Page 30 of Witch Unbound
Damn it. That was hardly fair, but then a thought occurred to me. “The entity wants me to free the varga. Maybe if I can do that before Yule…”
Bramble grabbed my wrist and brought me to a halt. “You really want to listen to anything this entity has to say? She wants you to free Croatoan too, remember.”
She had a point, but it was more complicated than that, although it was difficult to articulate why because most of it was a feeling I had.
“I haven’t forgotten, but we know there’s more to the varga story. When we saved the females from the Order, the things they said made me believe they’re not in control of their bloodlust. But there’s more. When I went through the portal to their side, I saw them. They live in a village in human form and they have families, but when the moon came out, they changed and became monsters.”
“You think they’re under some kind of curse?”
I shrugged. “Makes sense.”
“And you want to break it?”
“If a war is coming, then they’d make good allies.”
“And if Croatoan stays locked away, there will be no war,” Bramble pointed out.
It was a circular argument that neither of us was going to win.
She led the way up a narrow flight of stairs. “You’ll have to come stay at the manor for Yule. You don’t want to be stuck at the cabin all alone while the guys patrol. Sloane will be here, and Jasper, once we get him back. We’ll have so much fun.”
Stay…Shit. I’d made plans to visit Fee the weekend before Christmas, but if the guys would be working, I could go solo…
I looked up at Bramble’s excited face. She’d lost the only mother she had, and from what I could tell, I was the closest thing she had to a best friend, plus this was my first Yule with my coven. Fee would understand if I made it a New Year’s trip instead.
But Bramble must have read my thoughts on my face, because the excitement bled from her eyes. “I probably shoulda asked if you had plans.” She smiled wryly. “I get carried away sometimes.”
I grinned up at her. “Nope, no plans. I’ll be here, and we can totally hang out and have fun.”
Her eyes lit up again, but she shrugged and flipped her purple hair, acting all nonchalant. “Sure, if that’s what you want.” She glanced over her shoulder with another cheeky grin that belied her flippant tone. “Hope you can hold your eggnog.”
“Honey, I could drink you under the table.”
“Oh, we’ll see about that.”
We stepped onto a dark hallway. The windows were covered with thick black drapes, and I could have sworn the hallway grew tighter the farther we got down it.
“Lauris’s tower is just up here,” Bramble said.
Bramble had texted Lauris just before sundown, asking him to meet us outside the manor, but he hadn’t shown. I needed to get to Shady Lane and speak to the blood witch Ida about getting Jasper back.
He’d been gone way too long for my liking, but what if Lauris wasn’t there? What if he hadn’t received Bramble’s message for some reason and had gone off somewhere?
An arch led to tower steps. We climbed to the top, where Bramble knocked briskly on the door.
“Lauris, you there?”
No answer.
Bramble tried the handle and the door opened smoothly. The room beyond was dark, but I made out the shape of furniture—a wardrobe, a chair, a dresser, and a bed with a figure on it.
“Lauris?” Bramble rushed toward the bed, where Lauris lay on his back, staring at the ceiling with wide, tormented eyes. His bare chest moved so slightly I would have sworn he wasn’t breathing at all.
Bramble sat by his hip. “Shit, Lauris, blink twice for yes if you can hear me.”
Lauris blinked twice.
Bramble picked up his hand and rubbed it. “Come on, dude, you got this. It’s sunset.” She looked at me briefly. “Open the drapes.”
