Chapter 39
Thirty-Nine
Rose
Jasmine’s dark magic rams into me again, and this time something cracks inside my body. When the pain hits, I know I’m in trouble. Big trouble. The kind where you don’t walk away.
Jasmine sees it too. “After all the fuss everyone’s made about you, I expected more, honestly.”
I try to gather more magic, reaching deep inside myself for any reserves I might have left. But I’m running on fumes, each breath harder than the last.
“You should see your face,” Jasmine says with a childish snicker. “So serious!”
I look past her, trying to spot my guys.
Drake is on his feet now, eyes wild with panic as he tries to push through some kind of invisible barrier Jasmine has created around our fighting space.
Lucien is beside him, blood staining his white shirt where the wood splintered into his shoulder, but I know it’s likely healed by now.
Soren’s face is pure rage, like he would drag Jasmine to hell right now if he could.
And Ash’s entire is body rigid with fury as he throws himself against the magical barrier again and again, the blood mark on my arm burning with his desperation.
None of them can reach me. I’m on my own.
I can’t let her see how scared I am. “All that stolen magic is eating you alive. Look at you. You’re corrupted. Wrong.”
It’s true. Up close, Jasmine’s skin has a strange, waxy quality to it, and there’s a jerking in her movements.
My words hit a nerve. She flings both hands forward. A wave of rotten magic slams into me, the force of it sends me flying backward. I hit the floor hard, my head cracking against the wood, and for a moment everything goes black around the edges. I touch the back of my head, and it’s warm and wet.
“Rose!” I hear Drake’s voice.
I push myself up onto my elbows as Jasmine stalks toward me, gathering another spell between her fingers.
“I think I’ll start with your heart. They say the heart of a natural witch keeps beating for hours after it’s removed.” She pauses, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Or maybe your eyes first? I’ve always been partial to eyes. Love the way you can just pop them between your teeth.”
I try to will my magic up again, and I can feel it there, but I can’t focus enough to direct it, can’t shape it into anything useful. I’m exhausted.
She raises her hands, and I know this is it.
I’m going to die here on the floor of the Great Hall in front of everyone.
In front of Drake, Lucien, Soren, and Ash.
In front of the entire school. I think of Hank, my little frog familiar, waiting in my room.
Who will take care of him if he even lives?
I think of Drake disappearing. I think of all the things I wanted to do, all the things I never got to say.
I close my eyes. If this is it, I don’t want my last sight to be Jasmine’s face.
The final blow doesn’t come.
Instead, there’s a loud bang as the doors of the Great Hall slam open. A blast of wind whips through the room, extinguishing half the candles.
My eyes open just in time to see a familiar figure stride into the hall, flanked by a dozen witches. Even with my blurred vision, I’d recognize that ramrod-straight posture anywhere. Could it be?
Victoria Wickersly.
Jasmine freezes, her spell forgotten as she turns toward the new arrival. “Sister. I thought you were dead.”
“Clearly.” Victoria’s voice is cold and clipped as she continues forward, Galanthis the cat padding silently at her heels. “Your capacity for wishful thinking has always been remarkable, Jasmine.”
I struggle to my feet, using the moment of distraction to try and gather my strength. Victoria’s eyes go to me briefly, a nearly imperceptible nod letting me know she sees me.
Jasmine cackles, the sound bouncing off the vaulted ceiling. “Look who’s back!” She glances at the witches behind Victoria. “And you’ve brought friends. How nice. More for me to eat.”
“They’re not my friends,” Victoria says calmly, taking another step forward. “They’re your replacement.”
“My what?”
“I believe the term is ‘coup d’état.’” Victoria gestures to the witches. “Meet the new Lunar Coven. Blood and Crescent merged under my leadership. They’ve sworn allegiance to me while you’ve been busy being exactly what father locked you away for.”
I see uncertainty cross Jasmine’s face. Her eyes dart around, perhaps counting the witches behind Victoria, perhaps realizing that her support was limited to Ollie and a few coven members who were terrified of her.
I use her moment of doubt to send healing magic through my own body. It’s not much, just enough to stop the bleeding and heal my ribs, but I feel my strength returning, bit by bit.
“You see, Jasmine, while you’ve been indulging yourself, I’ve been building alliances.” Victoria takes another step forward. “I’ve been planning. And now I’m back to reclaim what’s mine.”
“Nothing is yours!” Jasmine screams, spittle flying from her lips. “I killed Helena! I took what should have been mine all along!”
“And that is precisely why you must be stopped. You lack restraint. Control. The basic dignity required to lead.”
“I don’t need your approval.” Jasmine gathers her magic again, but I can see the tremors in her hands have worsened. “I never did.”
“No,” Victoria agrees. “You only ever wanted Father’s. But he was the first one to know you were truly a monster.”
Jasmine flinches.
Then she attacks.
The crowd scatters to the edges of the room as dark, tainted magic ricochets off the walls. I see Drake and the others finally break through whatever barrier was holding them back, but they’re forced to dodge Jasmine’s out of control magic.
“You never understood the responsibility that comes with power,” Victoria calls out. “Father knew it. That’s why he never entrusted the coven to you.”
“Shut up!” Jasmine shrieks. “You don’t know anything!”
“I know he called you his greatest failure.” Victoria’s voice is merciless. “His shame.”
“STOP IT!” Jasmine clutches at her head, her magic faltering as Victoria’s words hit their mark.
“He never loved you, Jasmine. He saw what you were becoming. An abomination.”
Jasmine’s scream is inhuman now, a sound of pure anguish that makes the chandeliers above us rattle. “He did love me! He did!”
“Then why did he lock you away?” Victoria’s voice is softer now. “Why did he tell me to make sure you never saw the light of day again?”
Jasmine covers her ears with her hands, her entire body shaking. “No, no, no...”
You can’t pity someone who’s murdered and eaten people. But this broken, mad woman was once a person. Before the magic and the madness consumed her.
She sees it coming a split second too late. Her eyes widen, her hands drop from her ears, and she tries to raise a shield. But she’s too slow, too scattered by Victoria’s words.
Victoria makes a sharp, twisting gesture with her hand, and I hear a sickening crack as Jasmine’s neck snaps. Her body crumples to the floor.
The snake familiar gives one last violent thrash, then goes still, and I’m thankful that was Ollie and not Hank.
No one moves. No one speaks. I think everyone is afraid to breathe.
I stare at Jasmine’s body, expecting to feel relief, but instead, there’s just an exhaustion that makes me sway on my feet.
Galanthis slinks toward Jasmine’s body, sniffing at it curiously. His tail twitches once, twice, then he turns his nose up and walks back to Victoria, settling at her feet.
Drake reaches me first, pulling me into an embrace so tight I can barely breathe.
Lucien appears next, then Soren, and finally Ash, all of them forming a protective circle around me.
For once, they’re not glaring at each other or making territorial claims. They’re just here, relieved that I’m alive.
I look past them to where Victoria stands, already issuing orders to the Lunar Coven members as they begin to clean up.
We stand there in silence, the four of us, as Victoria methodically restores order.
The room is chaotic with frightened students, the fresh smell of corrupted magic and blood, and Jasmine’s corpse still laying where it landed.
No one’s coming to help her. She’s alone in death as she was in life.
Last time she was in charge, Victoria Wickersly wanted to drain my magic dry and leave me a withered husk, all in the name of tradition and order. She’d have done it too if Ash hadn’t gotten to me first. Now she’s just walked in and assumed the role of headmistress again.
But Ash stands at my side, looking like a million thoughts are going through his head, and I remember, the blood contract is with him. Victoria can’t touch me, not without going through him.
The Lunar Coven witches drag Jasmine’s body away. The students begin to leave, but a sharp clap from Victoria stops them in their tracks.
“Stay where you are! We have some rules to discuss now that I am here to restore order.”