Chapter 16
Julia
Icould have stayed in the house and let Hannah have a moment with the girl who broke her heart. But the thought of her out here without me, hurting, choosing someone else, is unbearable. She’s mine to protect, mine to hurt, mine to heal until this spell breaks. And I do not share.
I stalk through the dark forest, following the pull of the binding spell toward Hannah. The October wind moans through the skeletal branches above, carrying the scent of decay and damp earth as winter approaches.
Rebecca thinks she’s won. The smug satisfaction radiating from her in the parlor, not to mention the way she savored every detail of my helplessness, all confirms what I already knew: she believes her binding spell has defanged me.
She’s going to learn a hard lesson in how wrong she is.
As soon as I figure out how to break this pathetic leash, she will find out what happens to those who try to cage me. A century of planning, and she made one fatal miscalculation: she assumed I would grow soft in my imprisonment. She thought guilt over Charlotte would dim my capacity for vengeance.
If anything, this injustice has honed my edges to razor sharpness.
Riley stalks toward me in the other direction. I flex my fingers, rage boiling in my veins. What does she think she’s doing? Hannah isn’t hers anymore.
I grab her arm as we pass, and she shoots me a glare, her breath catching.
“Did you touch her?”
She goes rigid. “That’s none of your—”
“Did—you—touch—her?” I ask again, each word sharp.
Riley lifts her chin. “What if I did?”
“You don’t deserve her,” I growl. “And if you ever hurt her again, you’ll learn why your ancestor trapped me for a century.”
She rips her arm away. “Of the two of us, I’m not the one Hannah has to worry about.”
My skin prickles as she walks back to the house. I should have come out here sooner.
I keep going and find Hannah standing in front of the silhouette of an ancient oak tree, barely visible in its shadow.
The full moon has cast everything in silver and black.
Her bright hair is loose around her shoulders, and the whites of her eyes gleam.
Her breath mists, and she’s shivering, her tight clothes offering no warmth at all.
She looks like a woodland sprite, beautiful and fragile and utterly out of place.
“I didn’t come all the way to Elizabeth’s for you to freeze to death,” I say as I walk closer. “Come inside and we can figure this out.”
“Figure out what? We know what we need to do. Rebecca told us.”
“Elizabeth is consulting the grimoire.” My voice is flat and defeated. A heaviness settles over me, as if being alone in the woods with her has finally given me permission to feel how hopeless this all is.
Hannah lets out a one-note laugh. “You expect her to find a loophole?”
I don’t, but I refuse to admit it. The truth is, Rebecca is a skilled witch, and she crafts every spell with precision.
“What were you doing out here with Riley?” I ask, the question spilling from my lips.
She huffs, like she finds it amusing. “Did you really come here to ask me about Riley?”
I grind my teeth, watching her fidget with the hem of her tiny chemise. Her hands are trembling.
“Why do you care what she and I were doing?” she asks.
Heat floods my cheeks. “I don’t want anyone interfering with what needs to be done to break the binding spell.”
A pause. “I see.”
She’s still playing with her chemise, giving me glimpses of the smooth, pale skin at her hips.
“I just want this to be over, Julia,” she says, barely audible.
I watch, frozen in place, as she pulls the delicate fabric over her head and lets it fall to the forest floor. There’s nothing underneath. Just her perfect, round breasts, her nipples hard peaks in the wintry air. Her chest rises and falls, each breath a puff of white mist.
The sight of her bare skin steals the breath from my lungs. She’s luminous in the moonlight, a goddess standing in the harsh darkness.
The wind picks up, sending dead leaves skittering across the forest floor.
The ancient trees seem to lean closer, as if drawn to witness this.
The old magic in this place ripples beneath my skin, responding to my hunger, the earth itself recognizing me.
Perhaps it’s trying to warn Hannah against this.
“Don’t.” The word comes out rough. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”
“I’m surrendering.” Her hands move to her bottoms, and I’m helpless to look away as she slides them down her long legs, revealing her pale skin inch by inch.
In the next beat of my heart, she’s standing confidently before me, completely bare and vulnerable.
The sight of her naked body ignites a flame inside me that threatens to consume everything.
I follow the line of her throat down to her round breasts, down her belly to the soft curves of her hips, and between her legs.
“If breaking the spell requires me to submit to you, then here I am,” she says. “Yours.”
My heart beats faster. To hear this beautiful woman speak those words awakens a deep, ravenous hunger that’s been building inside me since the moment I first touched her.
But underneath the desire, something else grips my chest. I’ve felt this hunger before. The last time, it ended with Charlotte’s lifeless body beneath me. This is how it started with her—this intoxicating willingness, this beautiful surrender. And I destroyed her.
Hands at her sides, Hannah stretches out her fingers as if opening herself to me. She’s shivering, goosebumps rising all over her perfect skin.
“Hannah, it’s freezing out.”
She steps closer. “So warm me up.”
I step closer too. “We can find another way to—”
“I want this, Julia.” Her eyes are dark, her pupils dilated.
The temperature drops. My breath mists between us, mingling with hers. Around us, the forest has gone silent. No rustling leaves, no distant owl calls. Even nature knows to hold its breath.
My feet will not move. Do I want to ruin her the way I ruined Charlotte? She’s too good, too perfect, too innocent for what I am.
But the hunger in her eyes mirrors my own, and it’s clear she wants this as much as I do.
We passed the point of no return long ago, whether I admit it or not.
“Hannah…”
Before I know what I’m doing, I’m grabbing her and pulling her flush against me, kissing her hard.
She kisses me back hungrily, sliding her hands under my cloak and gripping my bodice. Power flares beneath my skin like fire. The trees creak and groan as if bending in an invisible wind.
Her heartbeat pounds against my chest, rapid and strong—at least for now. How quickly that can change. Already she is trembling in my arms, fragile in the harsh night air.
But I silence my doubts, letting any sense of what I should or shouldn’t do dissolve.
I walk her backward until she bumps into the oak tree. She whimpers at the contact with the rough bark, and I press closer, trapping her against it.
I pull back enough to elicit a little gasp, savoring the fullness in her lips and the hunger in her eyes. My head is foggy, desire guiding my actions.
I grab her hips and spin her around. “Hands on the tree. Arch your back for me.”
She braces her hands against the bark, breathing hard. The moonlight paints silver streaks across her back, highlighting every curve and hollow.
Her perfect obedience makes me throb between my legs.
I slide my hands around her front and squeeze her breasts, feeling her nipples under my palms. She lets out a sweet, needy exhale.
Finally. How long have I wanted to touch her this way? Since I first set eyes on her?
The flame inside me grows as I drag my palms down her waist and around her hips. Her skin is cold and pebbled with goosebumps. I trail my fingers down her spine, watching her shiver.
With one hand on her hip, I trace the other up her arm, over her shoulder, and around her throat, squeezing enough to make her tense. “Do you know what you’re doing? I could drain you.”
“But you won’t,” she says, breathless.
“How do you know?” I tighten my grip, feeling her pulse flutter beneath my fingers.
A pause. “I’m trusting you.”
Foolish girl.
I kiss and nip her neck. She tastes heavenly, like everything I’ve been craving. I begin murmuring the incantation against her skin, letting the Latin words vibrate through her body. With each syllable, the air around us thickens and becomes charged with static.
Her breath hitches. She trembles harder. With a moan, she leans back against me, her head tilted to expose more of her neck.
I’m aching between my legs as I kiss her neck and shoulder, my body and my power responding to her submission with equal hunger.
Slowly, I move the hand at her hip inward, trailing my fingers over the soft skin of her thigh.
“I want your fingers inside me, Julia,” she begs, gripping my wrist and guiding my hand between her legs.
Her desire coats my fingers. She’s soaking wet, her body betraying how much she truly wants this.
“So ready for me,” I purr into her ear. “Such a good pet.”
She moans as I slide two fingers into her folds, the sound rising into the still forest.
“Yes,” she breathes. “That’s so good…”
She releases my wrist to reach up and slide her hand around the back of my head, leaning back into me as I rub slow circles between her legs.
My power drinks hungrily as I murmur the incantation against her skin.
My head grows cloudy. My magic recognizes how willingly she’s offered herself, and it’s purring inside me.
It’s been so long since I’ve fed from someone this intimately, so long since I’ve drunk my fill that any sense of restraint dissipates on the cold wind.
The thought should frighten me, but Hannah’s essence is making me forget why I should care.
Time to bring her to total surrender. I’m going to take what I need and enjoy every second of it.