Page 40 of The Cursed

For a witch who didn’t like to be touched at all, but by men in particular, she’d found solace in him.

Iban stood before them, turning to find me approaching. I slowed my steps, unsure what would wait for me. I’d killed his uncle in cold blood the night before, and even if the man had deserved it, I more than anyone would understand that it wasn’t always simple to untangle the emotions from logic.

Sometimes, you could love someone and still admit that they were an absolutely terrible person.

Jonathan poked his head out of the messenger bag I’d slung over my shoulder before leaving the privacy of the room I’d shared with Gray. I didn’t have the heart to ask to return to my dorm, knowing doing so would only drive a wedge between us.

A week ago, I’d have insisted and said damn the consequences. Getting close to him should have been my goal even then, but I hadn’t had any personal stake in the end goal.

Now…

Now, I wanted nothing more than to deceive Gray the way he’d deceived me. I wanted him to believe that I’d settled into our lives.

Because I needed to send him back to the pit from whence he came from, sooner rather than later. Even if the very idea of removing him from my life, of hurting him, made a shock of agony streak through me, the night before had proven why it was necessary.

I wasn’t strong enough to resist him. I wasn’t strong enough not to fall prey to his sweet, whispered words. I’d thought sex would be my undoing, but it was the way he seemed determined to sink inside my heart and make his new home there.

Margot wasn’t the only one the enemy had compromised, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I was completely lost.

Iban shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, not reaching out to hug me in the way he might have prior. The distance was necessary, and it was to be expected, but that didn’t stop the jolt of sadness that I felt anyway.

“When did you get a cat?” he asked, glancing down at Jonathan.

“It’s a long story,” I said, turning to the girls. “I need your help.”

“What are we doing?” Nova asked, shoving the last bite of her lunch into her mouth and standing. She tossed the trash into the garbage can, brushing her hands together to rid herself of any crumbs.

“I want to find a way to send them all back. The Vessels, the archdemons, Lucifer,” I whispered, looking between the three of them. I hoped I could trust Iban with this, but he nodded in approval and alleviated my fears for the moment.

“I think I know where to look,” Iban said as Della got to her feet. “There’s a section in the library. It’s been forbidden by the Covenant, but I can take you there.”

“How?” I asked, studying him.

“While all of you spend your time playing with magic, I read. That library is my courtyard, Willow,” he said, gesturing at the plant life around him. “I may not have magic in the real world anymore…”

“But you do in books,” I said, nodding my head in agreement. There’d been a time when I was younger, when all I wanted to do was bury myself in books that told of quests and magic, being that I couldn’t spend every waking moment watching my mother practice.

He smiled, the mannerism a ghost of what it had once been when he looked at me. Turning to lead the way to the library, he guided us through the halls. I kept my head down, trying not to draw attention to myself or where we were going. If any of the archdemons caught on to my plan, I’d never be able to stop them from leveling this school and everyone in it.

I still felt the memory of Beelzebub’s hands on my head when he snapped my neck, and the possibility of him doing that to Margot was exactly what motivated me to keep going in spite of the risks. She deserved so much better than a male who was capable of hurting an innocent woman he didn’t know like that.

I scoffed, imagining Beelzebub’s reaction to my imagining myself to be innocent. He would claim something very different if and when he found out about my plan to rid this world of the demons that had been banished long ago.

It was the only way to put things right after I’d torn them apart. Gray may claim that he wanted to build a home in Crystal Hollow, but how many years would it take for him to want to expand his territory?

Now that he was not bound by his need for witch blood to survive, he would soon realize there were other points of power within this realm. Other witches, other clans, and others connected with the earth despite him not opening the doorway.

If he could get them on his side, if we could make them a part of the Coven, then there was no telling what boundaries he would cross in his quest for power. Lucifer had been cast down from heaven because of his disregard for human life and the free will his father valued.

What would it take for him to remember that?

“Tell me about this forbidden section of the library,” I said, distracting myself from my train of thought. If I could only send them back, I would never again have to wonder.

I’d just be alone again.

I shut out the insidious thought, focusing on the life I could have without any of the complications Gray brought. I hadn’t chosen him for myself. I could have the chance tochoosefor myself rather than having my fate determined centuries before I’d been born.

“The Covenant used to forbid anyone from entering. She said it was full of magic that only they could use,” Iban said, shaking his head. “But I’ve never seen either go into that room.”

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