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Chapter Seventeen
Liv
I was dragged back into memory, into reality, the moment so real in my throbbing brain that I was there.
“What did you do? What have you done, Myrddin?”
I sit up from my place at the workstation. Myrddin’s private space is only available to a few of us. To the most trusted of his witches.
Sometimes I’m proud to stand here, helping him with his spells.
Sometimes I know it’s wrong and I should fight. Then he gives me more blood, and that part of me that screams goes back to sleep.
He took something from me. Something important. But it’s not me speaking. It’s Nim. Nimue, who is my mentor. When Myrddin is angry, she often stands in the way and talks him down, but she’s still one of us. She still believes.
She’s the legendary Lady of the Lake, her magic so old no one quite knows where it came from. The only person more powerful than Nimue is Myrddin himself.
He loves her.
He’s enslaved her. Like he did you.
That part of me is waking again, and I don’t know if I’m pleased or horrified. It’s so much easier to sleep. When that part of me sleeps I don’t feel anything at all. It’s hard to feel because he took a piece of me, but it still comes through from time to time, and I ache with it.
I let the pestle I’ve been working with sit against the lip of the mortar as Nimue stalks in.
This space was formerly the kitchen where Albert worked his own magic. How many times had I stood beside the demon helping him make grilled cheeses for the kids or some snack we would all enjoy while we watched a movie?
I was a babysitter then. Now I’m…now I think I might be a slave.
“Nimue.” The man himself turns, his face in a deep frown. “I don’t think I like the tone you’re taking. Please remember we’re not alone here. I have Olivia with me. We’re working on a spell to make transport between the Hell plane and this coven house easier.”
“You don’t like the tone I’m taking? Are you fucking with me?”
I look at the woman who’s been a mentor to me in this dark place. She’s helped me grow, helped me see that this is the best way for witches to achieve all of our goals.
Nimue is a stunning woman, but then how could she be otherwise when she’s Myrddin’s chosen love?
“Perhaps we should talk.” Myrddin’s tone goes smooth, lyrical even. I find it soothing when he speaks to me like this, as though he can reach into my body and calm my spirit.
I don’t think it’s having the same effect on Nim.
“You want to talk about this?” She holds out her hand, and I see a small white thing lying on her palm. Is that a bone?
Myrddin stops, his body going still in a way that lets me know he’s accessing his magic. He gets this predatory silence as though even the air around him knows to stop moving and focus every bit of energy on what he wants. “Olivia, you should go to your room now.”
“Liv, don’t you dare leave,” Nimue orders. “Did he do this to you, too? Do you know what this is? It’s a thrall stone. I haven’t been myself for over a decade. I had no real free will because all I wanted to do was please him.”
I shake my head. “He wouldn’t do that. He doesn’t need to. We all love him.”
Even as I say the words, I wonder. Is this why I am the way I am? Why I go to sleep at night and don’t try to break out? Why I don’t try to find a way to get to Casey?
Sometimes I’m happy Kelsey is gone so she doesn’t have to know what I’ve become.
“You don’t.” Nim makes her way to me, holding my hand in hers. “You don’t love him. You’re under his influence.”
A dark chuckle comes from Myrddin. “As if I would waste a stone on her. I don’t need to. Olivia proved far easier to break than I could have imagined. I should have known. It’s always the ones who seem to have a strong foundation who break when it shakes the first time. Not like you, my love. I did have to use the stone on you, and now I know how long it lasts so I can be ready for the next time.”
Nim’s hand squeezes mine as I try to process what Myrddin’s said. “There won’t be a next time. I know when you must have done it. Years ago. It’s the only explanation. It was when I held the stasis chamber for the king’s surgery back in the pocket world. I won’t ever allow myself to be so vulnerable around you again.”
