I chewed my lip absently, wondering if what she said was true. It wasn’t impossible. I mean, we were supposed to send another Hecate witch to the House of Witches soon. It was a show of force, reminding the people of why they held the castle, and to show our approval for the king and queen we’d chosen to rule in our place. It also reinforced the magic of the court, something only our bloodline could do since we created the land. Without us returning there once a year, magic would fade from existence in the Nine Realms.
Each original bloodline had a duty to return to the Nine Realms once a year. This reinforced their power to the land while showing strength behind the rules, assuring the people the kings and queens of our choosing could lead in our stead. It reinforced their rule while replenishing the magic.
“You think she went back early?” I was unable to shake the fear that slithered down my spine.
“She was always eager to go, Aria. It’s a possibility. It makes more sense than her being with Freya.”
“Sabine, it is against the covenant to enter the Nine Realms without gaining a pass, and we already know she didn’t get one. There are guards posted everywhere. How would she even get in?” I asked, a million scenarios running through my head. “I also don’t think Knox is an assassin. Assassins don’t announce their presence, they just kill you. Knox is…deadly, but he isn’t exactly hiding it or his power. He just froze me in time and then took me to the top of a cliff, dangling me over the edge. Knox is a king, of which realm is anyone’s guess. I am not marking him off as a suspect, but something about him is calling to me, and that terrifies me.”
“Calls to you, how?” Sabine asked, narrowing her eyes on me.
“I don’t know, almost like he senses whatever is within me, and it senses him. The noise he made, I felt the back of my throat starting to move as if it would echo the sound. I’ve never felt an intense need to do anything other than magic, but whatever he did, altered something within me. Almost as if he sensed it and awoken it from slumber.”
“You’re almost twenty-five, so if he is awakening whatever your other half is, let him. We will need all the help we can get to find Amara.” Sabine scrutinized me carefully and then motioned to the car. “Let’s go home, ladies.”
I watched my sisters loading into the cars and exhaled slowly. Knox was different, and not in a good way. I had responded to his touch, and I never responded to any man’s touch. My body sizzled with excitement and fear. It was red-hot, as if embers had ignited into flames and were burning within me. That would be a problem, one I’d have to handle with delicate steps.
I wasn’t about to end up dead while searching for Amara, not if she’d been willing to leave us. I hated that it was a possibility, or that she had vanished without a trace. People didn’t just vanish; they didn’t just disappear without leaving a trail. She’d left a trail; I just had to find it and figure out what had happened to my twin sister. She could be out there right now, wishing I had come sooner to save her.
“Are you getting in?” Sabine asked, and I nodded, moving to the car.
Chapter 4
We pulled up to an ancient mansion, the House of Magic, around one in the morning. The enormous weeping willow trees I’d spent endless summers beneath seemed to wave a friendly hello as I jumped out of the SUV and eyed the house. The wards hummed in our presence; runes danced in an erotic sway as they settled into place to open the house for us.
Everyone waited, holding their breath as I stepped over the wards and into the front yard. We controlled the house with living magic, which meant it could either accept you or reject you. Occasionally, it would sense we weren’t full witches and would lock us out.
I turned to tell everyone it was safe when a large house caught my eye. It was massive and sat on the corner of the block, with property boarding the edge of ours. It hadn’t been here the last time we were, because I would have remembered something so beautiful. It almost looked out of place, putting the rest of the houses on the large block to shame.
The gate spread around the house, adorned with the symbol of a K surrounded by ravens in flight to mimic a circle. Who the hell built a house on our block of that magnitude without being taken to task for the monstrosity of it?
The other houses were all set in front of their properties that stretched for miles and miles behind the actual block. They’d built them to mirror human homes in case the barrier protecting Haven Falls was breached or failed. You could walk through a basic yard before reaching the front of the mansion, but what spread out behind each was an oasis of landmasses.
“So, the wards are still in place. The house is undisturbed. Amara’s car isn’t here, which may mean she left willingly,” Luna pointed out. “I don’t smell human flesh rotting, but there’s some bad fruit inside and something else I can’t pinpoint from outside.”
I eyed Luna before shaking it off internally. I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t preparing for the worst. Amara wasn’t flakey. She was the one who went to town to defend our family—or had until recently. She was my sister, the one I’d shared a womb. She didn’t leave without telling me, and she sure as hell wouldn’t leave us to worry about her.
Starting toward the house, I whispered the spell to unlock the door and flick on the porch light, but the light didn’t come on. Inside, I whispered the spell to ignite the candles, and nothing happened. Swallowing, I scrunched up my face.
“There’s no power.” I felt along the wall before stubbing my toe on something hard. “Shit,” I groaned. Reaching, I tried the next switch, but again nothing happened. “There’s no power or candles.”
“It’s the House of Magic. What the hell do you mean there are no candles?” Sabine asked incredulously.
“The other houses have power, how is it we don’t?” Kinvara asked, standing beside me, which caused me to jump in the darkness.
“Jesus! Don’t do that,” I huffed, holding my hand against my heart. “I’ll try the breaker, but we may have to wait until morning and call someone to have it replaced. Someone should run to the shop to get candles and food. I’m starving.”
“And beer, or wine, maybe both,” Luna said. “I can’t see shit here.”
“It’s the wards; they’re blocking everything but your magic. Only the Hecate bloodline magic works within the property lines.” Sabine had been a little over twenty when we left here. It made her the oldest, or at least the oldest that we knew of. “I’ll take a few with me to the store and see what we can find.”
“I’ll try the electrical box,” I muttered.
“I’m going too!” Kinvara screamed, and Luna and the others followed Sabine, leaving me alone in the darkness.
“Thanks, assholes.” I followed the wall based on my memory and opened the basement door. I slowly worked my way down the stairs, feeling the steps before I trusted myself enough to put both feet on them.
On flat ground, I whispered the spell to ignite the flames within the candles once more, but the basement remained dark. The altar was down here, which consisted of candles, meaning either someone had been inside the mansion, or no one had for some time. My hand slid over the wall, finding the metal box and opening it as my nail broke from yanking on it. “Son of a bitch,” I groaned, smelling the blood from the broken nail, which had split past the cuticle.