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Chapter Nineteen
Ryder
A maelstrom of emotion whirls inside of me. I’ve scared Ven, good and properly. Which is exactly what I wanted. No, not want. Need. I need her to be frightened of me.
After we’d left Fitz’s, his words about Ven played over and over in my head. Then we’d ridden on the motorcycle with her clinging to me, her head resting on my back, and I’d realized why his words bothered me so much.
Because he’s right.
I want her. Not just a hot, animalistic romp for the night. That, but also for waking in the morning. For breakfast and for dancing and for strolls on the beach. I want her forever, just like Fitz suggested. But that’s the one thing I can’t have.
I’d learned that long ago, the first time I’d fallen for someone. Daniela. We’d been young, seventeen. I didn’t know yet what I was. And as our passion began to grow, so did my magic. The night of our first innocent kiss, my powers and my darkness had unfurled, and poor Daniela had no ability to resist it. We’d ended up in a tangle of naked limbs in the meadow near her house, and one of the townspeople found us. Nearly a hundred years ago, that kind of behavior among unmarried people was not tolerated. They’d accused her of being a witch, despite my protestations that it had been my doing. They burned her at the stake while I watched, powerless to stop it, and then banished me from the village.
I think of the scars on Ven’s legs, also from being burned at the stake, and I wonder if perhaps Daniela really had been a witch. Not that she’d deserved what they’d done to her, of course. Had her magic called to mine, like Ven’s does now? They’re alike in so many ways. I’d felt that flare of familiarity the moment I set eyes on Ven, though it’d taken me forever to admit it. Because my feelings for her terrify me. I’d been the death sentence for the only other person I’d ever truly cared about.
Ever since, I’d made sure to never come close to caring about someone again. After stumbling around helplessly for years, I’d finally figured out how to control my powers somewhat. Then I’d found others in the supernatural community and over time, I’d figured out how to survive. What it was to be a demon. I’d even tracked down my father at one point, who I could barely convince to care enough to even share the story of how I came to be. That is, after he figured out which of the thousands of women he’d slept with was actually my mother.
It’s better that Ven know the truth. That she fear me. Because I won’t drag another innocent woman to a dark fate because of my feelings.
“Ryder?”
I stiffen at the sound of Ven’s voice.
“Can I ask you something?”
But whatever it is she’s about to say is drowned out by an earth-rattling howl that shakes the hillside. We spin around and look behind us, but the vegetation is too thick to see much farther than thirty feet.
“The hounds,” I say. “They found us.”
“But they can’t get close.” Ven clutches the pendant around her neck, but her voice shakes.
Tension buzzes through my veins. “Regardless, let’s pick up the pace.”
I put on my enchanted glasses for a moment to check the climb ahead, and I can see something glowing orange in the distance. We’re getting close.
I proceed with even more caution now, my magical senses extended to sense what lies ahead. A few hundred yards up the mountain, I catch the faint glitter of what I’d seen in sharp relief through the glasses: a dome of hex runes. It climbs fifty feet into the air and then curves inward. As we get closer, I can see that it has two layers, about five feet apart from each other. A double-forcefield.
Ven steps up beside me, chewing on her lower lip. “That’s an even nastier piece of work than the one down by the cove.”
“Yeah.” I frown. “And I can’t decipher the hex, so I don’t know what it does, which is no good at all. Do you think the dagger will work on it?”
She shakes her head. “I’m not confident the curse won’t shoot through the handle. Too risky.”
“Well, since we can’t go over the top of it, that only leaves the option to go through it. Which I’m afraid my magic is no good for.” I feel a burn of helplessness in my chest that I don’t care for at all.
“That’s okay. I think I have just the spell for this.”
Ven takes the lead and approaches the hex perimeter, stopping when we’re just six inches away from it.
“What are you going to do?” I ask.
“You’ll see.” She calls on her magic and it flares around us within our orb. “Just take a deep breath and don’t panic.”
I wrinkle my brow. “Don’t p—”
But I can’t finish my question, because suddenly the forest is growing rapidly around us, the trees shooting upward. My stomach drops, then climbs up into my mouth as if I’m on a rollercoaster.
It takes me a moment to realize that it’s not the forest growing—Ven and I are shrinking. Within a few seconds we’re standing on the forest floor, the same height as the mushrooms springing up from the soil next to us.
