Chapter Nineteen
WREN
Benedict hovered behind me like a stalking shadow: quiet, tense, and torn between wanting to fix everything and not knowing where to start.
We stood poised on the edge of the quiet volcano, Nerissa and Nuva in deep discussion while Benedict, Kaida and I watched.
Kieran practically vibrated with the need to do something, but you couldn’t beat wards into submission. Magick wasn’t his specialty.
I must have slept for a long time to have both of them hovering so, but I felt refreshed and ready to take on the world.
If I could swat the annoying fly buzzing around my head.
“Benedict,” I said through gritted teeth, “give me space.”
“You are uncomfortable,” he argued while he stood ramrod straight, arms half-spread like he expected danger to burst out of the walls at any moment. He checked my pulse. He sniffed me, and for good measure, checked my pulse again.
I shifted my weight side to side, trying to find relief.
“Benedict, I am going to pop any day. Of course I’m uncomfortable.” I tried to hide the amusement in my voice. “I just slept an entire day. I need to move now. If anyone needs to rest, it’s you,” I insisted.
“I can’t rest,” he snapped softly. “Not with Ronan still north. Not with a child missing. Not with the wards thinning. Not with you—” His voice cracked.
I reached out and squeezed his hand. He squeezed back like he was drowning. Kieran sent him a sympathetic glance and Kaida sent me a small smile, encouraging me.
“It is more than worrying about me,” I said softly, so no one else heard. “You have been upset since Kaida and Nasi came.”
Benedict shook his head, one hand on my back. “It is surreal. I try to forget all about the destruction of Lyoness, and the war. I have tried to put it all behind me, but Nasi knows. He may be the only living witness of the destruction. It weighs on me.”
His expression twisted.
I turned around to nuzzle my nose into his chest. “You cannot be ashamed of the past.”
“I was a pig-headed brute who got people killed and caused more suffering.”
I sighed. “You cannot discount who you once were. You needed him to become the king and mate you are now.”
He went still, tightening around me.
“Otherwise, I would still be a cowering mess of a girl,” I reminded him. “I needed my past self. Without her, I would not have become a queen.”
His teeth grazed my neck, fingers ghosting along my stomach. “What a beautiful, wise mate I have.”
I smirked. “And don’t you forget it.”
“You’re still a pig-headed brute,” Kieran snorted, lightening the mood.
Benedict whipped around but the smile Kieran gave him was so disarming he deflated like a punctured fruit.
Kaida gave us an indulgent smile as Nerissa and Nuva moved to join us.
“Good news: the wards can be fixed,” Nerissa informed us succinctly.
Benedict straightened next to me. “Oh?”
She nodded, kicking a small rock of magma with her boot and watching it skitter down the volcano. Kaida’s wings fluttered, her white hair rustling in the breeze.
“Yes. We need to establish anchor points at each end of the island, north, south, east, west. The previous wards used only drakens. While strong, there is too much mixed blood. We must use drakens and witches, and make them more intent-based.”
Benedict frowned. “Bloodmagick itself is intent. We had several elders give their lives to erect the wards when we returned to the island.”
Nerissa rolled her eyes.
“Think of your sacrificial wards like the blast of a cannon. It’s one sharp blast, but it’s messy and wastes much power. You want wards to be more like the strike of blade–clean, efficient, and targeted.”
Benedict’s nostrils flared. Kieran’s expression pinched as he tried to understand it all. Kaida tilted her head to the side.
“It seems I have more to learn,” Benedict admitted gruffly.
Didn’t we all?
I gave his arm a squeeze.
“So if you help us redo the wards we have drakens and witches,” I confirmed, standing with one arm braced against Benedict, and the other resting low against my stomach.
I used to feel the wards beneath my skin as a steady, consistent hum, like a second heartbeat tied to the island itself.
Now it flickered, uneven and unreliable.
Benedict tensed and turned to me. His gaze settled on me and stayed there longer than it should have.
“Wren is not participating,” he growled out.
Kieran tensed behind me. For a moment, I simply stared at Benedict, trying to understand whether I had heard him correctly. Then the meaning settled, and heat rose sharp and immediate in my chest.
This was how it began. Once your use has ended, you will be forgotten and put aside.
My lip quivered before I could help it. I fought the dark thoughts that threatened to overtake me. I would not be forgotten. My mates loved me. My people needed me. I had a purpose, and a place.
I hoped.
“You don’t get to make that decision,” I managed to force out.
“It’s already made,” he shot back.
“By whom?” I argued.
“By me.”
The air between us tightened.
I stepped closer, my wings shifting behind me despite my effort to keep them still. “You think because I’m carrying a child, I suddenly became fragile?”
“I think,” he said, meeting me without hesitation, “that bloodmagick draws from life.”
I opened my mouth but Nuva, a bloodwitch I’d barely heard five words from, jumped in. “No bloodmagick. Could kill baby.”
And just like that, I had no argument.
“But you can certainly learn, could she not?” Kaida asked, a bit of an edge to her voice.
Nuva eyed Nerissa, who nodded.
“Learning only,” Nuva confirmed.
I resisted the urge to pout. Queens didn’t pout, and the baby’s safety was the most important thing.
“So we need another draken then. Kieran?” I asked. “Or you, Kaida?”
Nerissa tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Groups of drakens. The more bloodlines, the better. We do four groups, mixed of drakens unrelated and unmated to each other, and witches from all the different covens. That should cover all bloodlines on the island.”
“Kieran is not the best at bloodmagick,” Benedict grumbled.
Kieran shrugged, not disputing it.
Nuva’s eyes widened in mild panic.
“I know, I know,” Nerissa said, running her hands over her face. “Getting everyone to perform everything exactly the same with no mistakes will be difficult, but imagine the wards that would be created if we manage to get it right!”
Nuva’s concern morphed into wonder, and mild awe.
I smiled at that because it sounded exactly like her, sharp and practical and unwilling to waste time on fear.
Benedict stepped forward. “Agreed. Let’s go find these drakens. Preferably Elders who are proficient and experienced in bloodmagick, but not so old as their scales and claws will shake with a knife in it.
Nerissa clapped her hands, eyes alight with the prospect of a new project.
Benedict held his arms out to me, ready to fly back to the village.
“Alright, let’s go save the word again,” I muttered to no one.
By the time we stepped back into the village below my treehouse, the unease had already spread to the rest of the witches and drakens.
“The wards—”
“I felt it last night—”
“The sacrifices were supposed to last—”
I didn’t slow as I moved into the center.
Benedict edged me forward, giving me a warm smile.
I took a moment to close my eyes and open them again.
The scents of roasting meat from the fire pit hit me, along with the tang of peppers growing nearby.
The hot sun couldn’t get through the thick canopy of trees above us, letting only small beams of light in here and there.
“We feel it too. We’re going to take advantage of the presence of an expert bloodwitch while she’s here, and reset them. I need those with blood magick experience,” I called, letting my voice carry across the space. “We will need witches as well, one from each coven.”
The murmuring quieted, not completely, but enough.
A baby cried, and its witch mother hushed it, leaning forward to listen in.
Benedict stayed right at my right shoulder, Kieran on my left.
The drakens gathered loosely around us, not suffocatingly close, but wanting to know what was going on.
Nuva and Nerissa stood between us and the crowd.
Nuva’s eyes darted here and there, still clearly nervous in front of a group, but Nerissa relished the attention. Kaida hovered, taking it all in.
“What do we need to do?” someone asked.
Nuva lowered her hand to the ground. I felt the response immediately, subtle but undeniable, as if the wards were trying to respond to her touch.
“We place one at each corner,” she said. “The weaving of the wards must happen at the same time. If one fails—”
“They all fail,” Domik finished nervously. Nuva nodded.
I already knew that. I could feel it in the tension running through the island itself.
Wyrren stepped forward first, his scales dulled with age but his posture still steady.
“I will do it,” he said. “I still practice.”
“I have read how to anchor, but haven’t done it myself,” Domik offered up, nervously adjusting his hair.
“None of you have anchored, I believe,” Benedict reassured him, “but your knowledge would be valuable.”
Domik’s wings lifted in happiness. “Wonderful! I think I have a book that details an old anchoring ritual, let me fetch it.”
He rushed off, wings fluttering, probably to the library.
Kaida stepped forward. “As one of the few females here, I would love to participate.”
Nerissa considered her. “You must be very sure you do not carry a child.”
Kaida’s smile dimmed. “I have not been blessed these many years, so I do not think it an issue.”
I grabbed her fingers, entwining them in mine.
“Even more reason to not,” Nuva muttered.
There was a pause as drakens looked around, wondering who the fourth would be.
“I can anchor.” The voice came from above us at the exact moment I felt a gaping tear rip through what was left of the wards, leaving them in complete shambles.
Benedict twitched next to me, feeling it as well as something slid easily through the barrier as if it wasn’t even there.
Someone.