“All mating isn’t this intense, is it?” I asked, rubbing my heart.
“It doesn’t have to be. But I don’t know. It feels like something kept you away on purpose. And I don’t like it.”
I opened my mouth to say something more, but I stopped, looking up as water began dripping from the ceiling.
“Is that a leak?” Aunt Penelope asked, and I swallowed hard.
“I think you should get your dagger,” I said, the hairs on my arms rising.
She met my gaze and pulled the blade out of the sheath on her hip. I spread my fingers, allowing my magic to come to me. We had wards on the town, the bakery, and each of our homes. We had done our best to protect ourselves. And yet, it seemed we were missing something.
Water poured from the ceiling in earnest, but none of it reached the floor. Instead, it hovered above it, over the wood and every piece of furniture. My aunt gave me a worried look.
“Is that you, Sage?”
“No, it’s not me.”
“She only wishes she was this strong,” Faith said as she walked into the building.
My aunt whirled, looking at the necromancer. “How did you get in here?”
“You think your wards can stop me? All it takes is a bit more magic, a few more drops of blood. That’s why you and your precious little coven will never win. You’re not strong enough. You never will be. You are wasting much of your power so you can save your moral code, and you’ll end up losing much because of it. You aren’t as strong as I am. You never will be. And it’s your fault that this is even happening.”
I rolled my shoulders back, prepared to fight and protect my aunt. “You should go now. The others will know you’re here.”
“The others are already taken care of. Why do you think you’re all alone here with only this little human to help you out?”
Fear coated my stomach, my tongue, and I tensed. “What did you do?”
“Do you think I’m alone? The others will be along shortly, I suppose, but we needed to keep them busy first. Now, about you.” Faith sneered. “You think you know everything? You don’t know anything. All you know is that you came here thinking you would find a new life. You didn’t realize that the life you had, wasn’t yours to begin with.”
“What do you mean?” My pulse raced, and I tried to keep up, my mouth going dry.
“What I mean is that I took everything you thought you wanted. Your perfect little husband. That perfect little family. I took that, too. Did you ever wonder why Rupert’s family never loved you?”
Pain sliced through me. This wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. What she said didn’t make any sense.
The witch sneered. “I didn’t let them love you. A spell here. A whisper there, and they never would love you. They would never trust you. As for Rupert… Do you think he died of a brain tumor, just out of the blue, with no symptoms until he suddenly had a slight headache and had to go to the doctor? No, that’s not how things work.”
I felt as if I couldn’t breathe, as if someone were screaming in my ear, yet I couldn’t keep up. This couldn’t be right. What Faith was saying couldn’t be true. It had to be a mistake.
“You…you killed him. How? How could you do that?”
She grinned, her eyes going dark. “Look at you. You’re so lost. I took Rupert. I took your precious little husband because I could. And Oriel was right there with me, waiting. All I had to do was sit back and watch your pain grow and grow, and you got nothing. I’m the one who got everything.”
“No, that’s not right.” My hand shook, and water sluiced into the air as if it were trying to catch up with me.
“What? You thought somebody could love you like that? No, Rupert was a part of the plan to push you back here. We’re the ones who kept you where you needed to be. Now, you’re lost. And alone. You think this little human in front of you will protect you. You’ve got nothing. You wanted to find goodness. You wanted to find a home. Still, you’ve got nothing. And I’ll make sure you understand that.”
She had killed Rupert. Somehow, she had orchestrated all of this, along with this Oriel. I couldn’t bring myself to think more on it. I needed to protect my aunt, but Faith would pay.
“Who do you think you are?” Aunt Penelope asked, standing in front of me. I wanted to reach out and pull her back, but I couldn’t. Any sudden movement, and I knew Faith would lash out and do something to hurt my aunt. I couldn’t let that happen.
“I’m your future.” Faith flicked her hair over her shoulder. “I’m the future of this town. All you are is a little human who never got enough magic. It’s so sad that you’ll never be enough. It would have been nice if you’d ended up being the future of this town. Of Ravenwood. But you’re nothing. You’ve never had enough magic. And you never will.”
“Don’t you dare come any closer,” Aunt Penelope said, her hand outstretched. I moved closer then to stand by my aunt’s side, Faith’s attention on Penelope.
“Don’t you dare hurt her,” I growled.
“You’re so cute to think you can stop me.” She lashed out, ice sliding from her fingertips, forming into blades. I sent up a wall of water, protecting us and likely destroying part of my bakery. I didn’t care. I had to defend my aunt. However, I needed the others to help me with Faith because she was still stronger than me.
And there was nothing I could do except fight with everything that I had.
“Oh, I see you’ve learned a few new tricks. They’re not going to help you.” She sent out wave after wave of ice blades. I blocked them. My aunt picked up a tray, stopping them as well, though some started to pierce the plastic.
“We need to get out of here,” my aunt said.
“I feel the water all around this place. She set up wards. We’re trapped.”
“I’m not going to let her hurt you,” my aunt said.
I looked at her then and shook my head. “I’m not going to let her hurt you,” I said.
“Touching, but I’m bored.” Faith raised her arms again. This time, the daggers flew into the air, larger and sharper than before. I threw up my hands again, but I couldn’t stop them all. The water wouldn’t be enough, not with the power she pushed at us.
My aunt met my gaze for a moment, and I screamed. Because the blades weren’t coming for her, they were headed directly for my heart. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t quick enough.
Aunt Penelope looked at me and then push me out of the way, her grip hard on my arm as she knocked me down. And then she screamed, echoing my shout.
I yelled and reached for her, but the ice pierced her skin, near her shoulder, through her heart, her stomach—another through her neck. Blood pooled, gushed, sprayed, and I reached for her, catching her as she fell.
The other ice shattered all around us, and a blade struck my arm. I screamed as Faith grinned, and held my aunt as she shook, bleeding out in my arms.
“No!”
Faith laughed. “You can try all you want, but you’ll never be as strong as me.” This time, she took my aunt’s dagger and smiled. “Never.” Lightning wrapped itself around the blade as I held my aunt’s dying body in my arms and reached up, trying to summon my magic. I couldn’t. I was so scared. I couldn’t do anything.