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“Are you hurt?” Leaf asked Nova. She shook her head, but fear glistened in her eyes.
“She just touched me and then—this. She won’t let go.”
“It’s okay,” he said, eyes darting over Clarke’s slack face. He peeled her eyelids open and saw only white. “She’s having a vision.”
“Why won’t she let go?” Nova breathed, wincing. Indents in her flesh beneath Clarke’s grip looked like they might bruise tomorrow. But forcibly removing Clarke’s arm while in the throes of a psychic spell could be dangerous.
Leaf searched the concerned faces around him, but no one seemed to have an answer to Nova’s question. Not even her mate.
He didn’t want to tell her that Clarke could spend days in a fugue state, trapped in a vision. Hopefully, this would be brief, because if Clarke was ripped from her vision too soon, her mind could stay in that faraway place.
“Should we send for Preceptress Dawn?” Peaches suggested from the doorway.
“Not yet,” Rush answered gruffly. “But it might be a good idea to remain in the living room for safety.”
“Safety?” Nova squeaked.
Leaf put his hand on her back and held her steady.
“It will be fine,” he repeated. “Don’t worry. Are you sure you’re not hurting?”
“It’s a little sore.” Her bottom lip disappeared between her teeth. Her anxiety wound up, coiling tighter and tighter by the second. Everyone looked at her with suspicious eyes, probably wondering what she’d done to Clarke. It made Leaf furious to see how quickly their goodwill toward her had changed. Nova’s gaze darted to the abandoned meal with regret.
Indigo and Haze arrived. The giant, hulking vampire took in the scenario, and his upper lip curled, flashing fangs at Nova as though she was a threat.
“Everyone calm the fuck down,” Leaf growled.
Clarke gasped, breathing suddenly. Her eyes opened and returned to blue. She let go of Nova and immediately sought out her mate, twisting to face him and clutch at his shirt.
“I saw…” she spluttered. “Oh my God, I saw…”
“Saw what?” Leaf drew Nova into the shelter of his arms. As she curled into his body, he sensed her desperation to remain in control of her panic.
“A battle. A betrayal. A rain of blood.” Her eyes watered and slid to Rush, and she whispered, “Willow.”
The temperature dropped. It was as though death arrived with her words. Rush’s face paled, and he shook his head. “No. She can’t die. It must be the taint confusing you. It’s wrong.”
“She wasn’t dead, but…so many others were.” Clarke’s eyes widened and darted about the room as she replayed the vision in her mind. “And we were there. And Jasper… and you—” She looked dead straight at Nova. “You were vital to everything. The key to victory, despite the snake I saw slithering in the grass. She’s coming.”
“She?” Leaf stifled his frustration. “Coming where?”
“Maebhis coming… no…” She squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed between her brows with a finger. “I saw a banner with Roses, thorns, and antlers on one side of the field. The other side was—” Her eyes flew open. “Jasper and Aeron. Nero was there. The Six. Everyone wasthere.”
Fuck.Leaf closed his eyes to take a moment. They weren’t ready for this. Instead of being here, preparing the Order for battle, Leaf had spent the past decade hunting down a prophecy that meant nothing in the end. They thought Maebh’s interest in them was done after they’d embarrassed her last attempt at attacking them. But of course, she’d kidnapped Aleksandra. She wasn’t done.
His thoughts turned to the unopened letter she’d left him. Perhaps it was time to read it. He opened his eyes and asked Clarke grimly, “When?”
“The night of Samhain.”
The entrance door sounded like it opened, banging. Leaf’s spine stiffened as he turned toward the living room. Caraway’s deep voice boomed from somewhere, “She’s declared war on Jasper!”
“We’re in here!” Leaf yelled.
Heavy footsteps approached. The big muskox shifter appeared wrapped in a cape, his face burned from the wind. The last Leaf had heard, he’d been stationed in Crescent Hollow with Anise. His gaze searched the gathering, and he raised his brows. “What happened?”
“I had a vision,” Clarke said.
“About the battle at Cornucopia?” he asked slowly. “Damn. I rode all night to tell you the news. My horse wasn’t too happy about it.”
