Page 21 of A Deeper Blue
“In Greece? Really? I didn’t think anyone survived that.”
Azure shrugged. “Milo thinks it’s because he was still in the seed. Anyway, he hates Warlocks, you know, since they wiped out his entire family and a thousand others. But he loves wolves because one brought him to a new forest. So there you go.”
“Aw, go Team Wolf,” said Rafe. “Glad one of us out there isn’t an asshole.”
Azure chuckled and dashed off another text. At least, that was what he thought she was doing with her phone. The phone looked way fancier than the last time Rafe had looked at phones. He remembered the way cellphones had flipped open like Star Trek tricorders. That had been cool. Now they looked like little TVs. He was starting to suspect that maybe he should have kept up better on recent technology.
They moved around the campsite setting up, and as the sunset behind the trees, Rafe found himself with a full belly, watching the fire with his arm draped around a beautiful girl, and his thoughts returned to the same swirl they’d been in all afternoon. The very idea of being without Azure now opened up a great aching well of sadness in his chest. Unless he didn’t have to leave? He had howled for her, and she had responded. It wasn’t supposed to work that way, but it had. So… what was he supposed to do now?
“So witchcraft,” said Rafe, adjusting his arm and trying to be subtle. “What’s that like?”
Azure looked at him and laughed.
“What?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“I don’t know. I just… witchcraft. That sounds… different.”
“But you do magic,” said Azure.
Rafe shrugged. “Basic shit. Just stuff I’ve picked up here and there. Wolves don’t usually go for real big magic. Wearemagic, and that’s generally enough.”
“Mm,” said Azure, relaxing against him. “It is until it’s not. What are you actually asking?”
Can you be with me?
But he couldn’t ask that. He could barely even think that.
“Because if you’re asking how does witchcraft work,” she continued, “then you already know how—it’s just magic.”
“It seems like there’s more,” he said hesitantly.
“There is,” she said. “Witches… well, there are a variety of styles, but my kind takes certain oaths to protect and serve the weak.”
The noise he made wasn’t a word, but it did convey his disapproval and confusion.
“Wolf doesn’t like that?” she asked, her voice a silken purr, and he was old enough to know that tone was a trap.
“To protect the weak of the pack is the correct decision. But you haven’t limited your scope. And serve the weak? Serve them how? What does that mean? I don’t know a lot of magic, but I got told all the tales as a pup—open-ended promises… those leave too much wiggle room.”
Azure chuckled. “The wiggle room is intentional.”
“Why?”
Azure hesitated. “Those are for the witch’s benefit. So that I can decide how best to protect and serve without being punished.”
The growl he made was inhuman, and he felt Azure tense at his side.
“I do not like the sound of you being punished,” he said after a moment. “Who is this person who would dare to sit in judgment over you?”
“Me,” said Azure.
“What?”
“There isn’t a panel. There isn’t a trial. If I break my oath, then I will know. That’s how the oath spell works.”
“Why take these oaths at all then?”
