“Understood,” Sahira murmured.
“What are the names of the fae you intend to use it on?”
“Varo and Orin,” Brokk said.
“You willonlyuse it on those two fae. If it’s used on anyone else, not only willyoudie, but so will they. You are to return it in three days, or you will both face the consequences. That should be plenty of time for you to gather the ingredients and perform the spell. Do you know how to do it?”
“There’s a spell for it in the Book of Shadows my mother left me as a baby.”
“She left you a very powerful book. Most have no record of the spell or the harrow stone. There aren’t many witches who know it exists.”
“It’s the only thing she ever gave me.”
Kaylia’s gaze ran over Sahira before she lifted her nose into the air. “I can understand why.”
The sorrow that flashed across Sahira’s face sent a bolt of anger through Brokk. Yes, witches hated vampires, but Kaylia’s intense loathing was the worst he’d ever encountered.
Sahira didn’t deserve it, and neither did he, but especially not Sahira. From what he’d seen of her, she was good and kind. However, Kaylia knew she had them at her mercy, and she enjoyed it.
Kaylia dipped her hand into the pocket of her ankle-length, white dress and removed something. She opened her hand to reveal a stone almost the size of her palm and more brilliant than a ruby, but the same red hue.
The dim rays of the sun shone off it as she bent to whisper a couple of words to it. He thought he caught his and Varo’s name in the incantation but couldn’t be sure. When she finished speaking, she blew on the stone.
It grew cloudy, and its color dimmed before she placed it on the ground in the center of the lodge. “You may take it now.”
She withdrew in a way that made it clear she didn’t want them touching her when they went for the stone. Brokk despised that she made him feel dirty. He was not lesser because he was a vampire, and neither was Sahira. He understood why the witches hated vampires, but Kaylia took it to a whole new level.
“Are you going to tell anyone what we revealed to you about going against the Lord?” Brokk asked.
Kaylia’s eyes remained focused on the back wall as she spoke. “There are no secrets in the crone realm, but it will not go beyond us.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Unlike vampires, we are loyal.”
Brokk couldn’t stop the snort of disgust that escaped him. He managed to stop himself from telling her where she could shove her stone, but just barely.
“There are many, in all the realms, who have been betrayed by someone they once considered loyal,” he reminded her.
“No one here wants to see me dead.”
He’d only talked to her for a combined total of five minutes, and he seriously doubted that, but before he could say something stupid, she kept speaking.
“We all rely on each other here. We are one here, and I have aligned us against the Lord by giving you the stone.Noone will say anything.”
Before they could respond, Kaylia ducked out the back and vanished again.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lexi steppedinto the manor’s kitchen and immediately felt a sense of relief as calm stole through her. The familiar scents of Sahira’s potions lingered in the air even though it had been days since she last brewed one.
For a second, Lexi had a surge of hope that perhaps Sahira had returned, but the scent was too faint. Sahira hadn’t returned, but her essence remained. Lexi would give anything to hug her aunt again and worried it might not happen.
She couldn’t lose Sahira too. She wouldn’t be able to handle losing her aunt and her father. Swallowing back the lump in her throat, Lexi pushed aside her morose musings as Sahira’s familiar, a black cat named Shade, twisted his way through Lexi’s legs and meowed.
His food and water dishes were large containers that continuously fed and watered him. Both were still half full, which meant Shade was looking for companionship, which heneverdid from her.
Bending, she rubbed behind his ear and almost fell over when he rolled to let her pet his belly. She’d never been allowed to rub his belly before. Then he bit her, leapt up, and sauntered away.
