Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
CHAPTER 13
Declan’s warrior instincts kicked in before thought could form, his hand reaching for the sword beside his bed.
He never made it.
With a flick of the witch’s finger, the blade slid across the floor and out of reach, metal scraping against stone.
He shot to his feet, muscles coiled, stance braced, mindless of his nakedness, ready to fight what he couldn’t yet understand. Ready to protect his wife. He glanced at the bed to see that Aura still slept, then he suddenly feared that she hadn’t moved for another reason.
“What have you done to my wife?” he demanded, turning a furious glare on her.
The witch didn’t move or speak.
She stood in the corner of the room, her black cloak trailing like shadow-smoke, her eyes catching what little light flickered from the hearth. There was no menace in her posture, but no kindness either. She simply was… and that made her all the more unsettling.
“It’s not what I’ve done. It’s what you’ve done, you idiot,” she accused, anger sparking in her words.
“I wed Aura because I love her,” he shot back.
“Finally figured that out, did you?” she snarled. “But it isn’t love that makes you an idiot—it’s that you didn’t take time to think, just like you didn’t when you made your wish.”
“You twisted my words.”
“You spoke the words with no help from me,” the witch reminded.
“I asked for a life where I didn’t have to search for a woman.” He stepped forward, fists clenched. “I didn’t ask for a cursed trail of broken limps and fainting fits.”
“Nay,” she said, her voice like crackling embers. “You wished to be irresistible, even though women already found you so, and you got your wish.”
His jaw tensed. “It wasn’t what I meant.”
“Most speak without fully considering their words, too eager to get what they desire.”
“You trick people,” he accused.
The witch’s gaze turned sharp, her tone a touch more brittle. “I trick no one. I gave you what you asked for, what you desired. You and you alone tie the knot that binds you. But now you have done it again, not thinking before taking Aura to the ring of stones.”
His brow furrowed. “She insisted on going, made it clear it would be helpful for her to do so, and it made sense.”
She took a step forward, shadows trailing behind her like mist, her eyes bright like fire. “And you didn’t stop her. And why? Because your first thought was about you and the wish, not her safety.”
His eyes narrowed. “I kept her safe. Nothing happened to her.”
“Are you sure of that?”
“What do you mean?” he demanded, a feeling of dread tightening his chest.
A look as cold as ice spread over her face. “You will pay dearly if dark magic touched her.”
And in the blink of an eye, she was gone—no sound, no wind, no trace. Just emptiness where she’d stood and the lingering scent of cold earth and old things.
Declan’s pulse still pounded in his ears. For a moment, he stood frozen, staring at the empty corner as if the witch might reappear. The only sound was the faint pop of the fire and the steady breath of the woman sleeping in the bed.
He crossed to the bed in two strides and spotting the hag stone on the chest beside the bed, he picked it up. It felt warm and heavier in his hand, then he recalled.
“If you are as strong as my wife claims that you are, then you will let no harm touch my wife. She is innocent in all of this, and I will not see her suffer because of my foolishness and… make certain she is never taken from me,” he whispered and squeezed the stone tightly in his hand.
A crack of thunder struck outside so loud and strong that it felt as if it shook the keep.
“Declan,” Aura said softly, her eyes fluttering open, hazy with sleep, and focused on him. “Was that thunder I heard?” Concern etched her brow after her eyes fully opened and she saw his face clearly. “Declan, what is it? What’s wrong?”
“The witch was here,” he said, and cast a quick glance to the corner, thinking his words might summon her, but nothing more than a shadow danced there.
Aura’s full attention sharpened instantly as she sat up. “What did she say? And why didn’t I wake?” She shook her head. “She cast a spell on me to keep me asleep. She only wanted to speak with you.”
He hadn’t given that thought, and that she could so easily cast a spell on his wife unsettled him. “She told me that I was a fool for taking you to the ring of stones… that if dark magic touched you, I would pay dearly.”
Aura frowned, drawing the blanket around her shoulders warding off a chill that lingered in the room. “She worries that dark magic might touch me, but not you? I wonder if your wish somehow protects you.”