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Her expression fell. “No,” she said solemnly. “I admit it’s troubled me. I’ve been scanning hexes and spells in books when I have the time…which is, unfortunately, not as much as I’d like. I’m sorry I can’t tell you more.”
I made a frustrated noise.Iknew what it was, but I couldn’ttellthem, and I wasn’t sure about the specific rules of this death mark. How much of a hint could I offer?
And do I really want to test the boundaries when crossing the line means being burned alive?
Val gave me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “I’ll have Morgan help me with the research, but that’s not why I came up here. Esme started stirring, and I thought you’d like to know.”
“Really?!” I forgot all about my mark for a moment. I’d assumed it would take weeks for her to wake up. “Can I go see her?”
“Of course,” Val said, offering me a hand as I hauled myself out of bed. “I’ll show you where we’ve been taking care of her.”
My heart was hammering by the time we’d made it down the hall to the guest room Esme was in. It took all of my willpower to keep walking when I laid my eyes on the frail woman lying in bed, staring up blankly at the ceiling. Esme looked dazed, but more than that, she looked like she’d aged decades. She was frail and thin, bones poking out of skin that looked three sizes too large. Her face was sallow, her cheeks were sunken, and her hair was wiry and dry.
I cleared my throat as I took the seat next to her, reaching out to touch her hand. Her fingers felt cold. “Aunt Esme?” I said.
The Aurora witch blinked, taking too long to turn her head and look at me. She blinked a few more times, and I’d nearly given up hope when she spoke up in a raspy voice. “Oh,” she said, sounding confused. “Enora?”
I cleared my throat, not entirely sure how to respond.I guess she knew my birth mother. Do I look that much like her?“How are you feeling?” I asked.
Unfortunately, she seemed like she’d gotten distracted, and when she looked back, I got met with the same confused question. “Enora?”
I offered a sad smile and patted her hand. “I’m here,” I said. “Why don’t you get some more rest? You look exhausted.”
“Mhm.” She nodded and looked away again. Once I was certain she wasn’t paying attention to me, I excused myself, allowing Val back in to check on the Aurora witch.
When I returned to the master bedroom, I retrieved my mother’s grimoire from the nightstand and flicked it open. When I’d been able to keep myself awake over the past few days, I spent time browsing the notes, looking for any information at all about “death marks.”
It's possible Handmaiden witches don’t practice them.
Zyanya had summoned her Aurora witch coven to place the mark upon me. It was a specialtytheypassed down, butI wouldn’t have that history. Esme was the only Aurora witch I knew, and she…she clearly wasn’t in a position to answer questions.
There could be something here that’d help repair her memory.
I hadn’t lasted more than twenty minutes when I found myself reading the same sentence three times over. I was restless and anxious, like Fenris often looked when the full moon approached.A run with my wolf would help.If nothing else, it’d help with feeling like I didn’t even fit in my own skin.
I closed the book and stood up, then reached out for my wolf, prompting her to come forward, when the realization struck: Zyanya had never given me permission to shift into my wolf form. Furious, I reached for my wolf again, trying todragher forward, but nothing happened.
I wailed as I dissolved into tears, sinking down onto the floor as my frustration and helplessness finally won out. I heard more, then I saw Fenris enter the room and approach, crouching down to wrap his arms around me. At a loss, I gave into my tears.
What have I done?
Chapter 3
Fenris
Fenris’s Private Villa
Isla Lobo, Panama
Time Until the Eclipse: 28 Days
As Celeste wept, I sank further to the floor, aware we might be here awhile. I did not say anything, only keeping my grip solid around her. I did not need to ask to know what she’d been doing—I’d felt her wolf briefly come forward as I made my way up the stairs. At first, I’d feared she’d lost control. Instead, it was as if her animal had slammed into a wall. Celeste had clearly tried to call on her again, and—
Nothing.
My wolf snarled and thrashed as I held our fated mate close, repulsed and enraged in equal measure that someone had managed to do this to her. I didn’t know of any magic that restrained a shifter from shifting, outside of wolfsbane. However, if someone had forced Celeste to drink wolfsbane, I would have smelled it on her the moment she returned, and it would’ve eventually left her system.
If it wasn’t a curse and it wasn’t potion, there was only one other thing that had cut Celeste off from her wolf form: the Solar Sovereign had used an alpha command on her. The notion of my mortal rival getting anywhere near her made my blood boil, but this was inconceivable.
