Warmth races through my blood, my heart drumming against my chest with triumph. I straighten within my bonds, breathe harder, faster, trying to restrain my elation.
These witches have no idea that they’re making a mistake.
Alienor sobs.
My chest deflates at the sound of her pain, and my heart sinks back into its resting place. What will become of her?
“Please,” she says. “Let him go. Don’t you understand he saved my life?”
The aunt scoffs, as do the other witches. I want to slaughter them all for mistreating such a pure soul.
Her grandmother runs a hand over the shaft of her broomstick. “That dark magic you executed to tear a hole in our realm could have alerted the Council and endangered every member of this coven.”
Alienor shudders. “But I didn’t mean to—”
“Now, we’re going to use Henry Curtmantle’s magic to make sure nothing else slithers into our realm.”
My nostrils flare.
“What does that mean?” Alienor is openly sobbing now, her cries tearing at my soul.
“We’ll drain every ounce of blood from Mr. Curtmantle to power our the enchantment, and we’ll sell what’s left of him at the apothecary.”
Bile punches the back of my throat, and the markings on my chest shrivel into my flesh. Overpowering these witches might be more tricky than I thought.
If I fail, I face a fate worse than being stuck in a barren realm, a fate worse than death.
I will be alive while they grind my bones to dust and display my remains on their shelves. But most likely, I will become an object of sexual entertainment, much like the wretched soul stuck in the grandmother’s broomstick.
ChapterThirty-Seven
ALIENOR
I’m still crying when Grandma orders the others to drag the Boogie Man into the garden.
There’s nothing I can do to help him. Not when I’m stuck to the wall in a web of magic. Not when I have no power of my own. Not when everyone in the coven already thinks I’m a joke.
The Boogie Man turns his head, and our eyes meet. He communicates so much with his beautiful face. Anguish, determination, hope.
My heart lurches, trying to reach him from across the room. That spell I did to banish him to his realm must have diminished his magic. It’s the reason why the coven can see him, touch him, harm him. He’s no longer the invincible creature I could never defeat.
The coven cocoons him in magic that shimmers brighter than the stars before it disappears with several pops. They’ve rendered him invisible. Invisible so they can transport him across the village without suspicion.
A sob catches in my throat as the witches rise into the skies. They’re going to bleed him dry and then turn his body into potion ingredients, the way they do with exotic animals.
“My apologies, Alienor,” Grandma says, her voice pulling me out of my misery. “I should never have dismissed your claims of being stalked.”
I turn to meet her sad features. Her mouth is downturned, her shoulders rounded, and she almost looks her age.
“He might have started like a stalker, but he changed. He spent his whole married life under a love spell—”
“How were you supposed to know she was telling the truth?” Aunt Klara says as though I haven’t spoken. “We all thought she would end up abnormal.”
“Because you took our ancestor’s magic to revive me when I was born dead?” I snap.
Grandma turns to Aggie. “Have you been spilling coven secrets?”
Aggie flinches. “No. I didn’t say a word.”