Wild and Free (The Three #3)(115)

It was because he wanted his errand to be done since the information he sought was important to the cause, and also because it would mean Aurora would be out of danger and he was free to turn his mind to other things.

Like how to get her in his bed.

But right then, after exhaustive efforts, which were exhausting because they needed to be clandestine and because no one had seen her in years, they’d found the witch who’d scarred Abel.

And when they did, Yuri found further proof that Aurora Lenox didn’t have a deceitful bone in her delicious body because she was right. The witch, known as Sula, was a recluse, a hoarder, existing in a vile, cramped, putrid pit so far removed from civilization she was unintentionally (or subconsciously) and very effectively hidden.

And she was completely mad in a way that was not natural.

“Brother brother brother brother brother,” Sula chanted, this being all she’d said since they’d arrived and Aurora started her gentle work.

Except her first communication, which was a shotgun blast. This meant Barb had to do her not-gentle work, magically disarming her and doing it cursing under her breath and sticking a finger in her ear and wiggling it, since the blast was loud.

Sula didn’t like visitors. She’d made that plain. And her panic at being confronted with witches was difficult to witness, even if Yuri gave not that first f*ck about a witch who had, when she had a minute level of sanity, readily carved into a vampire.

She was tormented and had been for years. Demons in her head that had had enough time to eat away anything that was healthy left nothing but a walking, breathing, but only existing shell behind.

“Brother brother brother brother brother,” Sula chanted again.

“Shh, sweetheart,” Aurora cooed. “Shh. Feel my hand. Feel it, Sula. Look into my eyes. You’ve got dark in there, honey. Look into my eyes. It’s okay. You’re safe. I just want to show you light.”

“Devils,” Barb muttered as Aurora kept trying to coax Sula’s vacant stare to meet her gaze.

Yuri looked at Aurora’s mother. “Pardon?”

She kept her gaze steady on her daughter’s work but answered, “Knew of Sula. Never met her. Reckon you’re as old as Aurora says you are, you know witches. So you know, just like anyone, they can be born good, bad, or crazy. Even before all this, word was Sula was born crazy.”

He had no doubt about that. Strong magic was working behind the insanity of the wild-haired, wild-eyed, unwashed woman Aurora was crouched beside, but that took root and bloomed outrageously because the ground was fertile.

“Pretty thing,” Barb went on, talking like she was speaking to herself. “Never saw it. Heard it. Exceptionally pretty, they said. It was a waste, they said. That’s all gone now.”

Yuri looked to Sula.

She was right. It was all gone. But it had to have been there at one point for her to get close to Abel at a bar in order to drug him.

“But they’re devils,” Barb continued, and Yuri turned his gaze back to her only to see, to his surprise, she was looking over her shoulder at him. “You protect those who are vulnerable. You don’t use them. And you absolutely do not ever punish them when your plans go awry because you’ve manipulated a human instrument to do your bidding when they’re not equipped to handle it. They sent her to kill a hybrid vampire werewolf knowing full well he could have cottoned on and torn out her throat. Then, when she only half succeeded with their scheme, which was a miracle in itself, they took the mind she had left away.”

She looked back to Sula, as did Yuri.

“Devils,” she whispered, and he was again surprised by Barb. This time it was hearing the sorrow mingle with anger in her tone.

But hearing it, Yuri felt one side of his lips hitch up, knowing fortune favored him, guiding him to allies who might be uneasy (in Barb’s case) or tempting (in Aurora’s) but were true to the cause all the same.

“Brother brother brother brother brother,” Sula droned.

“Okay, bear with me,” Aurora urged, lifting a hand to Sula’s chin.

This made Barb tense and start to move to her daughter.

Which made Yuri shoot forward to hover over her back, making it there in a millisecond.

Aurora glanced up at him, smiled, then whispered, “It’s okay,” and turned back to Sula.

Yuri looked to Sula as well and then went completely still.

Because she was looking up at him, right in his eyes.

“Blue-brown, blue-brown, blue-brown,” she intoned.

“Dear goddess,” Barb breathed from his side.

“Blue-brown, blue-brown, blue-brown,” Sula kept at it.

“What?” Aurora asked Sula. “What does that mean?”

Sula looked to Aurora and regressed. “Brother brother brother brother brother.”

“Sula, honey, look back up to Yuri. He’s okay. He’s not going to hurt you. Look to him,” Aurora urged.

Surprisingly, Sula looked back to him and switched again. “Blue-brown, blue-brown.”

Aurora snapped her fingers low between them and a delicate rise of gold and silver glimmers drifted up before it rained down over Aurora and Sula.

“Give us more,” Aurora coaxed.

Sula’s chant changed but only slightly. “Brown-blue, brown-blue.”

“More, Aurora. Gently,” Barb advised, and Aurora snapped again. The glimmers rose and fell.