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Once Fenris and I were several feet away from the alpha’s home and beneath the moon’s full light, I glanced at him. “You’re going to want to stand back,” I said sharply, crouching down to arrange the herbs around me the way Morgan had sketched out. This spell would’ve been a backup plan if my first attempts to free Abi and Cody hadn’t panned out. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before, but I was going to make it work now. There was no Plan C.
“Are you alright?” Fenris said, raising a brow. He didn’t step back.
“Would you move?” I snapped, surprised by how short my temper was. “I’m fucking pissed, okay? I’m not about to let this witch stay in my head a second longer.” I stood up and dusted the snow off my pants.
Fenris raised his brows, looking far less annoyed than I’d expected him to. “Heightened emotions aren’t unusual for those newly shifted,” he remarked. If anything, he almost looked amused. “Shifters might be a little more violent, or even bloodthirsty. I assure you it won’t last long, but you seem to be using this to its fullest potential.”
“Damn right I am,” I replied, taking a breath. I didn’t usually curse this much, either, but I was just soangry. “Bloodthirsty” was really the right word for what I was feeling. “That woman has overstayed her welcome.”
As if there were any welcome to begin with.
I took a breath and forced my thoughts to settle before sitting down in the snow, finding this position to be a bit more grounding. I focused on the coolness of the icy crystals beneath me, and once my heart rate had evened out more, I focused on the little knot in the back of my mind. I hadn’t tried to reach out to someone who wasn’t right next to me before, so I thought of what I’d practiced: pressing my way into a shifter’s mind.
Where Fenris’s psyche had been like a tightly guarded fortress, Sabine’s reminded me of a castle surrounded by a moat. And not just a moat, but an entire sea, ripe with deadly currents and hidden rocks. I refused not to let it cow me and forged my way forward, following the little tendril she’d left behind like a bridge. She’d had to leave it, or she wouldn’t have any influence over me at all. And I was determined to make her regret that.
I stepped forward again, careful but certain. Each step got a little easier, and suddenly, the wind buffeting me seemed to die down—and then it reversed.
I inhaled sharply, fighting the urge to get excited.I was getting somewhere.
All at once, I was pulled forward, plunged into darkness as the fortress seemed to collapse in on itself. I was left in a little room, somewhere dark and hot and damp. I realized a few moments later that what I was sensing waspain. As I tried to focus on it, the heat intensified.Anger. I winced and braced myself, determined not to be warded off so easily.
What are you doing here?
I turned and was greeted with a memory. I recognized Isla Caida at once. I saw Lyka, bloody and enraged, lunging at me—no, at Sabine. I could feel how her entire body ached as she tried to fight off the Lunar Lord. Her desperation almost became my own as she threw everything in her arsenal at him. If only she could—
He must die. The Lunar Lord cannot be allowed to live when the sun overtakes the moon.
I didn’t recognize that voice, but Sabine did. Her entire being shuddered at the sound—or the memory—and she redoubled her efforts, pouring all her energy into the attacks. I could literally feel the life force being drained as—
I groaned and clutched my head.No.My head felt like someone had taken a splitting maul to it, and I groaned. I couldn’t even open my eyes, afraid I might get sick.Not yet.
She didn’t get to do this to me. Sabine didn’t get to see through me, to use me to act out her sick plans.
With the last of my strength, I reached for that tenuous link between us andyanked, like snapping a loose thread from a shirt. I felt like a door inside me slammed, and I folded in on myself, trying not to tremble as pain echoed through me.
“Celeste?” Fenris asked, and I realized he’d crouched down next to me. “What did you see? Did you get into that psychopath’s mind?”
I nodded, afraid to speak. I took a breath, focusing on the way the snow felt beneath me for several moments before the splitting pain began to subside. I opened my eyes carefully, grateful for the moon’s gentle light. There was no way I could’ve handled the sun right then.
“I did,” I said quietly. My brain still felt tender. Even freeing Abi and Cody in the same day hadn’t been that muchwork, and it certainly hadn’t been this outright painful. I was starting to realize it wasn’t even all my pain, as each echo grew a little weaker. Triumph began to rise inside me as the sickening sensations faded away.
“She’s gone,” I said. “I ejected her.”
Fenris blinked, rocking back on his heels. A moment later, he smiled. “You are brilliant,” he murmured, leaning forward to press the gentlest kiss to my temple. “I have met a great many witches across my lifetime, but none as impressive as you.”
I ducked my head, trying not to smile. “I saw some of her memories while I did it. Like when she attacked Lyka on his island.”
Fenris’s smile fell. “Did you see anything else?”
“Not as much as I heard things,” I said. “I’m not sure if it was a memory or…a psychic command. I didn’t recognize the voice, either, but Sabine definitely did. It made her…I think it made her nervous.”
“What did it say?” Fenris asked gravely.
“It told her the Lunar Lord could not be allowed to live when the sun overtook the moon,” I said, frowning as I tried to make sure I accurately reported what I’d heard. “But Lyka isn’t the Lunar Lord. Not anymore.” I paused, looking back at Fenris. “I don’t think it was just that, though. It felt…it felt personal. It felt like it was aboutLyka.”
Fenris scowled, shaking his head. “That was the Solar Sovereign, I’m sure of it,” he growled. “But I am not sure what either of them have to gain by killing Lyka. I hold the Lunar Lord’s power, not him.”
“I wish I had more I could share,” I said, grimacing. “But the pain got so intense, I couldn’t continue.”
