Page 31 of WitchCurse
I’d been dying, and thought maybe that would be okay too. Living had been brutal, lonely, and filled with endless pain. If the end meant strong arms and a calming embrace, I was all for it. I let myself be enfolded into his arms, accepted his offer of a bond, and all of it began with a dance.
The question came back to why? Why bond me at all? Why not leave me to die? What had he said when I’d first felt the barrier holding back our bond disintegrate and found Toby tied to us?What I do best,survived, saving random mortals.
How had I helped him survive? There had been times when I’d used his magic to fight, or to hunt monsters of Underhill to feed him magic. Without his magic, what was the point? He had saved me because I was a random mortal? Why else make me his scion? Because Sebastian would have cared if I’d died? Kiran had known little of Sebastian, only that he was another kitsune. And he had known even less than me. Yet he’d sought me out, offered me the bond in a dream, and given me a chance at life.
The bond had hurt. I woke in the cave finding it hard to breathe, but alive, Kiran’s strength trickling through me, bringing life back to my dying body. It had taken me almost a week to heal and make my way to the palace where he was still slowly chipping away at the ice.
I had laid eyes on him, half bound, and so much different from the dream. Why did he hide himself? That had never really made sense until I could look into his past and see the pain there. Betrayal, hate, and anger everywhere. And only one had ever seemed to look on him with affection, or at least that he remembered.
Freeing him had taken another slew of days, and lots of reading through the books left behind. Those were burned into the bond as we’d run out of time. Freeing Kiran had unleashed a dozen attacks from monster guards inside the palace. He had been too weak to fight, and I hadn’t understood how he could feel so strong to me, yet be powerless against the raging monsters left behind to keep him caged.
Time had revealed a lot of secrets. I waged war in his place, fighting battles and learning to use hisgodkillersword, not understanding how he could be weak when he made me so strong. My fault. I messed up a lot. Not all that unlike Toby. He was bound to us now, his tie somehow shifting the balance of magic, adding weight and substance to the swirling mess of energy in this world.
How long had it taken Liam to learn while stuck in Underhill? A year or two at least. I couldn’t remember. The more the sanctuary had shrunk, and Kiran’s fade progressed, the more unstable I’d gotten, until I spent every moment in the library, hiding. Until that too had been lost, vanishing into a ghost of a memory as I refused to use more of Kiran’s strength to save books rather than our lives.
We rounded the field of planted lavender, me avoiding stepping on the plants, and finally reached the camper’s edge. I couldn’t hold back the sigh of relief. It still looked the same on the outside, though I had funneled strength within to build the inside up as I had our sanctuary. The chaotic portion that I had yet to sort, all shoved into a center room, door closed until I could work through it. I had to admit to being more than a little irritated that Toby’s addition to our bond made the lines and details of the magic clearer. I shifted Kiran’s weight in my arms, enjoying the feel of his head resting half on my shoulder. It was rare to find him vulnerable, even in sleep. But I suspected that was the progression of the fade.
“I can take him if he’s getting too heavy,” Toby offered, still following close behind.
“No,” I snapped at him. I headed directly to the door of the camper.
Sebastian reached it first and opened it. He put a hand on my arm. “Nick…”
“It’s okay,” I said. The fae couldn’t lie, though they spun half-truths really well. I was not so bound. “He just needs rest.”
“I’ll make some food,” he said and looked back at Liam who kept a reasonable distance away. Liam’s gaze was focused on Toby. Angry because Kiran had taken his wolf?
“You don’t have to,” I said. “We don’t want to be a burden.” I stepped inside and carried Kiran to the bed at the back. There were a handful of doors and stretched walls that had not been there before, a bit haphazard, but my building had been rushed. Once Kiran was settled, I’d spend more time smoothing the lines and blending the mess.
Sebastian followed me inside, digging out blankets and extra pillows. The wards recognized him, and while I knew Kiran had changed a few, he never tried to keep Sebastian out, an unspoken kinship between the two that remained unvoiced. Because they were both kitsune? Kiran would never admit it, but he treated Sebastian like a beloved little brother. Even when he snarked and teased, it was all done with kindness, something Kiran hadn’t experienced a lot in his life. His affection for Ari was much the same, protective, teasing, and occasional glimpses of his hidden sense of humor. I set Kiran down, pulling the blankets up over him, and taking the ones Sebastian handed me.
“Don’t be mad at Toby,” Sebastian whispered, his body filled with tension while he stood only a few feet away.
I sighed, unable to help the anger. Toby and I had spent months dancing around a mutual attraction, but one I’d been unwilling to pursue for a dozen reasons. First and foremost, had been Kiran, the second was Toby’s internal conflict. His wolf willing to make demands that the human slept through. And then there was our impending doom. How long had Kiran and I been dying? Seeking something beyond ourselves had seemed cruel.
Toby stood in the doorway, bouncing on his heels a little, nervous energy, mixed with worry. When I glimpsed into his mind, as I would have to teach him to ward his thoughts to keep us out as Kiran had taught me, his human side paced. Rarely had I caught that part of him mobile and aware, but the wolf laid nearby, watching. The wolf thought we belonged to it. All its conflict faded as we were not in danger and it thought of us as pack, because we belonged to the wolf.
You do,the wolf’s gruff voice told me. The human paced, anxiety rising.
“I’m sorry,” Toby said.
I made sure Kiran was tucked in before turning and crossing the space to back him out of the camper. Sebastian followed and I could feel him trying to use his omega energy to soothe my anger, but I wasn’t wolf. I closed the door behind us to keep the noise from waking Kiran.
“Never again,” I told Toby.
He flinched. “We’re bound…”
“You will never make decisions for him, or me without talking to us first. You could have killed us. Do you understand?” I didn’t fear death any more than Kiran did, but I wanted him to live, and the idea of the fae taking him, caging him again, that was a thousand times worse. Him changing gave them reason to come for us, or even war with Liam and Sebastian. I have never been one to lead with violence, but fear of losing him… It was hard to hold back that rage and not slam a fist into Toby’s face.
“I won’t,” Toby said, though his wolf snarled inside his head that they would do what they had to.
Liam stepped in to touch Toby’s shoulder. “Let’s give them some time.”
“No,” Toby snarled, wolf half lunging forward, freeing himself from Liam’s touch, and lashing out with a punch that missed because Liam was fast and dodged it. “They are mine.” He trembled, wrapping his arms around himself. The human and the wolf battling in his head for control. The first time I actually witnessed it. The wolf didn’t really fight, unwilling to hurt the human side, because the human didn’t have fangs or claws, and death for one meant an end to both. But the human side was unwilling to back down, lashing out at the wolf who tried to dance away.
Sebastian wrapped his arms around Toby, hugging him tight. “It’s okay. Everything will be okay.” His gaze found Liam, who had gone expressionless, but kept his distance. I couldn’t recall Toby ever attacking the alpha, and feared this whole thing was going to get us kicked from their land.
“I understand if you want us to go,” I said to Liam. “The fae will keep coming for him. It’s what they do, no matter how weak he gets.”
