Bombshell (Monstrous Ink #2)

Chapter 19

“ C ome back to me,” Dallan’s voice echoed through the cave as the Source and I continued to stand together.

“Even I have to admit, your man is a romantic,” the Source said, her pale eyes looking up at the ceiling of the fake-cave. “My druid was like that too. Did you know that Arsenio put him in here against his will too? But he never held it against me.”

The Source’s eyes grew misty as the cave walls started to crumble around us. “You should go with him. That mate bond is going to knock us right apart just as it should. I suppose there is nothing more powerful than love.”

Even though I was being held here and there was nothing more I wanted than to be with Dallan, a seed of guilt started to form in my chest as I looked over at the woman. “What about you?”

The Source shrugged. “I’m sure Arsenio will find some other poor soul to become my Guardian.”

“Then come with me. Out of this stupid brooch and into the world,” I said, reaching for her hands and finding them to be ice cold .

Pale brows drew together in confusion. “How? Arsenio has my name, remember?”

I thought about it, nibbling on my bottom lip as I tried to figure out a loophole for their contract. Then it came to me.

“What if we gave you a new name?”

There was no guarantee that it would work and it was never something I’d been able to do before… but contracting a familiar was something that every witch should be able to do.

I just didn’t know if I could handle it. It required me to be able to overpower the Source’s magic. But if I timed it right, the magic of the mate bond being forged might be enough to do it.

“You’re asking me to become a mere familiar?” the Source asked, sounding almost offended by the offer.

I nodded. “It’s either that or stay here forever. At least as my familiar you can leave this cave and go into the real world. Your choice, but Dallan is coming in one way or another.”

Even as I spoke the fake-cave fell away and we were back in the white vastness where cracks were starting to form, showing bits and pieces of a pair of determined gold eyes.

The Source still looked unsure.

I sighed. “What would your druid want for you? To stay here forever and rot?”

Her lips pulled down into a deep frown. “No, he wouldn’t want that.”

I held my hand out to her. “Then come with me.”

Cool fingers slid into mine and I whispered the words of the familiar spell .

Nothing happened.

The Source rolled her eyes like I was the biggest idiot in the world. “You should know better than anyone that you are not of the magic to be able to mutter verbal spells, Euphemia Finch. You have to feel the magic. You have to want to tether me to you as a familiar and you have to give me a new name. So stop sticking to the ways of witches and do it the way that you were made for.”

The Source said it like it was a command and I felt my spine snap straight as I used my other hand to clasp hers tightly.

Contracting a familiar was not unlike a mating bond, and even as I felt the threads of Dallan’s magic in my soul, my own threads were reaching out for the Source.

This felt different than when I put my hand around the brooch and became the Source’s guardian. This time it felt like it was the Source that was being picked apart and remade. It was like I was tethering her to me and not the other way around.

But she still needed a name. A new one.

“I claim you as my familiar,” the words felt ancient and they sizzled with magic. “From now on, you will abandon your old name and be remade anew—the name I bestow upon you is…”

I hadn’t gotten that far ahead in my thinking and I floundered for a moment realizing that I had no clue what to call her. “... Sourcie.”

The Source’s—now Sourcie’s—pale brows lifted. “Seriously, there’s a million names in existence that you could have picked and you went with Sourcie ? ”

I opened my mouth to apologize but I never got the chance because our surroundings completely shattered and we were sucked out of Sourcie’s realm and back into reality.

The sound of rushing water and cracking rocks filled my ears as I saw a flash of Dallan’s gold eyes before everything went black.

The next time I awoke my mouth was full of sand.

“Ugh,” I groaned, rolling over to spit the tiny grains out. “What happened?”

“Cave came crashing down. Flooded with water,” came Dallan’s gruff voice.

I opened my eyes and found him leaning over me, looking just as crusted with sand as I felt.

“Did everyone make it out?” I asked, groaning with soreness as he pulled me up into his lap and hugged me tightly to him like he was afraid I would disappear if he let me go.

“Yes, unfortunately. Arsenio had his little wizard teleport him and Odette out and the asshole left us to fend for ourselves.”

I glanced around, realizing we were sitting on the beach. A few yards away, on his side, lay Alexander. His eyes were closed and there was a nasty gash on his forehead. “How did we get out? Did he teleport us out?”

Dallan shook his head with a snort. “No, Lass, he got hit with a stray rock pretty quickly. I swam us out.”

“And I helped,” the familiar voice of Sourcie said, this time out loud for everyone to hear rather than in my head.

I searched for her and found her perched on Dallan’s shoulders, hiding behind one of his tentacles.

“Sourcie, you’re… smaller than I thought you would be.” She looked to be about the size of a pixie, maybe a little bit bigger and her colors had changed. Before she was pale, almost clear and now she looked a little bit like me with green hair and green eyes.

“Just because someone is people-sized in your head does not mean they are people-sized in real life,” she sniffed, turning away from me with a harrumph . “And we also need to have a serious conversation about your naming abilities before you pop out any children and call them ‘Childie’ or something…”

The little woman continued her tirade, but I was too busy looking at Dallan. At first, when I awoke, nothing felt different even though, rationally, I knew that he’d sealed the bond to set me free. But now as our eyes met, I felt his heartbeat as if it were my own.

I hope you’ll forgive me for sealing the bond without your consent, Dallan’s voice slipped easily into my head. I wanted to give you a full ceremony and everything, but it was the only thing I could think of .

What would you have done if the mate bond hadn’t been enough to break my connection with the Source? I asked with a frown.

Dallan chuckled. Then I suppose we would have all lived happily in your head for an eternity, Lass. I can think of worse fates .

I shuddered at the thought.

“What do we do now?” I asked out loud as my gaze drifted over to the Wharf which looked to be relatively intact. Almost as if a giant wave hadn’t been getting ready to wash it away completely only a few hours ago.

“Well,” Sourcie said, finally floating from Dallan’s shoulder to mine. I could feel her power, and while it wasn’t as vast or immense as it had been when she lived inside of that brooch, it still was more than a typical familiar had. “It’s up to you whether or not you want to put the barrier back up, but I’m afraid it won’t be as strong as it was before. The Source as I was known no longer exists now that I’ve been remade.”

“I’m sure Arsenio will be so pleased to hear about that,” Dallan muttered under his breath with a shake of his head.

I ignored him. “I want to put the barrier back up as quickly as possible.”

The people of Port Haven deserved to continue living as safely as possible and if I could give them that then I would.

Sourcie pointed at the sky. “Well, you know how to do it… you just need to do it on a much bigger scale now.”

I thought about the barrier around Daphne’s baby, the threads cocooning around him or her to protect Daphne’s insides.

A dry chuckle rippled out of me.

“Lass?” Dallan asked, frowning as he looked at my face .

“Sorry,” I told him with a grin. “All my life everyone always told me my vines made me look like a spider, I’m realizing just how right they were.”

It was obvious Dallan still didn’t understand what the hell I was talking about, but that didn’t matter.

Glancing up at the sky, I began to imagine the same threads that covered Daphne’s baby—just on a much, much bigger scale.

“You’re going to want them a little bit bigger than that,” Sourcie chimed in unhelpfully, pressing a cool hand to my cheek. “And higher up in the sky, like a big dome.”

Dallan’s hands tightened on my waist. “Is something supposed to be happening?”

“Not if you’re looking with only your eyes, squid-brain,” Sourcie told him waspishly.

“Watch it,” Dallan warned, “Before I squish you and pop you like a pimple.”

I didn’t have to look at the two to know they were currently in a stand-off as I continued to weave the web of my magic across the town.

Sourcie let out an exasperated sigh. “Stop looking with your eyes and feel it with that kernel of magic your witch mother gave you.”

I was just putting the finishing touches on my barrier when I heard Dallan gasp.

“Are you the one doing that, Effie? ”

I nodded, a small, sly smile on my face. “Yep, and it’s just about done too.”

Pulling my magic away from the brand new barrier around the town, I felt a sudden onset of dizziness. “Whoa, head rush.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Sourcie said as she floated into my line of vision. “From now on it’s your job to maintain the barrier, Effie, mazel tov !”

I frowned. “You’re Jewish?”

Sourcie shrugged. “My druid was and he had a long time to teach me Yiddish, amongst other things if you catch my drift.”

There was enough innuendo in the tiny woman’s words that I knew not to ask any further questions.

I glanced over to where Alexander was still passed out. “What are the chances he still has a job with Arsenio?”

“Slim to none,” Dallan said without missing a beat. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets kicked out of his coven too.”

“Great, just great,” I muttered. “I don’t suppose we can give him a job at the shop can we? He can help enchant the ink or something.”

Dallan sighed heavily. “Do we have to?”

I shot him a look and he just sighed again. “ Fine but if he tries to extract even an ounce of ink from me he’s getting chucked into the ocean.”

Grinning, I planted a long, languid kiss on his lips. “I love you.”

“Well, I sure hope so, Lass, because I’m afraid we’re stuck together forever. ”

“And I’m here too,” Sourcie cut in. “I’m also here and stuck forever with you both.”

Dallan and I exchanged a look.

Well, I guess there are worse fates for us to have, Lass, Dallan whispered in my mind and I laughed, pulling him in for another kiss.

I can also hear what’s in your mind , Sourcie, who I could tell was just going to relish being a pain in my ass, whispered.

“Go away,” Dallan and I said together, ignoring the woman’s grumbling completely as we stared out at the orange sky as the sun started to dip below the horizon.