Chapter 5 #2
“Maz is right.” Maz turns to Black with a shit-eating grin.
“Only this once. You’re usually wrong, dickhead.
” We both laugh as Black settles his eyes on me.
“Witches are turning up here too, ones that have heard the rumors, and they’re bringing their children.
Word is spreading and the main issue we’ve got now is we’re drawing a lot of attention. ”
“It’s why this world has to be destroyed,” I begin. “We save everyone, a flight out of this world so to speak, and leave it to shatter under a powerful spell.”
“Is that the enchantress’s plan?” Maz asks, with hesitation lacing his tone.
“Yes, and it’s a good plan,” I whisper. “Please give me a chance to introduce you all and get to the bottom of what happened.”
“You have every chance in the world with me. Us.” Maz kisses the top of my head. “I’ll even join the villain’s side for you, if you asked.”
“I’m not asking that,” I whisper back. I lean my head on his chest and close my eyes just for a little bit.
Once they both feel like the smell of blood has mostly come off me and I’m bandaged with a cream on my cuts, they help me get changed into a soft pair of leggings, a thin shirt, a jumper that falls down to my knees, and to top it, a coat and a scarf before I’m allowed to leave the house in Black’s arms, despite telling them both I can walk.
When we do finally leave the house, the town is just as Maz described it—a snowy wonderland buried into the side of a mountain.
The houses are all in pretty bad shape, between the snow?capped roofs and the gray stone walls that have cracks, or the walls have collapsed altogether.
There isn’t much to it except that it looks gloomy and busy.
Every house is lit up, crammed with people coming in and out.
They all turn, looking at Maz and Black with something close to how they might look at their savior.
I can feel the pressure of that look all the way through the town until we finally turn off the main street and around a corner.
My eyes flicker over the several shifter kids running past us before we get to a small house that is separate from anything else.
“I think Kane and Vale should be here for this. I can’t feel them here…they aren’t, are they?” Maz and Black look at each other, sharing whatever conversation they don’t want me to know. “Maz. Black. Where are my other bonded?”
“One problem at a time.” Black touches my hand. “You’re right, they are not here, but they wish they could be. Let’s deal with your mother and then the rest.”
My heart jumps at that, because I know they’re not here.
I can feel when they’re close, and they’re not close.
Where else could they possibly go? I trust Black and Maz, so I nod once.
The small house has guards. Four panthers sit outside it in a line, each of their fur colors slightly different.
They only step aside when we come up, and I wonder if they’d even be any use stopping my mother if she tried to leave.
I’ve seen her fight now, and her power is so strong.
“It’s the enchantress, but she’s not. She is just my mother to us,” I remind them both.
Black opens the door with a grumble, and we step in.
They both tense at the sight of my mother seated in an armchair by a roaring fire, Zeph in his panther form stretched out on the floor, and Mell sitting, in a big trench coat on one of the window seats.
Lyra smiles widely as Maz shuts the door and the cold out.
“You’re looking well! I was worried when I saw the blood. ”
“She still must not push herself,” Black all but growls, holding me tight.
Lyra nods once. “Of course. Can I learn the names of my daughter’s bonded?”
“Lyra, this is Black and this is Maz, two of my bonded.” When neither Black nor Maz say a word, I fill in the gap, “Black is my mate too.”
“It’s good to meet you both… I was always close to the dragons, and I probably knew your parents. The few dragons that were left would regularly meet, and I would go with Juniper’s dad to parties they threw,” Lyra offers, likely knowing their parents are dead.
“Let’s stop the bullshit. Did you curse us?” Maz bursts out.
“Curse?” Lyra frowns.
“When they were children, they were cursed. Black can’t touch anybody other than me, not without them dying instantly.
Maz, he’s blind without the glasses and blind in dragon form, but again all he can see is me without the glasses on.
Kane, who you haven’t met yet, he’s also cursed because his blood kills.
It’s complicated, but they saw the enchantress come and curse them,” I tell her.
“Looking exactly like you,” Black adds.
Lyra’s face looks horrified. “I have not been in this world, nor would I curse any dragon child.” She shakes her head.
Her panther bonded growls. “I swear it on my life, on my daughter’s life, on my soul.
I would never do that, especially not when I’d be able to look once at you and see the bond with my daughter.
Nor would I curse any dragon. I was in love with a dragon once.
He was my mate, my bonded. We miss him every single day.
” She crosses her arms. “Before the Umbral Authority, the dragons were the leaders of the shifters and basically royalty. They were strong, magnificent people who were kind and gave to the weak and suffering, no matter their race.”
Maz and Black look at each other before looking back at my mother. “It wasn’t you.”
“No. Placing lasting curses…that is a magic not even I or the Umbral Authority would have access to. It would take the magic of a god or goddess to do that to you.” Her tone is soft.
“From my limited research on curses, they were once placed to teach lessons, and there was a way to break them. If you wanted, you could tell me all you can about your curses, and I will try to remember anything I can to help. I’ve lived a long life and I want to do anything I can to help my daughter’s bonded mates. ”
The air seems to leave Black’s body. “If you’re lying, you will regret it.”
“Understandable, but I’m not.” Lyra nods.
“Well, happy families then.” Maz sits on one of the near-broken chairs. “Which is good, because we’re deep in with a fuck ton of problems.”
“As much as I’m very happy to meet you both and see you well, Juniper…
we are on the brink of war with no army except for a couple of thousand-odd witches and shifters here who mostly cannot fight, are too young, and need defending,” Lyra begins.
“I must leave you to set up what is needed to destroy this world for good. If I don’t, there will be no end to this.
You must gather everyone you can here and work on the spell to return. ”
“We can’t destroy this world without killing Vale and Kane. They are trapped in Bloodstone Academy.”
My head spins to Maz. “What do you mean trapped?”
“When that thing that’s in the academy, that blood thing, when Kane took over to save you, it started draining him of his life.
Vale barely found him in time, and he did a spell.
I don’t even know where the fuck he got a spell like that from, but he did one to save Kane’s life, and instead, it bound him and Kane to the academy.
They cannot leave.” Sickness rises up in my throat and my heart races.
“I told them to hide, but they demanded we go. There wasn’t much of a choice.
We either stayed with them or left, and all the shifters outside would have been captured and most likely killed. We took the kids and left.”
For a moment, I can’t breathe. Pure panic takes over. The academy that was full of Mindless. The Umbral Authority would definitely have control over it now. Black strokes my arm. “They are bound to the academy for the rest of their lives. If this world falls, so do they.”
I look at my mother with all the desperation in my heart. “Then we need a new plan. I can’t let them die. I won’t.”
Even if it means letting the Umbral Authority win.