Page 48 of Spellbound
He scoffed. “I have more of a chance than you right now.”
I couldn’t help it. I threw the dagger at his hand. A part of me wanted it to miss, but another darker part of me wanted it to land.
He swept it out of the air with startling speed, then swirled the handle around in his hand, whistling out a breath. “Who knew you had it in you?”
Reasonability washed through me. What the fuck was I doing? “I wanted to miss.”
“I don’t believe that’s true.”
I chewed the inside of my lip. “No really. I didn’t want to spend the afternoon cleaning up blood.”
He laughed, an actual joyous laugh. “You do pass the time, doll.”
“Don’t call me doll!” I exclaimed, and a revelation popped into my head. “Besides, all of this might be for nothing. They might just stop the test.”
He tilted his head. “Why would they do that?”
I smiled. Maddox must not have told him everything after all. “They’re bringing the goddess Freya here to help find the murderer. Something to do with using old magic to break old magic. The coven is going to be too busy, and the elders will have a field day with an actual goddess visiting.”
His expression darkened. His pained stare latched onto me as his fingers curled around the blade of the dagger, which cut into his skin.
I watched, eyes bulging. “It’s not that big of a deal if they postpone the test.” I couldn’t look away from the bloody dagger in his grip. “Viktor!”
He shook his head, uncurling his fingers. “I need to go.”
It was as if he were looking through me. Eyes unfocused, he stepped around me.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Itook a walk aroundthe grounds, then sat down with my paints and painted the sunset in blotches of orange, reds, and pinks, trying to distract myself from yesterday. Viktor hadn’t been around since our session, which was insane seeing as we were locked away from the rest of the world, trapped in the mansion on grounds.
It’s not like I was trying to find him though. The psychopath underneath had shown itself when he grabbed that dagger as if it hadn’t even hurt him. The thought sent a shudder through my body. I sat on a rock, sighing as I looked out at the rustling underbrush between the trees at the bottom of the garden.
I sent another ignored magic quill to Naomi, then sat back and opened a book, letting the words pull me away.
A siren sounded. The shrieking sound faltered my brain. For a moment, I forgot all my training. When that siren was alerted, it meant danger, but it had never been set off before, so I had forgotten about the magical warning alarm. The bubble of magic that had been surrounding the mansion lowered. The shimmering, almost-see-through magic dissolved, unveiling a clearer, unprotected world beyond the mansion.
