Page 37 of Wicked Bonds
“Every second,” I say.
“Yeah,” she whispers. “Me too.”
We lapse into silence again. She tucks her chin into her knee.
I study the way her hand wraps around her shin, her fingers are long and her nails are short, bitten down. I want to reach out, to feel touch again, but after I crossed her boundaries, I don’t dare.
“You miss it?” she says. “Being alive?”
“Yes.” What I don’t say is that when I miss it the most is when I’m around her.
“Tell me more about how you ended up like this.”
“The official version is that I killed myself,” I say. “Jumped. But the truth is, the Crescent Moon Coven helped me along.”
She looks at me, eyes wide. “They murdered you?”
“I got too close to the truth, and they couldn’t risk the secret getting out.” It’s all fuzzy but remember enough.
“What truth?”
I hesitate. I haven’t spoken these words out loud to another soul since the day before my death. And look how that turned out. But what’s the worst that can happen, when the worst has already happened? It’s not like I can be killed twice. I decide to tell her. I don’t want her to end up like me, even if it would meanwe could be together. What I love most about Rose is how alive she is. I would never be the one to take that away from her. She deserves to know the truth.
“You know I was like you? Marked. Bound to the Coven by a blood contract.” She nods. “Well, it’s not just the magic they want to keep to themselves. It’s the life, too.”
She frowns. “Explain.”
“The reason the Coven is so powerful is because they siphon life from the students they bind, not just magic. The bloodmark doesn’t just link you to the Accord. It feeds them. Every contract extends their years, keeps them young. The witches in charge should be dust by now, but they’re not. They’re feeding off us.”
She digests this, her eyes wide. “That’s fucked up.”
“That’s the Crescent Moon Coven.”
“You’re telling me they kill the bloodmarked?”
“More like they drain them, but yes.” I hate the fear I see in her eyes now.
“How long?” She stands up and starts pacing.
“What?”
“How long do they keep us alive?” She stops and turns to face me. “Months? Years? Decades?”
“It depends on how much they need. Sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s less.”
Rose tilts her head to look up at the ceiling, staring at nothing. “They said I’d be bound to service for two years.” She takes a shuddering breath. “Then I’ll be freed from service.”
I don’t say anything.
“What they really meant is that I’ll be dead. Right?”
“Yes.” Lying won’t help her now. So I don’t lie. “They will siphon your power for two years, then once they have everything they want they will drain your life force to keep themselves alive.”
She lowers her gaze and stares at me. “So what happens if I break the contract?”
“You don’t,” I say. “Not unless you want to end up like me.”
She goes still.
