Page 94 of Spellbound
I shouldn’t have told him about that hound. He looked far too impressed, and I was worried I was going to let him down.
“Naomi.” He smiled at her. “Your magic helped take down a god. You helped them that night, and Elle said they wouldn’t have won without you. When all this is over, I’ll be certain to let the council know and see if that three-year ban on retaking the test can’t be lifted.”
She shrugged. “Actually, after all this, I’m not sure it’s what I want anymore.”
“No?”
“I love the magic,” she explained, “but I think I can put it to better use on my own.”
Edmund nodded. “Good for you. Your dad should be proud of you.”
She flustered. “Right. Yeah. I mean...”
Maddox chimed in. “Take the compliment. Right, off to bed.” He scratched his arm. “I’m already getting hives, thinking about those bedsheets. I want to get this over and done with.”
Cold air circled the room, drifting through the open shutters. I sat upright in my bed. Naomi was lightly snoring, hugging her pillow. I didn’t know what awakened me but had a gnawing in my stomach and a sense that something wasn’t quite right. It was almost as if someone were watching me.
“Murder!” someone screamed from downstairs, almost making me scream myself, followed by a blood-curdling scream.
I grabbed an oil lamp, then hit the floor and ran toward the screams.
The clerk was pale. Edmund and Maddox came running, and so did a few other guests. A maid working for the hotel stood at the open front doors. I pushed past her but halted two steps down. The motor had been destroyed, torn to pieces. Nothing but immortal strength could have done that. Was it Freya? Or worse, Raiden?
In front of the motor was a slain man, his throat cut open. I faltered forward, noticing the familiar blond nest of curls around his face. When I got closer, my hand shot to my mouth, silencing my gasp.
Alexander.
My gaze darted around us. The maid ran out ahead of the small crowd now gathered near me and the body. She spluttered over her words.
“’E wasn’t a warlock or ’uman.” She gasped. “I saw ’im. ’E ran too fast and were stronger than a bear. ’E was a god, one of those forgotten ones.”
My stomach dipped. Edmund casually moved to my side, leaning down to my ear. “It must have been Aziel,” he whispered.
I hugged my arms around myself, as my nightdress did little to block out the cold. “Or Raiden.”
“He wouldn’t have done this.”
I looked at Alexander’s empty gaze reflecting the stars. I wondered if he had seen their beauty in the final moments, like he tried to paint. “I’m not so sure. The victim is Alexander.” I lowered my voice. “Freya’s partner.”
“She could be here.”
“Maybe, but if he’s dead, then she would have fled,” I explained. “Question is how did she get close? Was she following us? Was he?”
“Raiden?”
I pressed my lips together. “Yes.”
“I don’t think he’d do this.”
My bottom lip trembled. Edmund hadn’t seen the look on Raiden’s face before he ran that night. He was dangerous, a loose cannon, and I was pretty certain he hated me. “Maybe not,” I lied. “It was probably Aziel, but this still makes no sense.”
Edmund stroked his short beard. “We will need to go on foot tomorrow.”
I gazed at the inkblots of black and dark green, a sea of trees under the night sky, and I felt sickly. I wasn’t looking forward to going back in there.
***
Icouldn’t sleep. Animage of Alexander’s corpse floated through my thoughts, strangling them. He was the fourth dead body I’d seen in my life, and three of them had been since Raiden stepped into my life. I couldn’t stop thinking about him no matter how hard I tried to squeeze out the memory of the last time I’d seen him. His face... specifically the hatred on it.
