spellbound | book #1 | completed

V I I

edited: 27/06/2017

Maksim was not surprised to find himself back in the Old Ruins, where he had just fallen from the portal. He was surprised to find that the mortal girl was sat up beside him, her grey eyes wide and her blonde hair dishevelled and damp from the second torrential downpour that Maksim had been caught in in less than twenty four hours. It took him a moment to remember that he had thrown her into the portal to keep Elthar from getting to her. Now, he realised it might have been a mistake. Her face paled as she stood up, wincing slightly as she straightened the leg that she had no doubt fallen on, and glancing upwards to the bright pink glow of the sky.

"Where am I?" she questioned, her breathing ragged and her voice shaky.

"Well, it seems you are in Astracia currently, only an hour or two from the city." Maksim was not sure how to approach the situation. He didn't want to scare the girl further, but he was not very good at being kind and understanding.

"Astracia?" She frowned and ran her fingers through her tangled hair. "Where is that, Spain?"

"Not quite," he smirked, not knowing where Spain was but assuming it was somewhere in the Mortal World. "Astracia is a city in Refilyn, the Warlock Realm."

Her grey eyes glazed over in a refusal to understand, her forehead crinkling as she searched her surroundings again. Her eyes darted from the ruins to the forest, and then finally to the distant towering buildings that lay on the heart of Astracia. "No. Warlocks aren't real. This isn't real. This is just a dream."

"I wish it was," Maksim responded, soon getting bored of the girl's shock. The sooner they set off to Astracia, the sooner he could take her home and he could forget this mess. He was eager to get this over and done with before they ran into any more trouble.

"You brought me here." She whipped around, anger flashing across her features before she gulped again in bewilderment. "Why?"

"In case you had not noticed, a dark warlock was about to kill us both. I thought it might be nice of me to save your life, which in hindsight, was quite out of character for me and almost definitely a mistake."

"He was after you, not me." Her voice was barely above a whisper, and as Maksim stepped closer towards her, she stepped away and held her hands in front of her as though defending herself from him. He tried to ignore the guilt he felt as he watched. He didn't like the idea of people being frightened of him, despite his hostile character.

"You have been seen with me too many times." He was surprised to find that his voice softened slightly as he explained. "If I left you, they would have wanted answers from you." He remembered Elthar's low voice as clear as if he was standing right beside him, asking him if he had fallen in love with a mortal. He knew that if he had left her defenceless on that street, Elthar would hurt her, thinking that it would indirectly hurt Maksim, or perhaps he would do worse—he and the rest of his brother's associates had even less respect for mortals than Maksim did. He may not have liked her much, but he could not have her blood on his hands.

"Answers about what?" Her voice rose in panic. "What about Sarah?"

Maksim narrowed his eyebrows in confusion, looking blankly down at the girl.

"My friend," she said as though it was obvious. "She's still in Calderdale. What if he hurts her?"

"Oh, that plain little mortal girl." Maksim sighed in realisation and waved his hand as though wafting the subject matter away. He only vaguely remembered the brown-haired girl, already having other things to worry about, like, for instance, the blonde girl standing in front of him. His mother would not be happy with him for bringing her here, particularly since she had already told him not to come home at all, never mind with an unexpected visitor. "She will be fine. It will not take long for Elthar to realise that she is just a stupid mortal. It certainly didn't for me, anyway."