A Crown of Blood [18+]

Chapter 19

The witches were creatures of nightmare. They stood across the frozen lake on the outskirts of the black mountain range, their red eyes glowing against the snow-capped background, the light bleeding into the slate-colored ice beneath their bare feet, matching the red runes I witnessed during our first encounter.

Where am I? I wondered. Thick black chains wound around my body and shackled me onto the ice, burning and cutting deep into my skin with every movement. This was a punishment or a trap or both. Even in my dreams, I couldn't escape the shackles of my existence.

I knew this was a dream by the way the light tunneled around me, but the very real danger pricking the back of my neck set my teeth on edge, and I willed my purple magic into my chest, willing it to wake up and face these terrors. Wake up. We are in danger.

On instinct, I reached for the wolf, and sucked in a breath when I felt her presence muted beneath my skin. A spell had put her into a deep sleep. A spell that was not mine or under my control. It was, I realized, the work of the witches.

Normal witches could do no such thing. And these witches, feral and made of salt and earth, were not witches of this time.

I stared at them again. Unlike before, smoke curled from the runes on their skin, and their capes were ribbons across their bony bodies, lips stitched with black thread as if they'd stepped out of the ruins of a great evil. These were different, more demented creatures of the night.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. Steeling my spine, I bared my teeth for whatever came next. "What am I doing here?"

I knew this was a dream by the way the light tunneled around me, but the very real danger pricking the back of my neck set my teeth on edge, and I curled my magic around the wolf slumbering in my chest, willing her to wake up and face these terrors. Wake up. We are in danger.

"The Hallowed Star has returned to the surface," the witches rasped in their dry, hollow voices. "The Book. The Star. The Crown. Can you feel it, child? How it calls on the wind?"

"Let go of my wolf!" I shouted. "And I'll show you exactly what I feel!"

Smiles stretched wide on their distorted mouths. "The fire does burn hot. But will it help you when it counts, girl?"

White-hot fear lashed down my spine. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

They hissed a laugh. "Time is of the essence. Make it count, young witch and wolf. Or your debts will be repaid in blood."

* * *

I sensed the powerful light before I opened my eyes. Was it the sun? Was I dead and crossing into the next life? I didn't know. I didn't even know if I wanted to know. The witches' laugh hissed beside my ears, and I tensed, claws jutting from my nails and tearing into the plush softness beneath me.

Tear out their throats, the wolf whispered. Tear out their hearts.

I would when I found exactly where they were.

Soon, my mind and body raced to catch up with time and space, and a voice echoed through my hollow ears, loud and so very close.

Oh, I think I'm going to be sick...

"Can you hear me, Little Wolf?" The deep timbre of his words rippled through my subconscious like thunder rolling over a valley, all-consuming with power. "If you're dying, Halina. You need to tell me."

A command. One without anxiety or concern.

I'm not dead. Thanks for being so beside yourself with worry. But the words escaped my throat in a garbled mess of syllables that crunched in my ears along with the aches and pains that ran soul-deep. I scented him closest to me, his fingers brushing my temple, moving along the curve of my jaw until he took my chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted my head up.