Page 142 of Their Blood Rite

‘Even if we marry, it won’t mean anything, Pixie. Just that I take responsibility for you, which I already have. It’s not like I will want you to give me children or manage my house. And I think I’ve made it clear you can be as liberal as you want with the three of us. So just do me a favour and be quiet so I can sleep, yeah?’

‘Fine.’

‘Great.’

‘I wonder where my father is,’ I muse, looking out the window. ‘Do you know? I bet-’

Shaw leans forward with a tut and a sigh and blows sleep dust in my face.

‘Prick…’ I sigh as I fall back in a forced exhaustion. My eyes close.

‘Finally,’ he says, leaning back. ‘Some peace.’

Dorian wraps his arm around my shoulders so I can snuggle into his side.

‘You can’t just sleep dust her every time she asks questions you don’t want to answer, you know,’ he grumbles.

‘Watch me.’

The darkness of a dreamless sleep claims me.

‘What the… Wake up. EVERYONE! WAKE UP!’

Archie’s elbow jabs into my ribs, and I sit with a start. The carriage hasn’t even stopped before Dorian and Shaw leap out.

The unmistakable orange glow of a fire illuminates the sky. Archie’s grabbed the scruff of my neck and dragged me out, pulling me along as we run towards the flames. We skid to a stop when we see part of the castle on fire. Many of the creatures who live here are desperately trying to put it out.

‘What’s happened?’ I gasp, wincing as Archie tightens his grip on me.

‘Come on!’ he orders. We run closer, stopping where Shaw is hastily barking orders at anyone nearby. ‘What’s happened?’

‘Fire started an hour ago,’ Shaw replies, his eyes wide and the reflection of the flames flickering in them. ‘No one saw how it started, but it will destroy everything if we don’t stop it!’ He looks at the two guys. They all share a look I don’t understand. Something unspoken between them. Something they won’t say aloud.

Archie joins the others, grabbing buckets of water and roaring orders. I step aside, trying to keep out of the way. The fire is fierce and will ravage the entire castle in a few hours if all they have are buckets of water to stop it.

I run past the others and ignore them as they tell me to stop. When I feel the heat of the fire on my face, I fall to my knees and sink my hands into the dirt.

My eyes close and I let out a long, calming breath.

I feel the earth below. Feel its force. Its balance. Its noise. The life below, churning and grinding. Most think the soil is silent, but it’s not. There’s more life in the dirt than there is in the air. It’s constantly moving.

I utter a few words, connecting to the power beneath my fingers. I hear Dorian running up behind me, but before he gets there, the ground explodes. Dirt and soil rise up from beside me, and as I exhale, it charges forward like a great wave. I travel with it, feeling it through my connection. Guiding it and forcing it forward into the heat. Through the windows. Through the doors. Along the halls, smothering the flames in mud and dirt. It’s as if a violent sea washes through the castle, dousing the fire.

Only when it’s all out, and only smoke remains, do I sever the link and slump, gasping and panting with a headache so painful I throw up.

When a hand settles on my shoulder, I flinch.

‘Don’t,’ I manage, every word making my brain throb. ‘Leave me be.’

‘How did you do that?’ Shaw asks, kneeling beside me.

‘My coven used to… when fires broke out… I just…’ I groan again, my head pounding.

Living in a forest, fires happen often. I saw many of the elder coven members extinguish fires that way. Saw them kneel and speak to the magic beneath us. Saw the wave of mud.

But in truth, they were far more experienced and trained than I. And several witches always worked as one to do what I just did, and I never saw them make a wave that big. I didn’t expect it, and I didn’t expect to follow the wave as if I were the wave itself.

I certainly didn’t expect the pain it’s left me with.

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