Felix had only experienced the dungeon for a day. Warded and kept apart from Avery for too long. What would it be like to spend years? How long had some of them been down there? The thought sent a fresh wave of anger bubbling within him.
Avery’s lip wobbled. “Did she know?” The question was quiet. He could tell that she didn’t want to believe that her sister was in on it. Although from Wren’s reaction back on the island, maybe she didn’t. Or maybe she was far smarter than they were giving her credit for. Maybe she was just likehermother. Felix was glad his little witch wasn’t born from that wretched hag.
“Of course. How else would she have done the ritual?” Kai spat.
Avery sat back, letting out a sigh. “My mot—” she stuttered. “Eleri…is manipulative.”
Understatement of the fucking century.
Leaning forward despite the protest from his ribs, Felix added, “There are hundreds of statues below the council tower.”
Ciro closed his eyes, letting out a sharp breath through his nostrils, puffs of smoke wisping out. Ciro didn’t show it. But he was pissed. Felix knew the shifter like the back of his hand. They had done pretty much everything together. “Fuck. So it is true.”
The memory of it still made his stomach turn, bile coming up his throat that he had to swallow down. At least Kai might be able to provide them with some valuable information.
“Are you still connected to her?” Avery questioned the grumpy dragon in the corner.
“Unfortunately. I can feel her on the other side even now, like a fucking splinter I can’t dig out.”
“She will come for you,” Avery said.
Pushing off from the window, Ciro’s voice turned hard. “And we will be ready.”
Avery’s eyes went wide with alarm, darting between Ciro and Kai. “They will obliterate this place. You need to run, or hide, or do something other than face them head-on.”
The concern in her voice made Felix’s chest tighten. She was trying to protect them, his brothers, his sisters. His den. How had he gotten so lucky?
Ciro grunted, displeased that Avery would even suggest such a thing. “We are far more powerful than you think, witch.” The fury in his gaze was unmistakable. “The witches are the ones who will have to run from us.”
Avery stood quickly, the urgency in her features palpable. “You don’t understand, if they have been bonded to shifters, they are more powerful than anything you’ve ever seen before.” Her voice carried a hint of desperation as she tried to make themunderstand the danger of the situation. “My sister is the most powerful witch of my generation, and they’re not mates, or even properly bonded in the way the goddess intended.”
Felix’s hands clenched by his side. They really had no idea. “Avery is right; Wren took down my monster like it was nothing.”
It was subtle, but he saw the way Ciro blinked. Stupidly, he was underestimating them.
“She is powerless without me, and I will not give her my magic,” the dragon countered.
Felix wanted to shake that goddamn confidence out of him. Kai should know better than anyone what she could do.
“You don’t know that she won’t be able to force it out of you.” Avery’s gaze dropped to her hands, twisting together in her lap. “None of this is right. The bond between a familiar and a witch is sacred.” She looked back up at them. “I will help in any way I can. But please promise me you will not hurt my sister.”
Felix knew that they would never make a promise like that. Shifters kept their oaths, as if they were bound to them by death. After a few moments, Avery sat back down, understanding their silence.
“What about your not-mother?” Felix said, trying to lighten the mood. Perhaps a bit too soon.
“You can hurt her.”
He snorted. There was his little witch.
“I’ll make no promises, witch, my priority is to free the shifters,” Ciro finally said. “Ifanywitches get in my way, they will be obliterated.”
A flicker of surprise went through Felix; it was more than he would ever usually grant a witch. Somehow, he knew they would get along. Maybe. At some point.
“It’s Avery,” she hissed.
Felix clicked his fingers sassily at Ciro, who only rolled his eyes in response.
A ghost of a smile flickered across Avery’s face before she squared her shoulders and addressed Ciro again. “I am a healer,” she said confidently, before she added. “In training. If that helps at all.”
