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“And that is what we intend to do.” Hardin sounds almost bored as he says the words, but I know he means them. He blows on my toes, giving me a wink.
I look back up at Morgan and find rage burning in her eyes. It crumbles, though, right into hurt and despair. “Why was I not good enough for you?” She asks, staring at each one of them and avoiding looking at me. “Why was I not good enough when I tried to be everything you needed? When Ibecameeverything you needed and wanted. I’m strong, I have power, I’m from an excellent family and I thought-” She cuts off her hands, curling at her sides as she gets herself under control. “The Elders will never let her into the coven. Youknowthat. They don’t want her there.” Her gaze flicks to me. “If you’re as powerful as they say, you can join another coven. You can still learn everything you need. You just can’t do it here, with them.”
I arch a brow at her, even though this is news to me. Yes, I know that there are other covens, and other schools where I can learn witchcraft and how to use my power. But… the idea of going anywhere else, of not being with these four boys? That’s enough to make a hollow ache open in my chest.
“You know that’s not going to happen,” Gideon grumbles. “Rosalind is ours, Morgan.”
She stares at them helpless, and then she tries a different tack. Her voice goes low and hurried, rushed, her eyes pleading with me. “If you care about them at all, if you want them to survive what is coming from our coven, then you need to leave, Sweeney. You need to go far away from them.” Something about the way she uses my name and not an insult makes her words ring true to me. I’m pretty sure she’s never not called me a slur.
Maybe I’m gullible and maybe she’s a superb actor, but I can’t fight the chill that works down my spine, even as Gideon cuddles me closer. “Why is that, Morgan? What’s going to happen if I don’t?”
She stares at me, considering how much she wants to say, weighing the pros and cons. If this is enough to get me to leave on my own. If it’s enough for them to let me go. Her jaw clenches and she nods just once and then she looks at the guys. “They’re going to bind your magic.”
Seventeen
After Morgan’s little bomb dropped, the guys bundled me up and carried me (literally) back to our dorm. I’m silent the whole way, slung over Hardin’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes, my light brown hair hanging down, almost long enough to brush the ground.
I guess he intended to carry me anyway, seeing as he painted my toenails. I would appreciate if he would have carried me cradled against his chest, but they all seem so damn agitated that I keep my mouth shut until we’re in my dorm room, and Hardin crouches down to place my feet carefully on the hardwood floors. His hands slide up the outside of my legs as he stands, dragging the fabric of my skirt up until my cotton panties are on display.
I can’t decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Either he’s not worried about Morgan’s threat or he is worried and he’s trying to distract me. I’m going to bet it’s the second. Just as his fingers curl in the elastic, I snap my hands down, grabbing his wrists to keep him from going any farther.
“Obviously, the four of you had a conversation on the way over here that I couldn’t hear, and you agreed to distract me from what just happened.” Hardin’s eyes snap to me and he sighs. But his hands still their motion, so I know I’m right. I look past him to the other three men in the room with me. “Can they do that? Can they bind your magic?”
Gideon swipes a hand over his face. “Yes. They can. It’s hard as hell and has to be done on a blue moon, but they can do it.”
I get a flash of Sarah inThe Craft,binding Nancy from using her powers to harm herself and others.
“Would you need to be present for them to do it? Like a ritual? Or can it happen when you’re here and they’re… wherever they are?”
Ezra flops down onto the couch. “They can do it from anywhere. It’s part of being an heir. They have access to our power if they want it.”
“What does that mean? Have access? Like they can take it and use it if they need to?”
Ezra’s mouth tightens as he nods.
My brows lower as I move to take the spot next to him, only to be tugged directly onto his lap, his arms banding around me as he buries his face in my neck.
“It’s not common,” Fielder says. “They can bind our magic to prevent us from using it, but in order for them to use it, they have to all agree. It hasn’t happened in hundreds of years.”
That makes me feel a little better. I hate the idea of them not being able to access their power, but Robert Harris having access to Fielder’s magic makes my skin crawl. “Okay, so… I need to leave then.”
“What? Fuck no!” Hardin growls.
I shake my head. “I can’t let them bind your powers.”
Fielder sits on the coffee table in front of me, meeting my eyes. “They won’t get the chance. The next blue moon isn’t until August. We have months before they’ll even be able to attempt it.”
“That’s plenty of time to get you trained up and claimed as part of the coven, claimed by us.” Gideon assures me, taking the seat next to me and Ezra. “Once you’re in, they won’t have any reason to bind us.”
“But Morgan said the elders won’t let me join.”
“Some of the elders won’t let you join. That’s true,” Fielder concedes. “But some of them will. Especially once they see how powerful you are.”
“Theresa will love to name you as her heir as opposed to Julie.” Hardin perches on the arm of the couch, hands clasped and dangling between his hands.
“Theresa is Julie’s mom?” They all chuckle at my question.
“No, love, Theresa is not Julie’s mum. She’s the elder for Shadow and Veil and she reluctantly claimed Julie, because she was the most powerful witch in the sect.”
