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Panic stricken, Fox let out a string of commands in a foreign tongue. The table under her collapsed and turned to a nest of vipers.
Sunny jolted, her world spinning on an axis, and then landed violently on the floor in the middle of the snake pit.
He pointed in her direction with a shaky hand. “If you love nature so much, you’ll enjoy my choice of company for you.”
The snakes started to slither across the floor toward her.
She staggered to her feet then remembered to levitate, rising up and escaping them.
Grasping the chandelier, she swung over to the sideboard. Hitching up her skirt, she leapt on to it, staggering along the shiny wooden surface in her high heels. Glancing about, she assessed her options. The only way out of here now was up.
Gasping for breath, she looked at the ceiling. There was at least one floor and attics. Above that, pure blue sky.
She sent a bolt of lightning through the ceiling, then watched as it split open. The chandeliers swayed violently, and she felt the sideboard go from beneath her feet. She quickly summoned a flock of birds, and within moments they swarmed down from above, filling the space and flying around his head, making a cacophony of glorious sound.
Fox was on his back, surrounded by his own snakes, and stared up at the sky in horror, shielding his eyes with one hand. “Have mercy!”
“Mercy? No. Because I’m judge and jury in this trial, and I’m sentencing you for crimes against nature. Your punishment will be to stay here in your fortress and learn.” She lifted her hands. “I call upon nature to teach you the error of your ways.”
With that, she closed her eyes and pulled out everything she had, every ounce of love, loss and joy she’d experienced during her time with Cullen—and beyond that—with the people of Raven’s Landing, and used those emotions to fuel her magic.
Fox scrabbled to his feet and staggered back until he met with his fancy dining chair. Plant life burst through the tiled floors. Fox collapsed into his chair just as the forces of nature rose around him, consuming him. Lush foliage weaved through the room, entwining around him, fixing him to the spot.
Birdsong continued for several long moments, and then began to lessen as the birds one by one took their leave, soaring back out into the sky above.
His glazed eyes blinked, but Fox wasn’t going anywhere. He was locked into stasis in his ornate dining chair like a fossilized Green Man overgrown by nature.
“And you’ll have to stay there until you learn to show some respect to Mother Nature! It’s people like you who are destroying this planet.”
As if in agreement, a Purple Emperor butterfly emerged from the lush foliage and fluttered nearby. Sunny watched as it landed on Fox.
Relieved the task was done she let her head drop back and looked up at the sky, breathing in the clean air.
The sound of voices reached her and the door vibrated violently.
She watched as it bowed and buckled and then a boot came through, breaking the door apart. She recognized that boot.
A moment later the rest of the door was demolished before her eyes and Cullen stepped through it.
Behind him, the other members of the coven crowded in through the entrance he’d made.
Cullen strode straight to her side, clambering over massive tree trunks and beneath branches, bypa
ssing the strange sight of Fox. Lifting her into his arms, he spun her off her feet, almost crushing the breath out of her. Sunny finally went limp, wrapping her arms around his neck while he kissed her face.
Once he’d stopped checking her over, she looked past his shoulder at Celeste who was staring at Fox, who was completely still, a resigned expression in his eyes as he watched them all.
“Well,” Celeste said, awestruck, “he won’t come to any trouble now, will he?” She turned to Sunny, tears glistening in her eyes. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him looking so peaceful.” Her voice vibrated with emotion. “Thank you.”
It wasn’t what Sunny had expected her to say, but she understood. “How long do you think I’ll be able to hold him here, under my spell?”
“Long enough to learn his lesson, hopefully. We’ll join our magic with yours, to make the spell more binding, but there’s no telling how well our magic will stand up, if outside forces come into play. We always have to keep it in mind.”
“You think he might find a way to escape?”
“If he got help from an old apprentice, perhaps, but for now, we are safe.”
The other members of Celeste’s coven walked around the room, staring at the painting and looking at the scene Sunny had created.
