Page 76 of The Coven

“That was unnecessary. Look at the mess you’ve made,” Gray said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

He approached me, closing the distance between us and slamming my back into the door. I fought to find bare skin, touching his face and using it to press him away from me as he lunged with his teeth ready.

His fang pierced my hand, but I willed that magic into my palm to Unmake him. Smiling into my grip, Gray drew his tongue over the wound he’d created and pulled my blood into his body once again.

“There’s so much of your blood in me, Witchling. You cannot Unmake me, because those bones recognize me as part of you.”

The inside of my head roared like the wind in the trees, rustling the branches of my mind as I made the connections. The first time we’d met, he’d fed from me. He’d taken from me every chance he got.

“Is that what all this was about?” I asked, gesturing between us.

As if his betrayal with the bones wasn’t enough, the thought that he’d been using me, allowing me to think I was seducing him all along, just so he could have my blood in his veins, somehow made it worse.

“No, Witchling,” he said, guiding my hand away from his face finally. He pressed his body into mine, staring down at me with a cruel smirk. “You were a very unexpected surprise.”

I flinched into the wall at my back, desperately seeking distance between us as he raised his hand and toyed with the bones around my neck.

“Take them off,” I ordered. A tiny spark arched between him and the bone, burning the flesh from his finger as he pulled it away.

“I’m afraid I couldn’t do that even if I wanted to. They’re tied to your life now, and I definitely want you to stay alive,” Gray said. He ducked in front of me, taking a step back as he bent at the waist. His shoulder pressed into my stomach, and he hefted me over until I stared at the ground behind him.

“Put me down!” I shrieked, kicking at him, but his arm lay flat across the back of my thighs and held me as still as possible.

The bones clattered around my neck, touching my jaw and making me hope they would somehow fall off, but the magic that held them fastened to me refused to release me.

He stepped through the open door. “I do not suggest you allow her to touch you unless you want to return to the mud from whence you came,” he said, barking the order at the Vessel who waited in the hall. “Have Susannah brought to the Tribunal room and tell Juliet to fetch the missing pieces.”

“I—okay,” the other man muttered, racing off to play errand boy.

I grabbed at Gray’s dress shirt, untucking it from his pants and sliding my hand into it so I could drag my nails across his skin as he walked down the stairs. He jostled me on his shoulder, whistling calmly as he made his way toward the Tribunal.

“I really wish you hadn’t taken my knife,” I muttered, hatred lacing my voice. Gray spun on the stair landing, adjusting me on his shoulder as he hurried down the rest of the stairs. “You’re awfully chipper for someone who just had all his plans ruined.”

“Ruined?” he scoffed, reaching the bottom of the steps. “All Susannah did was force me to work on a tighter timeline. Believe it or not, I was trying to be kind to you.”

He set me to my feet, taking my hand in his and guiding me through the darkened halls.

“By lying to me? Hiding my birthright from me?” I asked, tugging back on his grip. He was relentless, his hold like a cage I couldn’t escape.

“Yes,” he said, turning to level me with a steely stare that danced with something like twisted delight. “I am furious that things had to happen this way, because you will not walk away without hating me for what I am about to do.”

I swallowed, forcing my feet to still. He dragged me over the stones, stopping and turning an exasperated sigh to me.

“Then don’t do it. There’s still time to decide to do the right thing.”

“The right thing,” Gray scoffed, looking at the window where moonlight shone in. The hall to the Tribunal room was empty, the doors thrown open wide in a way I’d never seen at the end of it. “You mean like Susannah’s plan to allow the witches to die out and make way for a new era?”

“I never said that was right,” I snapped. “What is it with the people of Crystal Hollow and being determined to destroy everything you’ve built here? It could have been a haven, instead it’s a curse.”

“Crystal Hollow was always just a stepping stone to getting what I needed,” Gray said, guiding me into the door to the Tribunal. George was pacing in the center of the circle, walking back and forth as he muttered to himself.

“I get the distinct impression a lot of things fall into that category,” I muttered.

George turned to face us finally. His jaw fell open when he found the bones around my neck, and it was readily apparent that Susannah hadn’t shared her epiphany about me.

“Willow…”

Gray came up behind me, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me in close as he ran the back of his knuckles along my jaw and nuzzled into my hair.

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