Chapter 1 Hell
“I told you we should not have come here.”
Liv just rolled her eyes at me as we tried to quiet our breathing.
Christine whimpered, and my hand instinctively shot up to cover her mouth.
“Shhh, it is okay. We only need to stay quiet until they are gone. I know it is scary, but you are so brave. Can you keep being brave for me?”
She gave a small, cautious nod. I dropped my hand to my side and let out a slow breath.
The space Liv’s mother had hidden us in was small and dark.
A secret cupboard behind the dry-store shelves in the pantry.
It was hardly large enough to fit us, but we had no choice.
The whole of Verith was looking for us. I knew this was a bad idea, that her mother’s house would be the first place they looked, but Liv had insisted.
In all honesty, once she explained it, I could not refuse, even if I wanted to.
We were not sure that we would ever be able to return to Verith; she only wanted to see her mother one last time.
Then I met Margaret. She was kind, almost to a fault.
Even in the face of the danger now following us, her warmth did not falter.
“We know they are here.” The hunter’s voice boomed just beyond the wall of our small sanctuary.
I do not know what had shifted within the council since we left to return Clarissa’s body, but I do know that a warrant had been issued for Liv and me.
We had been publicly branded as witches, and that was when the hunts began.
Not only for us, but for any woman carrying power.
Our attempts to stay ahead of the hunters had been made in vain.
We spent weeks slinking through shadows, drifting from inn to brothel.
But we had run out of places to hide and people willing to put themselves at risk to help us.
Christine was so small and could only endure so much.
The effects of the constant upheaval showed not only in her, but in Liv and me as well.
We had no other option. We decided to flee Verith the same day the first public execution took place.
“You will turn them over to us, or you will be hanged as a traitor!”
His voice was followed by a sharp crack of flesh against flesh and a whimper.
I felt Liv’s magic reach, and her body shifted toward the sound.
I shifted too. We had agreed to avoid a fight.
It was too risky. Most hunters were equipped with magic-blocking runes, the same ones they had used in the walls of the prison.
I pushed my own power forward, testing to see if it struck against runes and stopped. It did not.
These hunters had made a fatal mistake. They must have been hired outside the council. Some lords sought us as prizes and wanted to control our power for themselves. But they were sloppy. Ill-prepared. These men were a perfect example. And they had just harmed someone Liv would die to protect.
Her eyes darkened, and I saw the decision form in them.
A small signal. But enough to tell her that whatever manner of crazy she had planned, I was with her.
The latch clicked open silently. The shelves slid aside as the door to the small space opened.
The pantry door remained closed. For now.
Christine tried to follow as we stepped out of the cupboard.
I took her by the shoulders and held her firmly. She nodded before I even had to speak.
She knew it was too dangerous for her. She was strong in her own right, but so young, and so new to the power she had inherited from Clarissa. It was safer for her to stay put. She sank back against the wall, and the shelves slid into place between us once more, sealing her inside the hiding spot.
“On my signal,” Liv whispered. She lowered her hand.
Everything happened at once. The ground rumbled beneath our feet just as the pantry door burst open.
The men standing in the kitchen, one blocking the exit and the other holding Margaret in a chair with a knife pressed to her throat, froze with wide eyes.
Only for a moment. Then the knife clattered against the wood, and they ran.
I raised my hands, and the floor obeyed.
A wall of stone erupted from the ground, cutting off their escape.
Vines wrapped around their arms and legs.
Liv stepped forward. The men trembled as they were lifted into the air, suspended helplessly before her.
“You were looking for me?” Her voice was low.
Dangerous. The men did not answer. They only stared.
Liv stalked toward them, slow and deliberate.
Like a predator assessing wounded prey. “Normally, I would be against harming anyone.”
Her gaze flicked to her mother. A dark bruise was already blooming across Margaret's cheek. Her jaw tightened.
“Normally, I would allow you to leave here unharmed.”
The vines around the men loosened slightly.
For a moment, I thought she might actually mean it.
The old Liv would have. The Liv I met all those months ago would have found another way.
She would have offered mercy first and dealt with the consequences later.
I watched her struggle against herself. I saw the tremor in her hands.
The hesitation in her eyes. For a moment, I thought she might let them go.
Then one of the hunters laughed. A wet, nervous sound.
“You're a witch,” he spat. “You'll hang just like the rest of them.”
Something in Liv shattered. Not loudly. Not dramatically.
Quietly. Like the final thread of a rope finally giving way.
“Perhaps,” she said softly. “But not today.”
The vines tightened. The men's eyes widened.
Their muffled screams echoed through the kitchen as the greenery twisted around them.
I looked away first. Not because I pitied them.
Because I could not bear to watch Liv lose another piece of herself.
They writhed and fought against it, but it was futile.
The muffled screams grew louder as the vines grew tighter, until they stopped.
We all exhaled at once as the vines and stone retreated and their lifeless bodies dropped against the floor with a thud.
“Mother, pack only what you need. Quickly. Hell, grab Christine. We are leaving.”
I moved. Margaret did not. She stood frozen, whether from shock or fear, I could not tell.
“Mother.” Liv’s voice softened when her gaze fell on Margaret’s face.
“I know this is not easy. I know there is so much going on, but we cannot stay here. We must go.”
Margaret shook her head. “I cannot go. I must stay here.”
Her lips trembled as she tried to speak.
Liv took hold of her hands and tried to pull her to her feet.
Margaret tore her hands free. “This house... I...”
She shook her head again, tears welling in her eyes.
“This is all I have left of your father, Liv. I cannot.”
Liv took her mother’s cheeks firmly in her hands and forced her to meet her gaze.
A tear tracked down her own cheek now, and her words came out strangled.
“I miss him too, Mother. I miss him every moment of every day. It is a wound that will never heal.”
Her voice cracked. “But this house is not him. These things, this place, they are not where his memory lives.”
She placed a hand over her mother’s chest.
“This is where he lives now. And no matter where we go, we will carry him with us. Always.”
Another tear slipped down her cheek. “But we cannot stay here. We cannot remain in Verith. They know where you are now, and they will hurt you to get to me. You will never be safe here.” Her hand tightened slightly. “Now go pack your things. Only what you must. We are leaving.”
The shift was slow and subtle, but Liv had been logical and sure.
There was no denying what she said. Margaret knew that.
So she nodded. “Okay.” Then she turned to pack.
She gathered her things quickly. It was not much, but I watched as she flitted from room to room.
A trinket here. A small portrait there. Each one was tossed into a bag, and then it was slung over her shoulder.
I collected Christine from the pantry and cradled her head against my chest so she would not see as I stepped over the hunters' bodies.
We left Liv’s childhood home, and with it the last pieces of the lives we had known.
Then we made for the border between Verith and Torezia.
We ran through the fields beyond the house and into the woods.
My lungs burned, but I was careful to clear our path of rocks so Margaret and Christine would not trip. Liv shifted roots and plants aside while I smoothed the dirt with a flick of my wrist. Behind us, I could hear shouting. The howling of hounds. They were still hunting us.
We did not slow down. We did not stop. The great stone wall marking the border between Verith and Torezia appeared on the horizon, and relief flooded me. Liv and I kept pace, checking behind us every few seconds to make sure Christine and Margaret were still there.
We neared the wall, and I blew a hole through it, tearing the stone apart and leaving it suspended in the air. A small huff sounded behind me, followed by scuffling. A glance behind me told me that Christine had fallen. The sound of the hounds drew closer.
“Do not stop!” I shouted to Margaret. Liv stood just beyond the border, her hand outstretched toward her mother.
My muscles screamed as I dropped to one knee and hauled Christine into my arms.
The brief delay was enough. The hunters and hounds crested the treeline.
I turned and ran, not daring to look back. They were close. Too close.
I jumped the final few feet through the hole in the wall.
Cradling Christine’s head against my chest, I hit the ground hard and tumbled through the dirt.
When we finally came to a stop, I looked up.
The hunters were only inches from the border.
From us. If they caught us now, they would drag us back. We would be executed.
I drew in a deep breath and summoned every ounce of power I had left. The stones hovering in the air shot toward the opening. The gap sealed shut just before the hunters could make it through. Several slammed into the wall, snarls, and curses echoing from the other side.
The border had been secured. And with it, our freedom. At least for now.