“I’m wondering the same thing, mate.” I draw my little scarecrow a bit closer, more for myself than for her, if I’m being honest. This whole fucking place is givingmea case of Auggie’s infamous heebie-jeebies. “If only the coward had the balls to show his face, we could ask him.”
“Verrick didn’t bring us here.” Tatiana glares at West.
My hackles raise, but it’s not accusation in the old witch’s eyes.
It’s wonder.
“She’s… she’s right.” West blows out a breath, fogging the air before us. “I’m pretty sure it was me. Rather, the Wintermoon magic in my blood. I can’t explain it. I grabbed the Codex and felt this surge of magic—the same kind of magic I felt last night when I supposedly brought Verrick to our realm and—”
“Wait.” I cup her face, gazing into her eyes, bright blue-green against the endless sea of white that surrounds us. “You brought him to our realm? Why?”
“There was a spell for it in the book. He tricked me.” She gives us the highlights-version of her dream. The cauldron and the fire. Waking up in the cathedral to come face-to-face with the monster that fathered her.
And later, face-to-face with the one who raised her.
My blood boils all over again, hungry to sink my fangs into Verrick’s throat. Brian’s too, for being such a damned coward.
But neither bastard is anywhere in sight.
“When I saw Verrick and Forsythe going after the Codex, I just knew I couldn’t let them get their hands on it. But the moment I picked it up, I felt that overwhelming surge. It was like my magic was being pulled in two directions. Part of it felt like it was trying to protect me. The other part felt like it was trying to…” She closes her eyes, a shiver rattling her from head to toe.
“Trying to what, darling?” I say softly.
When she looks up at me again, that same magic whispers across her skin. “To bring me home.”
“Wintermoonisn’tyour home,” Draegan says, as if by his firm command he can make it so. But even he knows the truth.
Westlyn is the Wintermoon princess. She may not choose to live here, but this court is her ancestral homeland.
“How do I get us back?” she asks the witches, her words no more than a whisper of white in the air. “Do any of you know how to cast a portal spell? As in, on purpose?”
The witches look at her with serious gazes, which is all the answer we need.
“That’s what I was afraid of,” West says. “Damn it.”
“It’s all right,” I tell her, though I’m pretty sure it’s not. “We’ll figure it all out. Maybe there’s something else in that book of yours. But right now, we just need to get in out of this cold. Maybe find something to eat. Yeah?”
At the suggestion of food, she brightens a bit, and we all head out in search of a place to take shelter, preferably one that’s not one stiff breeze away from toppling into dust.
Preferably one that’s not fucking haunted, either, but by the looks of this town, that might be a bit too much to hope for.
Chapter Twelve
JUDE
Drae takes point with Auggie. I stick close to West. Rook brings up the rear with the witches, his sharp eyes taking in every detail.
“When the magical bomb went off, for lack of a better descriptor,” our resident genius says, “it felt to me as if the entire cathedral got sucked up into the vortex.”
“It very likely did,” Laney replies. “If Westlyn cast a portal spell, consciously or unconsciously, it would’ve impacted every living being it touched.”
“I don’t see any signs of the others, though,” Rook says. “Verrick, the Forsythes, Eloise. Not to mention all those mages. Demons. Whatever the hell they were. Did they end up in a different realm?”
“No,” Tatiana says. “They’re all here in Wintermoon with us—for whatever reason, I’m getting a strong sense of their presence. The portal spell wasn’t specific—everyone who crossed over was essentially scattered to the winds, so to speak.”
“Then how did we all remain together?” Rook asks.
“That was my doing.” Tatiana sighs. “The moment Westlyn picked up the Codex, I felt a portal opening. I had no idea where we were going, only that weweregoing. There was just enough time for me to cast a temporary spell of connection on our group to ensure we wouldn’t be separated on the journey.”
