Chapter Six
Walker
“A Blood Oath?” I asked. Nerves shook my voice. “Like a blood-binding?”
Cordelia smirked, and Freya took my clammy hand in hers. I hated the High Witch, but I hated my own weakness more. The more I tried to stop the memories of Josephine’s cruel smile and the unholy fire of the Bloodblade’s magic, the more the memories fought to freeze me in fear.
The blood-binding promise I made with Josephine had allowed me to save Freya and my family.
It had also nearly cost me my life.
I wasn’t eager to entrap myself in another promise to a power-mongering witch.
“It’s like a blood-binding,” Freya agreed, “but only the High Witch can make a Blood Oath. It’s a promise bound not only in blood, but also by the High Court of Witches. It’s a promise bound by our most powerful laws.”
I swallowed.
“Exactly,” Cordelia purred. “It’s an offer many do not receive.”
It’s your only chance to save yourself and everyone you love.
For a moment, I was grateful Cordelia had finally shown herself. Though fear made my heart race, my magic was blessedly out of reach.
I’ll learn to control it on my own, I vowed to myself. I have to.
“What happens if we break our oath?”
The question tumbled from my lips before I could stop it. Cordelia’s expression darkened. She drew closer, until her breath fanned across my face as she spoke.
“Your blood will turn to poison in your veins,” she whispered, “and you’ll die a very slow and painful death, thus leaving your precious sister defenseless against the High Court’s wrath.”
Cordelia stepped back, and I took a deep breath.
“Well,” I said, “I guess we won’t break it then.”
Cordelia grinned. “I do hope not.”
While Cordelia and Freya argued about the semantics of the oath, I tried to focus, but one thought eclipsed everything. If I couldn’t control my magic, I would get not only myself killed, but Freya, Cadence, and the entirety of the Coven of Hecate too.
Cordelia’s voice brought me back to the present. “It’s settled then.”
With a wave of her hands, the High Witch summoned a small, decorative dagger and sliced her palm. Dark red blood poured out of the wound, and the sickly-sweet scent of her power became overwhelming. As Cordelia wiped the blade clean with a handkerchief pulled from the hidden pocket of her full skirt, I wrinkled my nose but took the dagger she offered. Its midnight blue handle was ornately carved and cool to the touch.
Cursing under my breath, I cut my palm. My skin caved easily under the wickedly sharp blade, and crimson blood pooled in my hand. Pain radiated from the wound, but I gritted my teeth and ignored it. It would be the least of what we faced. After wiping the blade off on my jeans, I handed the dagger to Freya. Without flinching, she slashed her own palm.
“By blood and by honor,” Cordelia said. Influenced by the spell she crafted, her voice rang louder. “By the righteousness of the High Court of Witches, I bind Freya Redfern and Walker Reid of the Coven of Hecate, and I, High Witch Cordelia of the High Court in the following agreement…”
The blood in my palm burned. Beside me, Freya hissed in pain. As my wound sealed shut, Cordelia’s magic made my blood glow and move on its own accord. Like its own beast, my blood slithered off my palm and into the grass, where it congealed with Freya’s and Cordelia’s blood.
Just like the last time I had made a blood-binding promise, dread sank my stomach, even worse than it had when I had faced Josephine. This time, I wasn’t bound to merely duel a witch.
I was bound to hand over someone I had never met to the most fearsome witch in existence.
“Should Walker Reid and Freya Redfern retrieve the chimera and aid me and my court in the creature’s capture,” Cordelia continued, “they shall receive a pardon for their transgressions. Neither they nor their loved ones shall be punished. The stipulations are as follows—they have one month to complete their task and during that month,they mustn’t expose magic to humankind. They may receive whatever help they wish along the way.”
From what I noted of Cordelia’s and Freya’s conversation, the High Witch recited the oath exactly as Freya wanted her to.
Despite this, I didn’t feel like we had won.
I just wasn’t sure what we would lose.
???
“One month?” Lyra repeated. “One month to find what the High Witch needs, and you don’t even know what you’re looking for?”
Dressed in an expensive-looking pantsuit and her purple robes, the Elder faced the crowd gathered around me. Lyra’s long, white braid draped over her shoulder, and her tan face was lined with worry. Freya and the other Elders—each dressed in their cloaks and sporting stern frowns—stood beside her.
Around me, the crowd shuffled. We gathered in the meadow beyond the apartments. Above us, a storm raged. The coven’s combined magic protected us with a glimmering forcefield, and the rain slid down like it would any roof.
Any other night, I might’ve found it cool. Tonight, I was done with storms. Thunder boomed, and lightning webbed across the sky. Beside me, Cadence jolted. I put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. She offered me a wobbly smile.
So strong, I thought. Stronger than she should have to be.
When I had told her what happened with the High Witch, I had expected an outburst. Instead, Cady had solemnly pondered my words, then eventually nodded and spoke.
I guess we have the scavenger hunt of a lifetime, huh?
As much as her bravery made me fear for her safety, I really loved my sister. Freya’s voice brought me back to the present.
“We know it’s a chimera,” Freya argued, then grudgingly added, “We just don’t know what exactly that is.”
As soon as we had returned to the apartments, Freya and I had scoured every corner of the library for anything on the chimera and found nothing. Gloria had caught us on the tail-end of our search, and Freya had confessed to the Elder what had happened.
If looks could kill, the Elder would’ve ended me then and there.
“We believe it looks something like this.” Freya held up the pendant. Even from my place in the back of the crowd, its rubies glimmered. “But the High Witch claimed the creature also possesses a humanoid form.”
“It’s a shifter,” Gloria deduced.
Freya nodded. “That seems to be the case.”
“Seems to be?” a witch behind me cried out. “How are you going to find something we know nothing about?”
Witches around me murmured their agreement. Growing more agitated by the moment, the crowd pressed closer. Freya swallowed.
“We will start with a tracking spell,” she said calmly. “If this pendant is connected to the chimera, it should lead us to it.”
“You want us to help you track it?” another witch yelled. She was to my left, and she spoke with such vitriol, spit flung out of her mouth with each word. “What if we choose not to? What if we wish to appease the High Witch in another way?”
As magic hummed in the air, I grabbed Cadence’s hand and led her away from the crowd. The witches homed in on my retreat with predatory glares.
“Killing Walker,” Freya yelled with magic booming in her voice, “the savior of our coven, will not help. It is not part of the High Witch’s offer.”
“Maybe not,” spat the hateful, crooked-nosed witch, “maybe this is truly a test of our loyalty. Maybe High Witch Cordelia wants to see if we will aid you on your wild chase to save your project or rid our coven of disloyalty once and for all.”
Fear spiked my heart rate, and I gripped my magic with an iron fist to keep it from lashing out. The witch wasn’t merely threatening me.
She threatened Freya.
“ Enough!” Gloria yelled. “That is our Coven Mother to whom you speak.”
Though the gray-haired witch frightened me, I had never been more grateful for her loyalty. As the crowd of witches grew angrier, magic buzzed in the air and raised the hair on the back of my neck. Neither Freya nor the Elders balked.
“She’s not Coven Mother yet,” another witch called. “Sybil named her Heir, but she can’t be coronated until her twentieth birthday.”
Which is still two months away.
Lightning flashed, and its shine caught Freya’s copper eyes, painting them a near-red. With her mouth set in a grim, harsh line, and her body taut with determination, she reminded me of the night she came to kill me.
“Would you like to challenge me for the position?” Freya asked calmly.
Arion curled around her leg and glared at the crowd, as if daring someone to take the bait. I wondered what exactly the challenge for the Coven Mother position entailed. From the tense silence that stretched across the meadow, I doubted it involved a mere political campaign.
The once very vocal witch swallowed. “Maybe someone should.”
The magic in the air grew so potent, it took all my control to keep my own power from reacting. I didn’t even breathe out of fear that my control would slip.
“ That is not what we’re here to discuss,” Gloria argued and walked to Freya’s side. Her purple robes dragged across the grassy floor but caught no debris. “The Elders will continue to act in the best interest of the coven with advisement from our Heir until the threat we face is over. This is not the time for dissension. Most of you were there the night we saved the hunter, and you willingly offered your magic to help him. Those of you who were not have had weeks to leave. Nothing can be gained from whining about our situation. Stay and help your coven overcome this, or go.”
Gloria’s self-assured, no-nonsense speech did the trick. The crowd of witches settled, and the roaring magic ceased.
“Now,” Freya said, “anyone who would like to continue to be a member of the Coven of Hecate will help us perform a tracking spell so Walker and I can begin our hunt for the chimera.”
Cadence raised her hand and spoke with confidence. “I will be accompanying you two.”
Cady’s words got rid of the lingering tension. Chuckles and smiles were shared among the coven. For as much as they loathed me and distrusted Freya, they loved Cadence.
“I had a feeling you’d say that,” Freya replied and smirked.
“I would also like to volunteer,” Thea offered, “To join you on your journey.”
Freya smiled at her friend and looked toward the Elders. Their skin colors, hair, and body shapes were all different, yet they shared the same air of confidence I supposed one gathered only after hundreds of years of life.
“I propose to the Elders,” Freya said, “that we conduct the tracking spell, then determine who shall join us on the hunt for the chimera. Volunteers only, of course.”
“Someone has to go,” a blonde witch in front of me muttered, “and play chaperone to the Heir and her boyfriend.”
“He is not my boyfriend,” Freya snapped.
Though it was foolish, I flinched. Despite everything we had been through, Freya was disgusted by the thought of a flimsy attachment to me.
Witches don’t believe in love.
They also didn’t believe in turning hunters into witches, but Freya had been able to overlook that rule.
And look at how it turned out for her.
Of course, Freya wouldn’t claim me. I was a mess. A liability. I was selfish enough that despite knowing this, I was still hurt.
“Unless anyone has anything of real relevance to say,” Freya announced, “let’s get to the spell.”