Fake Mate of the Enemy Shifter (Red Oak Shifters #2)

18. Cassia

Chapter eighteen

Cassia

A fter our disaster of a wedding ceremony, Grey and I do our best to not draw any extra attention to ourselves.

As more Everblade wolves and witches get released and things start to fluctuate and change around the castle, we haven’t found much time to talk to each other lately. With so many people around and new rules being enforced like curfews and magic restrictions, it’s hard to find a private time and place to talk.

At least we’re not enemies anymore. I have no idea what we are, but we’re on the same side. I just don’t know what we’re going to do from here on out.

Do we focus on my powers first? Do we figure out how to handle Morgana and Lucian? None of the above?

I absentmindedly chew on my bottom lip as I roam through the castle, unable to stay still. As much as it pains me, I haven’t really spoken to Gliselle much either. I still need time to process things, and she’s a good enough person to back off when someone needs space.

Eventually, we’ll sort through things, but everything is changing and up in the air right now as Moonveil and Everblade merge together into one kingdom.

The sound of wincing and crying around the corner makes me pause at first. Someone is in pain.

I hurry to the corner and peek around, my eyes widening at the sight of Jules limping down the hallway. “Jules! What happened?”

Jules grimaces as she collapses against the closest stone wall, her shaky hand pressing against the side of her thigh. “It’s fine… I’m fine.”

I kneel down next to her and nudge her hand away, immediately frowning at the sight of a terrible burn that singed her dark brown pants. “What happened?”

Jules seals her lips shut as she glances up and down the hallway. She shakes her head at me, but that’s an answer in itself. I’ve seen this kind of wound before.

“This needs to be healed,” I tell her before placing both hands on her leg. I close my eyes, trying to channel my healing powers, but I run into a block.

I have no magic.

I lower my hands with a disappointed expression. “I can’t heal you. I… damn it.”

“It’s fine. Give me a little while, and I can heal myself,” Jules says as sympathy glimmers in her eyes.

I shake my head and pull her arm around my shoulders, helping her stand up with the foot of her hurt leg hovering above the ground. “I don’t know where Gliselle is, but I know where Everblade’s healer is.”

“Do you think she’ll help?” Jules asks as she limps next to me, wincing every time the burnt material of her pants rubs against her wound.

“We won’t leave until she does,” I reply. “What did you do? I know Morgana did this to you.”

Jules keeps her eyes cast downward. “I broke one of the new rules. Practicing magic with one of the Everblade witches. I didn’t mean to break it. I wasn’t even thinking. They’re just so hard to keep up with!”

New rules on top of all the old rules we had to learn. When is it going to stop?

“It’s not your fault,” I assure her. “She shouldn’t have punished you like that. She shouldn’t have punished you at all.”

Jules remains quiet, and I can feel the tension in her shoulders. She still feels like she has done something wrong, and I can bet that the magic she practiced wasn’t even anything worth fussing over.

I take her through the hallways, anger flaring deep within my chest. Morgana can’t keep getting away with this! And Lucian shouldn’t stand by and allow her to hurt and torture their own coven members!

When I reach Everblade’s healing quarters, I knock on the door before poking my head in and seeing a dark-haired witch picking through fresh herbs in a wicker basket. “Are you Callista?”

“That would be me,” she replies as she turns and faces us as I haul Jules inside. Instead of telling us to get out, Callista motions to the bed on my left. “Lay her down. What happened?”

I carry Jules over to the bed and help her get settled, being mindful of her hurt leg. “Her leg was burned.”

“Burned?” Callista questions me as she drags a wooden chair closer to the bed and sits down. She leans closer and carefully inspects Jules’ wound through the hole in her pants. “Oh, ouch. Hold on.”

I stand off to the side to avoid getting in the way, but I stay in Jules’ eyeline in case she needs me. At this point, we have to look out for each other because we can’t rely on our leaders to protect us. We never speak about it, but I’ve even heard rumors that Morgana and Lucian have killed witches for turning against them.

They’ve just never been caught or pinned to any of the murders or weird disappearances, and a few have even happened in my lifetime.

But they’re just rumors. For now.

Callista creates an ointment from jars of herbs, crushing them all into a paste with a pestle. She walks back over to Jules and carefully spreads the glimmery, yellow-tinted ointment onto Jules’ wound.

Jules winces, her body tensing as Callista’s fingers graze the burn. “Ow. Ow. Ow.”

“I can take away most of the pain, but the ointment will do most of the healing for the actual burn,” Callista explains before hovering her hands over Jules’ wound. She murmurs an incantation under her breath, and Jules visibly relaxes more. “So, what happened? How did you get burned here?”

My eyes flicker over to Jules as she glances at me. We don’t exactly have a cover story, and I doubt Jules is going to admit to Callista that Morgana hurt her. It won’t look good for our leadership at all.

Not that we care, but neither of us wants more burns and injuries.

“I… uh… a torch fell and burned me,” Jules replies, not sounding all that convincing. She gives Callista a weak smile. “I’m clumsy.”

Callista raises an eyebrow at her and crosses her arms over her chest. “A torch, huh? This looks more like a lunar burn.”

Oh, damn it.

I step closer to Callista, drawing her eyes to me. “Thank you for helping her. I wasn’t sure if you would or not.”

Callista frowns. “Because we’re in different clans? Well… I guess we’re in the same one now.”

“Because there is still tension between all of us,” I explain. “I would’ve healed her myself, but…”

Callista nods in understanding. “You don’t have any powers. I’m sorry about that. Tension or not, I hate to hear of a witch losing their powers.”

It’s a rare occurrence, but it does happen for a number of different reasons. Of course, mine has to be an ancient curse that no one knew about.

“Thank you,” I tell her with a genuine smile. At least she’s kind to us. I’ve gotten a few sharp looks from other Everblade members, but I’m far more worried about pissing off Morgana and Lucian. “It’s tough, but I just hope it’s not permanent.”

“There is always a solution,” Callista replies. “No matter how complex, every problem has a solution.”

I look over at Jules, an unspoken conversation happening between us. Our leaders are a problem, but what’s the solution?

Callista glances between us. “Is everything okay? Or as okay as they can be?”

We should stop drawing attention to ourselves. Grey and I have already made that agreement with each other, but the philosophy needs to spread to every Moonveil witch who has any sort of grievances with our leaders. The last thing that we need is backlash for making our disapproval of them known to Everblade.

I only let Grey know so that he was marrying me with open eyes, but he would’ve figured it out on his own eventually.

“We’re fine,” I assure her. “Everything is just new.”

Jules nods in agreement before checking her wound. “It’s already starting to heal!”

Callista smiles and wiggles her fingers. “I’ve still got it.”

I smile a little, enjoying her lighthearted nature. I wish circumstances were different so that I could get to know her better, but if Morgana and Lucian see me getting too close to any of the Everblade wolves and witches, they’ll jump down my throat for it.

They’re always looking for a reason to call me out on something. I’m their little sister’s weak spot. As if they’re not cruel enough to everyone else.

“I should go,” Jules says as she carefully sits up. “I have some duties to attend to.”

That means she doesn’t want to be caught staying here for too long.

I go to her side and help her stand, letting her lean against my side for support. She’s already far stronger and steadier than before. I angle us so that we can face Callista, who has a slightly concerned look on her face. “Thank you. Again.”

Callista eyes us, but she eventually nods. “If you need anything, let me know. Anything.”

I want to take her up on that, but I’m not ready yet. Moonveil isn’t ready yet, but that doesn’t mean we won’t ever be ready to change things. At some point, it’ll have to happen, or we won’t be free witches ever again.

We’ll be Morgana’s and Lucian’s servants and puppets. We’re already getting close to that point, and I know that I’m not the only one sick of it. How much longer can we truly go on like this without losing our minds or our souls?

I lead Jules out of Callista’s healing quarters, tense silence lingering between us. We don’t need words to have a conversation, though. All of our worries can be shared with looks. All of our uncertainties can be heard in the silence surrounding us.

Whether we’re ready for it or not, things are going to keep changing.

And we only have two options to brave this new era: bend or break.