Allegiance (Causal Enchantment #3)(90)

“Wow, so … that means she’s been their prisoner all this time?” Amelie said slowly. “Do we even know if she’s still alive?”

“Yes.” I bit my bottom lip while I gathered the courage to divulge my last bit of deceit. The last bit before I was completely free. “I connect with her in my sleep every night.”

“What?” Caden and Max’s combined explosion made me jump.

“I was about to tell you!” I said to Caden, my cheeks flushing, “But Wraith found us too soon.”

He answered me with a stern glare. “Why didn’t you tell me before? I mean, God!” His hands flew above his head. Then he froze, remembering something. His nostrils flared. “That night. The one where you woke up screaming. Complaining about fire.”

I swallowed. “They’re torturing her and I feel it when I’m there.”

Caden closed the distance. “Why didn’t you tell me?” The sudden iciness of his voice threw me off balance.

I turned away, unable to face his anger. “I was afraid you’d tell Sofie and then she’d fly there and start a war. I figured two people suffering was better than millions. They’ve stopped torturing her, anyway. They must’ve realized she’s more useful alive than dead.”

Pulling my face to his chest in a nurturing hug. “Oh my God, Eve! You could’ve told me! I get why you didn’t tell anyone but come on!”

I took a deep breath. “I did tell someone. I told Lilly.”

Caden’s body went rigid. “You told her and not me? Why?”

“Because she’s in Manhattan now and she’s going to help us get Veronique out!”

Amelie dropped to the couch in defeat. “How? The place is fully bound by magic. No one’s getting in there.” I watched a thought unfurl on her face. She turned to somewhere behind me. “Except him.”

I looked over my shoulder to find Wraith standing in the doorway. He must have just gotten there. He didn’t have superhuman speed. He took his time before he sucked the life out of people. But Amelie was right! Wraith was immune to magic. Wraith was unstoppable. The only problem? He wouldn’t go anywhere without me. But he didn’t have to …

“And me. I can get in there.” I could do something. All this time, I thought I was helpless in getting Veronique out. But, for once, I wasn’t a weak, useless human. With this Tribe magic coursing through me, no witch’s magic could touch me. I was like Wraith in that way. Almost dead.

“And me,” I heard Julian’s voice behind me. I turned to see Julian’s slow smile building. “Let me help. I can help. Not only will their magic not affect me but I can get in with my tattoo.”

Tattoo? What tattoo? Max suddenly chirped.

Oh, crap. “Nothing, Max.”

Caden exploded before Max had a chance to question further. “Are you two nuts? We’re not sending Evangeline in there! She’s not immortal, remember? She’ll die!”

“If we don’t get Veronique out of there before they do something drastic, no one is safe. No one at all, Caden,” I reminded him softly. “Think of what Viggo and Mortimer will do if the witches kill her.” He began to shake his head but I was already talking again, my jaw set defiantly and a huge weight lifted off my chest as I committed myself to what I knew was right.

“I’m not asking you. I’m not asking anyone. I can do this. I didn’t realize it before but now that I know, I have to do this. I need to do this for Veronique and for myself. Because I want to, not because I’m cursed to.”

Caden turned away from me. I ignored him, instead turning to Amelie. “How are we going to get there?”

With a dismissive wave of her hand, she simply said, “Easy.”

Wraith spoke up then, unruffled by anything. “Where will we be going?”

I felt my pulse quicken. Back to the start of it all. “Back to New York.”

13. Playing Games—Sofie

Soothing, rhythmic waves lapped around me as I regained consciousness. I lay on my back, my body rising and falling as if floating over waves, my body enveloped in a tropical warmth. Such peace. I allowed myself a moment to relish the calm, gazing up at a mass of blue sky. A seagull squawked in the distance. Its mate immediately responded, bringing to life memories of a childhood on the beach in southern France, baking under the sun without a care. I sighed …

The Fates.

Awareness ripped through me. I was on my feet in an instant, suspicious eyes scanning surroundings for the immediate threat. I saw none. I was alone in an ocean—crystal blue water stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction, barren except for the sheets of ice floating by at unnatural speeds. Sheets of ice in balmy temperatures. My first clue that something was off.

On sheer instinct, I looked down at my feet to find soft ripples of water and my own disheveled reflection staring back at me. I was standing on water! I pawed the back of my shirt. Bone-dry. Not one inch of me touched by water, though I had just floated on top of it. Hesitating briefly, I took a step forward. Then another. Tiny circular waves formed around my feet as I walked but the water’s surface held. A tiny awed smile crept over my lips.

Just below the water’s surface, rapid swirling movement caught my attention. I leaned down to catch a flurry of fins moving past. Sharks. More sharks than I had ever seen in one place, schooling together in a circular whirl as if preparing for a feeding frenzy. Circling below me. I chuckled. The Fates were testing my fear of oversized fish? Did they forget I’m not human?