved an inch. “Thank you,” I whispered. “Really, thank you.”
Francine patted my knee. “Of course, my dear.” She started getting up and Harper rushed forward to help her. “I just wonder, would you know which demon did this to you?”
I swallowed hard. “No, I don’t know.” After what she had done and her help with the bond breaking thing, I felt bad lying to her. I pushed to my feet. “But I’m glad it’s gone now.”
“Me too,” she said with a warm smile.
The girls and I placed the rug and coffee table back in its place, then we sat back on the couch.
After some small talk about our classes and such and more cookies, the girls and I decided to go. I held on to the book and the wand box and offered a small smile to Francine. “Thank you. I promise to take good care of these.”
“No worries, my dear,” she said, her tone dismissive. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Me too.
A moment later, Claire, Harper, and I were back in the car and driving to the academy. I was glad the girls hadn’t asked me about the nightmare on the way back, or that they didn’t stop me when we arrived and I ditched them, saying I had something to do.
I went to find Rey and tell him the news.
20
Rey
Saturdays and Sundays had been quiet. With no classes, and no training or research with Erin, I didn’t have much to do, other than check on her every couple of hours.
But on Sunday, I lost track of her.
I had just seen her in her bedroom with Claire and Harper, and the next time I went to see her, she was gone. In my raven form, I flew around the entire campus, but there was no sign of Erin, Claire, or Harper.
Despair pressed against my chest, making it hard to breathe.
Where could Erin be? What was she doing?
I considered going to her mother, asking if she had seen Erin anywhere, or knew where Erin had gone. Martha would skin me alive for still keeping tabs on Erin, but right now, I wasn’t worried about that. However, on my way to Martha’s office, I realized I could check somewhere else.
As I thought, Claire’s car was missing from the underground garage. Where the fuck were these girls?
I shifted back into my human form and went to the front gates, where they must have drove by. Remi, one of the guards who had been under me when I was in charge of the campus security
, saw me coming.
“Something wrong?” he asked, exiting the outpost beside the main gates.
“Claire Breevort left some time ago in her car,” I said, my serious professor voice on. “Was she alone?”
“No, sir. She left about two hours ago with Harper Page and Erin Delman.”
“Where were they headed to?” I asked, knowing all students who left had to inform the guards where they were going.
“To Chasseur Ville, sir,” Remi said. “To visit Ms. Harper’s grandmother.”
My brows furrowed. To visit Harper’s grandmother? Why? I nodded at Remi. “Thank you.”
I walked along the main road, toward the Aster building, my mind reeling. They had never gone to Chasseur Ville like that before. Or anywhere else. Or was that just a lie? Visiting Harper’s grandmother. That sounded like a lie.
But if it was, what the fuck were they doing?
My agony only increased with each passing minute. Erin was outside the gates with her friends, where demons could find her easily. That mark on her wrist didn’t just announce to the world—or whoever knew how to read it—that she was King Brikan’s daughter. It also attracted demons. It would be a miracle if she made it back in one piece.
I rubbed at my chest, trying to smooth the knots and pains there, as I paced around the underground garage. She had to come back soon. She had to.
Another hour passed, and nothing. I considered two things, I would either shift into raven and go after her, hoping she had told the truth and was in Chasseur Ville—because if she had gone someplace else, I would never be able to find her—or I would go to her mother and tell her Erin was missing. Martha was sure to do something, and as a mother, it would seem less desperate than a frantic guy going after his soulmate. The same woman he kept on rejecting.
I pressed my fingertips to my temple, sensing a fucking headache coming.
After another twenty minutes, I was done for. I shifted into my raven and—
Claire’s car entered the garage and parked in its spot. I flew as high as the tall ceiling allowed me, and sat atop of one of the flat side of a lamp.
Holding a leather bound book and a black box, Erin disembarked the car. “Can you take this for me?” She handed the items to Claire.
“Sure,” Claire said, taking the items from her. She frowned. “But … where are you going? I thought we would organize everything we need now.”
“I’m going to tell Rey,” she said.
My heart skipped a beat.
She was coming to me?
Fuck.
Quietly, I flew out of the underground garage and then hovered over the courtyard for moment. Where was she coming to meet me? At my office? My classroom? My townhouse?
It was Sunday; she would come to my house.
I was fucking overthinking this.
Feeling like my blood was pumping too fast in my veins, I flew to my house and through the guest bedroom’s window, which I always left a crack open for situations like this.
Inside my house, I shifted back and raced downstairs. I paced around the living room. Should I be seated? Eating something? Reading?
I halted.
The last time Erin had been here, she had ended up against the kitchen island, my hand under her blouse.
Under her bra.
A wave of heat coursed through me.
No, no, that couldn’t happen again. I wouldn’t let it. I was too fucking agitated with the prospect of her coming here, but I would act as always—I would ignore her, tell her I didn’t want anything with her, then shut the door in her face.
And regret it forever.
I started pacing again.
Then the rap of a knock echoed from the front door.
Holding my breath, I went to it. I paused for five seconds, put on my indifference mask, then opened the door.
Erin raised her hands. “Before you kick me out or tell me you don’t want to see me again, let me just tell you one thing.”
My brows knotted. What the fuck was this about? “What?” I asked, forcing my voice to be taut.
“I found it,” she said. Her golden eyes shone bright, but I couldn’t figure out how she was right now. Sad? Excited? It was like she had learned to mask her emotions from me. “I told you that if I could break the soul bond, I would. So, let’s do it.”
I gaped at her. “Wait, what?”
“The soul bond. I found a way of breaking it. So now you can get rid of me for real.”
I felt the urge to rub my ears, because what I was hearing couldn’t be true. “But … that’s impossible.”
Erin shook her head, her black hair spilling behind her back. “No, it isn’t. Well, it shouldn’t be. We’ll need to do a ritual with a witch’s wand and some enchantment, but I already have everything we’ll need.”
“Slow down,” I said, taking a step back. Erin didn’t walk in. “You’re saying we can break the soul bond.”
“Yes, and we can do it tonight. The sooner, the better, right? The only hiccup is that we’ll have to summon a curse-breaking demon to do it. But I think that between the two of us, plus Claire and Harper, we can control it.”
“You’re serious,” I whispered.
Her delicate brows curled down. “Of course I am. You think I would joke about this? You think I would come to you to joke around?”
Holy fuck, she was serious. She had found a way of breaking the soul bond and she wanted to go through it right now.
But I didn’t want to. Not really. In theory, life would be easier without the soul bond, but I didn’t want it gone. It was the only thing, the last thing, that tied Erin to me. With that gone, then we had no reason to talk to each other. To see each other. To be around each other.
She would be free of me.
And I would be free of her.
My heart squeezed.
I didn’t want that. But she couldn’t know that. “All right. What do I have to do?”
Erin flinched, and her shoulder sagged a little. “The ritual has to be in front of the blackthorn tree, so we’ll have to do it in the middle of the night. I’ll come get you when everything is ready.” Without another word, without another look, Erin took a step back, turned around, and walked away.
She left, completely unaware of the invisible knife she had plunged into my chest.
After my shock passed, I went for a walk. Perhaps I should have shifted and flown away, but my mind was too clouded for that.
Slowly, I made my way to the Lotus Lake at the edge of the academy estate. I sat down on a rock at the lake’s bank, and breathed in. It was already October and the air was chilly, and getting colder every day. Short sleeves were gone, and jackets were needed at night. The leaves of the trees around the lake had already turned orange and red, and the flowers were gone for now.
I grabbed a pebble from the ground and threw it at the water. It skipped across the surface five times, before sinking. I picked up another and weighed it in my open hand.
“What’s the matter?” Harvey’s voice reached my ears a moment before he stepped beside me, wearing shorts and a short-sleeved t-shirt. He had been running again. It was more than an exercise to him. It was a hobby. The guy liked running.
I shrugged. “Nothing.”
“It doesn’t seem like nothing.” Harvey took off his shoes and socks and dipped his feet into the water, which was probably very cold.
I shook my head at him. “Don’t worry. I can deal with it.”
“Okay, man, whatever. Men don’t share their feelings, right? Suit yourself.” He turned his back to me and walked farther into the water, until it was covering his calves.
“First, get the fuck out of that freezing water before you get sick, you idiot,” I snapped. His body was probably hot and he was soaking in cold water. Was he stupid?
Harvey trudged to the lake’s bank. “And second?”
I let out a long sigh. “Erin found a way to break the twin soul bond.”
Harvey’s eyes bugged. “
You two share a twin soul bond? For real? That’s so cool!”
“That is not cool,” I protested. I needed him to be on my side on this. “Don’t you see? This bond is tying us together, when she would be better off far from me.”
“Do you hear yourself?” Harvey asked. “You love her. Why do you want to be far away from her?”
“Because!” Holy fuck, wouldn’t anyone understand? “There are so many fucking reasons.” Most of them were about threats to Erin’s life by powerful men. I couldn’t tell Harvey those reasons. And there was also her mother’s warning to stay away from her. Going against the mother of the woman I loved wouldn’t gain me any favors, would it?
Harvey poked his toe in the muddy earth. “All right, I won’t argue with you. I guess you’re old, and supposedly wise, and know what you’re doing. If you say you can’t be with her, then I believe you.” He did? Whoa, I didn’t expect to hear that. “Then breaking the soul bond is a good thing, right?”
“Yes,” I whispered, trying to convince myself.
It was a good thing.
It was a fucking great thing.
Erin and I wouldn’t have anything else binding us. She could walk away from me, and I could fly around her to make sure she was okay. She wouldn’t even know I was there.
Simple.
“But just for the record,” Harvey said, rescuing my mind from the ghetto it was in. “I think you’re making a mistake. It’s clear to me that you love Erin despite this soul bond. If you let her go, you’re a fool.” He turned to me, his eyes serious for once. “Don’t go through with it. Don’t break the bond. You two can find a way to be together despite all the opposition.” He picked up his shoes and socks. “That’s my opinion, at least.”
He dipped his chin at me, then walked away.
The turmoil inside my chest only increased. I glanced at the blue sky and the setting sun. Soon, it would be dark and Erin would find me for the fucking ritual.
Was I ready for it?
21
The Soul Bond (Rite World: Blackthorn Hunters Academy Book 3) Page 13