by Tasha Black
I thought about the magic of the mate bond again. Was it really that strong?
“Well, it’s going to be possible for me,” I said, turning back to my work. “I have a life here, I have a brother. I can’t just disappear into the woods.”
“Where’s your brother, Bella?” Anya asked. I could have kissed her for helping me change the subject.
“He’s back in Philly,” I said.
“My sister is in Boston, at BU,” Nina said. “She’s the only one in the family who knows I’m here instead of Cornell.”
“Is she jealous?” I asked.
“Not even close,” Nina said, laughing. “She’s a cellist, obsessed with music. Her first question after I told her about this was about whether I could use magic to help with her music.”
“Can you?” I asked, thinking about the power in the song we had just shared.
She shook her head.
“I don’t think so. But honestly, I think she may have a little magic in her, too. When she plays, it’s… transporting.”
“Like what just happened in the circle,” I said.
“I saw my grandmother,” Anya said. “It was incredible. I miss her so much.”
“I saw my dog from when I was little,” Nina said fondly. “Mr. Tinks, when he was a puppy and I was only four. I miss him so much.”
“I saw my parents, together,” Lark said, her eyes brimming with tears again.
“Lark lost her mom last year,” Anya explained.
“I’m so sorry,” I told her sincerely.
“What did you see, Bella?” Lark asked.
I bit my lip.
“You don’t have to say,” Anya told me quickly.
“I was baking cookies with my brother,” I said, the memory rich in my mind again. “And then we were dancing.”
Anya’s brow furrowed.
Their memories all involved loss. And so did mine, they just didn’t know it.
“My brother was in a car accident,” I said. “He can’t walk anymore.”
“I’m so sorry,” Nina said.
“Part of the reason I want to stay at the school is to learn healing magic,” I admitted. “Maybe I could help him. Do you guys know anything about that kind of magic?”
“I don’t, but Nina’s already read half the books in the library,” Anya said, turning to her.
“Definitely not half,” Nina said. “That would take lifetimes. And no, I really don’t know anything about healing.”
“I don’t either,” Lark said. “That’s upper-level magic. But I’m sure someone at the school can point you in the right direction. If there’s ever been a book written about it, it has to be here.”
“This place is incredible,” I said.
The floor was clean again. No one would ever know there had been paw prints at all.
“I’ll put that away,” Lark said, grabbing the bucket and mop from me. “I have to grab the duster anyway.”
“Thanks,” I told her.
Nina and Anya were still picking up books and trying to put them away in proper order.
I decided to help them and grabbed a book myself. It was small and leather-bound with a drawing carved into the front cover.
Holding it seemed to make my hands tingle. I looked down at the cover and found the carving was of a raven. It appeared to be lifting itself from the ground, wings caught mid-flutter, claws akimbo in a swirl of what was probably meant to be wind.
It reminded me of the graffiti I’d seen in my cubby, and the painting on the fountain by the entrance. I hadn’t connected the two before, since the art style was so different. I assumed it was just random graffiti, like the tags I saw all over the place back in Philly. But after seeing the book, I was starting to wonder if there wasn’t more to it.
“What’s this one?” I asked, showing it to Nina.
“Oh, that one’s about the Raven King,” she said, taking it from me to re-shelf. “Do you know about him?”
“No,” I said. “Does it have anything to do with the raven someone painted on the fountain?”
“The Raven King was from the days of old magic,” Nina said. “They say he was more powerful than any of the human witches. His magic was from the original source. Some say he was the original source.”
“What do you mean the original source?” I asked.
“Well, it’s going to sound silly,” she warned me. “But the fae have original magic.”
“Fae like… fairies?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said. “We have to pay the price for our magic, but theirs was born to them. It’s in their blood.”
I stood there gaping at her and feeling stupid. How could I be shocked to learn that fairies were real? I was a witch, and I had just spent an evening with a man who was basically a werewolf.
“Are you okay, Bella?” Nina asked.
“Sure, it’s just… a lot,” I told her.
“I remember,” she laughed. “Just take it one thing at a time. No need to worry about the fae, that’s all just history now.”
“What happened to them?” I asked, grabbing another book off the floor and feeling relieved when it didn’t tingle.
“The fae had incredibly powerful magic, but they weren’t always nice in the ways they used it,” Nina said, placing the book on the shelf and taking the one I was holding out. “It’s probably not much of a shock, but humans don’t like it when another race is more powerful. A group of powerful warlocks formed an order to get rid of them.”
“And it worked,” I guessed, picking up another book.
“In a way,” she said. “The Order of the Blade pushed the Raven King’s people back across the veil. But before they could destroy them, the king disappeared, sealing off the veil permanently.”
“Disappeared?” I asked.
“That’s what they say,” she said, shrugging. “Could be that they killed him, or that he’s safe on the other side. But both possibilities seem unlikely.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because the veil is sealed,” she said. “If the Raven King were on the other side, he would have opened it again to destroy the order.”
“And if he’s dead?” I asked.
“If he’s dead, then it would stand to reason that there would be no magic on this side at all.”
“Why not?” I asked, my head swimming with all of the new information.
“According to the legend, he’s the original source of our magic,” she said. “There are people who say he’ll come back one day and restore original magic to the witches, while wreaking havoc on the order that banished him. But that’s just what I’ve read in the books I have access to. It was all so long ago. And who knows how much of it is even real?”
“So there might not be fae, or a… veil?” I asked. More confused than ever.
“Oh no, that part is definitely real,” she told me. “The library is located on this mountain because the veil is thin in this area. The magic that seeps across the barrier is enough to sustain the volumes here, even though there aren’t enough witches to tend to them individually.”
“Does it make it easier to do magic around here?” I asked, thinking back to the vines across the mouth of the cave last night.
“Yes,” she said. “You noticed that, huh?”
I nodded.
“Well, I’m sure there are all kinds of books in the library about the Raven King and the magic near the thin part of the veil,” Nina said fondly. “When I’m an upperclassman, I’ll read them all.”
“Where would they keep books like that?” I asked.
“They would be super old,” she said, her eyes sparkling. “That means they’re in the vault.”
“Where’s the vault?” I asked.
Nina nodded toward the giant oak.
“Behind the tree?” I asked.
She just stared at me for a moment until she realized I was serious.
“The tree is the vault,” she explained. “It grew from a seed brought over from Faerie
, so it’s brimming with magic. That’s why it’s always green, even in winter. The most valuable books are kept inside it.”
Inside it?
Before I could ask any more questions, there was a gasp and a loud crash from behind us.
“Oh no,” Anya moaned from her place on a ladder near the top of the high shelves as a cascade of books fell all around her.
“You got the order wrong,” Nina scolded.
“I got the order wrong,” Anya agreed as she climbed down. “Can you help me?”
The two of them scrambled to pick up the books as I turned the idea of the Raven King over in my mind.
Maybe there was still a way to help my brother, even if I didn’t get to stay at the school.
20
Luke
I strode into the council meeting, late but ready to rumble with anyone who gave me a hard time.
Instead, Reed called out to me with a big smile, waving me over.
The burly bear shifter was lounging in one of the weird ergonomic chairs the council ordered from the IKEA in Philadelphia. He had the chair tilted back so far it looked like it would tip over any minute and spill the big guy to the ground.
But Reed knew his limits. He was as graceful as he was large. And his good humor was just what I needed to take the edge off my fury.
“Hey, Reed,” I said, making my way to the back of the room and pulling up the chair next to his. I considered all the members of the council to be my brothers, but Reed and I had always been especially close. We’d been close with one another once, but this job brought many risks.
I pushed the dark thoughts aside and concentrated on the matters at hand.
“Nice of you to join us,” Jonah said, smoothing back his already smooth hair.
Our group was a democracy, but Jonah called it to order for meetings. He was another wolf shifter, like me, but a little older. He’d seen his share of action, and bore the scars to prove it. Some days he handled his modest power lightly, others he forgot he wasn’t really management.
“I don’t know what was on the agenda for today, but we have bigger problems,” I said, without acknowledging him.
“What’s going on?” Reed asked, concern clear in his deep voice.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Jonah grumbled. “What are you even doing here? Why haven’t you claimed your mate yet? Until you do that, there is no council matter big enough to warrant your attention.”
There were murmurs of agreement from around the room. I gazed out over the space, wishing any one of my brothers in arms could have been the one to hear the mating call instead of me.
It was lonely on this mountain, and while there were willing women in the village to scratch the itch for companionship, none of us could commit to more. It was our solemn duty to choose a witch for a mate when we heard the call.
Without shifter guardians here, where the veil was dangerously thin, the safety of the world would be at stake. It was bigger than all of us.
While the witches might think we just sauntered over and made our selection, like a TV housewife at a fifties butcher shop, the truth was much more complicated.
A bond could not be forced.
So the monthly ceremony might be quiet from the women’s point of view as they chanted without incident month after month on the courtyard. But there were always at least a few of our kind prowling the woods at the edge of the castle, praying to feel the tug of a potential bond mate.
Except for me.
I had never looked for a witch’s love. I resented the imposition of my brotherhood’s requirement, even though I understood it. Our kind was dwindling, and there was no chance of continuing our line by mating with an ordinary human. Only a mate with magic had hope of bearing another shifter to carry on our duty.
It had to be a witch.
But I sensed the danger in these woods, growing every day. This was no time to bring cubs to the world. Now was the time to defend it.
My brothers needed to know.
“A hellhound followed her to me last night,” I said.
The room went silent. I could read the emotions though, a blessing and a curse that came with my heightened senses. Shifters didn’t waste time with lies, at least not to each other.
There was some doubt washing off of Jonah. But I mostly sensed fear and anger. My brothers had my back. They believed me, always. I might not share their desperation to land a mate, but they knew I put duty first.
“Did you follow it to its source?” Reed asked, unknowingly cutting to the quick of my shame with his question.
“I pulled the girl into a cave,” I said, shaking my head. “To protect her. Then she used her magic to seal us in. By the time we left in the morning, it was gone.”
“So you didn’t take the girl, or take out the hellhound,” Jonah said mildly.
I clenched my fists by my sides, willing myself not to respond, but knowing he sensed my anger.
“It’s not the sixteen hundreds anymore,” Reed said vehemently. “These women are people, Jonah, not cattle. We can’t just take them. That doesn’t work anymore. Maybe it never did.”
“So you’re saying we should just let darkness take the world?” Jonah asked. “So the little witches can have roses and candlelight dinners?”
“Enough,” I said, my voice ringing out dark and deep in the small meeting room, in spite of my best efforts to keep my cool. “There was a hellhound following us last night. They’ve gotten too bold. The Order must be planning something. The witches are in danger.”
Everyone nodded. The Order of the Broken Blade was one of the many factions that wanted access to the library at the castle. They were the most likely to send undead minions like the hellhounds to do their dirty work. And if a group of ambitious warlocks like that ever got ahold of the kind of magic contained in the Primrose library, there was no telling what kind of hell they would unleash.
Protecting the castle and the library had always been my job. I had known since childhood that this was my special destiny.
But now that I had a mate at that school, I felt the danger more keenly. It was as if the most tender part of myself were naked in a blizzard, exposed to whatever might come.
As the others began to argue about what to do next, Reed leaned over and whispered in my ear.
“Remember she’s a witch,” he told me. “She can take care of herself.”
I pictured the vines exploding out of nowhere to shield us from danger and tried to let it ease the pain in my chest.
But it was like tossing a pebble into an abyss.
Whether I had planned for a mate or not, I had to claim her. Only having her close, where I could see her and protect her, would assuage this ache.
“Tonight,” I told myself as much as him. “I’ll claim her tonight. And we’ll never have to find out how tough she is on her own.”
21
Bella
After the night with Luke and the morning at the library, I had a hard time concentrating on the conversation at the lunch table. Everyone seemed to have a theory about who broke in, why they didn’t take anything, and whether or not the guardians had anything to do with it.
Meanwhile, my mind was fixed on my brother. I wasn’t sure if Luke was telling the truth about the night in the cave not counting, but at the very least, I had to resist the spell for two more nights. I just needed to stay strong tonight, and then again tomorrow night, and then I would be free to refocus my energies on school.
“You okay?” Cori asked, her dark eyes concerned, as we dropped off our trays on the way to our afternoon classes.
“Just tired,” I said.
“I’ll bet,” she winked at me, but it was half-hearted.
“You know nothing happened, right?” I asked her.
“Yeah,” she admitted. “Anya told me. “Do you really think you can resist for two more nights?”
“I have to,” I told her simply.
As we continued down the hall, something occurred to me.
She glanced over at me, looking shocked.
“I don’t,” Cori said. “But Bella, even if I did, using it would violate our treaty with the guardians.”
She had a point, but I hated to concede it.
“This is me,” she said, indicating a classroom. “See you later. And, hey, Bella?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“If you really don’t want him, I hope you succeed,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about it, and there wouldn’t be a choice at the end if choosing to refuse were actually impossible. Lots of things seem impossible, until someone comes along who’s strong enough to do them.”
I hadn’t really thought about it that way. Up until last week, I would have said that magic was impossible, and now I was surrounded by it. I made those vines move, and if I could do that…
The thought made me feel just a little better about my prospects.
“Thanks, Cori,” I said sincerely. “I appreciate it.”
She blew me an air kiss and I pretended to catch and eat it, feeling more myself already as I continued down the hall.
I arrived at my next class a few minutes later and grabbed the seat beside Anya. Nina and Lark filed in and sat on my other side.
“You’re early, excellent,” the professor said, before we could even greet each other. “We have a lab today, and it’s best to get started right away.”
She handed each of us a small tray with a ring of shimmering metal about the size of a donut.
“What’s this?” I asked Anya.
“It looks like spell-forged mercury,” she said. “Don’t worry. It’s not dangerous.”
“Yup,” Lark said. “Which means we’re doing the sympathetic magic lab today. Professor Batts is famous for it.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Oh, I’d hate to ruin it,” Lark laughed, pushing her purple cat-framed glasses up her nose.
The rest of us looked at each other and shrugged.
More people entered, and the professor handed out more trays. At last, everyone was seated and set up.
