Page 63 of Broken Hearted
He bowed, pulling back the black hood that kept him hidden in the dark night. I recognized him as Eldon, one of Adrien’s most loyal. He was a master of his craft and seemed to take this mission very seriously, which I appreciated.
“My lord, lady.” He rose from his bow. “I’ve found your sister. She’s alive but is being kept from using her power.”
My heart flipped over at the way he said she was being kept from using her power.
“How is she being kept from using her power?”
Eldon sighed. “She’s got a dampener rune on, my lady.”
Damn those stupid runes. I hated them.
I began to pace as my mind ran wild with thoughts.
“How many guard my sister’s room?” I asked him, rolling out my neck and readying my magic. I’d freeze the witch solid within seconds.
He chewed on his bottom lip. “Just Elisana.”
I cocked my head to the side to make sure I’d heard him correctly. “Inside, but at the door? The back gate? The end of the street? How many total?”
He shook his head. “It’s just her and … the windows and doors are wide open. It’s like she wants you to find her.”
Adrien let a curse word fly and I frowned. “Why is that bad? It’s just her and she wants me to come, so good. Let’s go.” I started forward and Adrien’s hand snaked out and grasped my upper arm.
“Isolde, she knows how powerful both you and I are. If she’salone it’s because she has something over your sister that is bad. This is a trap.”
It felt like he’d poured ice water down my veins. I wanted to argue, but Adrien was right. This probably was a trap. Elisana, despite all of her many faults, was not a stupid woman. She wasn’t going to just leave herself open to harm.
“Elisana is cunning. She took your sister for a reason. She has to know we’re coming for her and my guess is she’s going to use your sister against us.”
Dread crept into my heart. What could she have over my sister? She’d already rendered her powerless.
Adrien laid a hand on my shoulder and when I glanced up into his eyes, they were alight with compassion. “Let’s go and find out what she wants.”
I chewed my lip. “You just want to walk in there andask her?”
He nodded, slipping his hand into mine. “I fear that if we go in hot, Seraphina will die.”
Those three words,Seraphina will die, were the most terrifying words I’d ever heard in my life.
“Let me lead, okay?” he asked.
I’d been shocked into submission; so scared of losing my sister, I simply nodded.
How did this happen? How did we get here? At that moment my little sister was a hostage in Ethereum at the hands of a blood witch. I had enough on my plate, like stopping the curse that was ravaging both of our worlds. I didn’t want to deal with this as well.
But I would. I had to. For Seraphina.
“That’s not all,” Eldon said, and from the sound of his voice I knew it was more bad news. “There wasn’t a male in sight and from looking through the windows, most of the spies reported seeing cauldrons, herbs, wands, crystals and other dark magic items.”
“So it’s as I feared,” Adrien said with a frown. “We are in a coven of witches.”
“It looks to be that way,” the spy said with a grim look on his face.
Panic clawed at my chest. Adrien squeezed my hand, his gaze conveying to me that we were in this together. It didn’t take away my fear, but it did give me hope.
Eldon led us down the cobblestone road and through the quaint northern village. I wondered if the black waters would soon swallow this place too but tried to just focus on my sister.
“Adrien, I can freeze the woman solid in a moment. Just distract her for ten seconds. That’s all I need.”
