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If it wasn’t obvious, I was jealous of Ness.
She found my hand and held it tight, squeezing as if we could trade fates through our grip.
“I just want to be as strong as everyone else. Instead, you’re all running headlong into fights without me because I’m fragile.”
“Ness, you are anything but fragile. I have it on good authority that you diedtwice.” I’d been there the first time Ness died. It almost slipped past all of us. Alvin had hurt her so badly that she’d fallen into the afterlife only to be shoved back into her broken body.
She gave me a lopsided grin. “Apparently, you’re catching up. I heard that you bit the dust not too long ago. I’m mad that I couldn’t be there for you.”
I led Ness out of the hall and down into he lower floor so we could pass through the kitchen on our way to the small garden at the back of the castle and be alone. In the kitchen, I paused to grab a teapot and a tray of snacks that we could nibble on as we talked.
Though, once we were outside, Ness seemed restless. Her gaze could settle on nothing as she shifted her weight from foot to foot. I thought, for a moment, that her jealousy had gotten the best of her again. Then I realized that she wanted to get moving.
Our Pack was in trouble. It made sense that she wanted to get moving as quickly as possible. I, on the other hand, didn’t even know where to begin. I had no idea where to look or what to do when I found the missing shifters. Rhoan had always been the one to spearhead missions like that. He was the one who’d brought Tal back to us when Beryl took him.
The lumbering beast dropped down in a huff between Ness and I. He looked to each of us, though I noticed that he took a moment longer sizing Ness up before his gaze rested on her belly. Shoving another huff through his nose, he looked away as if deciding that he couldn’t fight her in this state after all.
“Is that your boyfriend?” Ness asked, gesturing to Rhoan.
“Um…well…” I tilted my head in question.
Could I call him my boyfriend? Was that appropriate? I mean, Rhoan was trapped in this form because his love for me had triggered a dangerous clause in his contract with Faust, the nightmare king that gave him his beast. But could that love be called a relationship?
In the end, I gave Ness a shrug. She furrowed her brows and twisted her lips in open confusion.
“We didn’t really have time to make things official before the curse took him,” I said.
At the mention of a curse, Ness’s eyes went to my hair. “I see who got the short end of the deal. All that happened to you was a botched hair dye job.”
I opened my palms and stared at them as if that would allow me to peer down into my arcana. The garden that’d been bathed in sunlight wasn’t the same as it once was. I didn’t have that warm magic anymore. Instead, I had to dig deeper, into the twisted roots of the garden, to harness untamed magic like my ancestors once had.
“Yeah,” was all I could manage to say.
Ness paid no attention. Once more, I felt the divide stretch between us. I desperately missed my life before now. At the time, I’d been running from everyone because of my fear of getting hurt again. Now I wanted to run to my friends. Nothing could hurt me as much as my longing for normalcy again.
Nose wrinkled, I pulled a bit of untamed magic up and twisted it into a glamour. Tapping my teapot, I turned the herbal tea into coffee. I needed the hit of caffeine to get through the day. Or…at least the illusion of it. I still couldn’t tell the difference between reality and a glamour here in the castle domain.
Back in the mortal realm, it was much easier. There wasn’t as much magic in the air, so glamours were a bit flimsier. It was easy to punch through them to see the real thing underneath. Here, however, I found myself sinking into the luxurious coffee filling my cup.
“When can we go?” Ness asked, voice weak.
I paused and looked to Rhoan. I couldn’t take him with us. He would be seen way too easily. I didn’t think he would like it if I left without him, though. This would be way easier if I could figure out how to break his contract and turn him back into the man I loved, but I didn’t have the time.
Between repairing the castle and now hunting down my missing packmates, I hadn’t yet found a chance to experiment with potion-making. And I missed it desperately, just as much as my friends back in the mortal realm.
Sucking in a deep breath, I steeled myself for the day to come. “I haven’t eaten in a while. Let me scarf down some breakfast, then we can head back to the mortal realm.”
Ness nodded, though she was still clearly very anxious to get going. It made me tilt my head curiously.
“Who was taken?” My core trembled as I asked this question.
Worst case scenario, Beryl had somehow taken Ryder again. She’d had him under her spell until Ness managed to break their deal. I wouldn’t be surprised if Beryl targeted him again. It would throw everything off balance, though I wasn’t sure how she would get her hands on him.
“Janessa,” Ness said quietly as she stared at the ground. Guilt made her voice heavy.
“Ah,” was all I could say.
I didn’t like Janessa all that much, but Ness felt bad for the girl after getting her aunt killed in the pack civil war. Well, Ness didn’t get Catriona killed. Alvin did that all on his own. Ness just blamed herself because she’d been looking for answers that Catriona had.
