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BELLA
The air of the cottage was redolent with spices and the scent of a wood fire.
I was warming apple cider and cinnamon sticks in a pan while Luke read to me from one of the magical texts we had borrowed from the Brotherhood’s small library.
Though the witches unquestionably had the better collection, the Brotherhood’s books were ancient and included more shifter and fae lore.
We were determined to stop the Order of the Broken Blade from bringing back the Raven King, and I felt a personal responsibility to spend every waking hour working toward that goal. We studied and schemed pretty much any time that I wasn’t in school.
But it was Luke who made our pursuitfun.He made sure I knew he saw it as an adventure, something important we were doing together. He reminded me there was no reason not to go for a walk while we talked about it, no reason not to have hot apple cider on a cold fall night while we read from the ancient tomes. No reason not to love each other, even as we struggled to protect our world.
There was a gentle knock at the door and we both looked up.
Luke’s shifter brother Reed visited once in a while, but his knock was loud, and until the first time he caught us in bed, he generally just walked in after knocking. This was too soft and tentative to be any member of the Brotherhood that I had met.
Luke placed the book on the counter and headed over. Though his movements were as lazy and graceful as ever, I could sense the power coiled in him, feel his senses expanding to protect me.
Luckily, he opened the door to reveal a happy sight. Anya, Cori and Kendall smiled up at him and then peered inside to wave to me.
“Ladies, come in,” Luke said. “You’re just in time for hot apple cider.”
They scurried in, carrying a taste of the cold weather with them.
“It feels so good in here,” Cori moaned, peeling off layers.
“Nice place,” Kendall said, warming her hands by the fire.
“We just came from Nina and Lark’s room,” Anya said. She was clutching a notebook. “They have to study for a test tomorrow, but told me to bring you guys this.”
“What is it?” I asked, taking the notebook.
“Nina has been looking over the spell,” Kendall said, leaving the fire to join us. “She’s translating parts of it with Lark’s help. You were right. It’s instructions for the spell, but also a list of components.”
“Components?” Luke asked.
“If a spell is a recipe,” Cori explained, “then the components are the ingredients. All the parts have to be just right. But the consequences for getting a spell wrong can be a lot worse than a bland meal.”
“What kind of components?” I asked.
“Well, there’s something about wood from an elder ash tree,” Anya said, exchanging a look with Kendall. “And some kind of bird feather. And, er, other stuff…” She trailed off, glancing at Luke.
“What other stuff?” I asked.
“The blood of a shifter,” Anya said apologetically.
There was a moment of stunned silence as we took that in.
“Anyway,” she went on. “A lot of these things can be found around here, and the warlocks in the Order will be looking for them. We were thinking that maybe we can beat them to the punch and stop them from casting the spell.”
“We?” I echoed.
“Obviously, we’re all going to help you,” Cori said firmly. “And… maybe some of the other guardians will help too?”
She glanced up at Luke with a hopeful expression and I suddenly remembered the way Cori and Reed had looked at each other the day Luke brought me back to the school.
“Of course they will,” Luke told her, with an encouraging smile. “We’re already meeting about this daily.”
“So, we have a plan,” Anya said happily.
