November Reign (Northarbor Coven #3)

1. Prologue

Prologue

Bitterly cold air bit into my exposed skin. Snow flurries filled the air and muffled the sounds my unwilling companion was making. Snow stuck to his legs as I pulled him beside me. It clung to his eyelashes and landed on his damp cheeks.

Hand in his hair, I dragged him forward. Blood welled from a cut on his lip. His eye was swollen shut. His arm, looking broken, he clasped to his side. He’d fought me hard. He shivered from the cold, only clothed in a ragged shirt and torn suit pants.

With a shove, I launched him forward, disgust on my face. He landed at Basil’s feet with a cry of pain. The witch took hold of his prisoner with a look of unrestrained glee.

“Oh, what a prize you’ve brought me!”

“We’re done,” I barked, flexing my fingers in my agitation. My magic swirled within me, wanting out. “You got what you wanted. Stick to the terms of the agreement. ”

Basil’s eyes twinkled with amusement. He tightened his grip on the man’s shoulder, keeping him upright.

“Of course! As if I’d lie to you, darling.”

I scoffed. We both knew which of us was the liar. Really, we both were. All I’d done these last few months, the last year, even, was lie. One after another, they built up until I couldn’t tell what the truth was anymore.

“Is he bound?” Basil asked, all the while his captive spilled expletives at him. Basil muttered a spell to mute him.

“Fuck you!” I glared at him, standing strong even as I shivered with the cold. “Damn right he is. Only way I could get him here.” Even without his magic, he’d been a pain in the ass to restrain. My body ached with the effort it had taken. I thumbed at the blood beading on my own cut lip.

“Do you have the grimoire?”

That earned him another glare. “Would I go through all this and not bring it?” There was no one on this planet that I hated more than Basil. I loathed him almost more than I’d once loved him.

“Show me.”

I shrugged the backpack off my shoulder and opened it, giving Basil a glimpse of the cloth-bound book inside. From the distance between us, he was sure to feel the power of the book. It was practically sentient after the hundreds of years of magic the coven witches had poured into it.

“More. Take it out. Open it up.”

“I’d have to touch it. I don’t have gloves.”

Basil sneered. “Afraid it’ll choose you?” I didn’t respond. “There’s no way you’re powerful enough to take hold of the coven. You’ve always been weak!” he spat, showing his true, hateful colors.

“Only when it comes to you. It ends today. Take the book. Take him and leave!” I yelled. The backpack, book and all, fell to the ground at my feet.

He laughed as he used his magic to further subdue his prisoner, stopping his inching away. He cupped his throat and dragged him closer.

“What do you think, little brother?” He mocked the man he held. “Do you believe I went to all this trouble to just leave?” He snickered, glancing my way. “The Northarbor coven is my birthright. No one, not you, not anyone, can steal this from me.”

Even at this distance, his rage was blistering. He turned it upon me, drawing closer. His captive shrank into himself for protection.

Basil’s lips moved as his magic stormed around us, whipping up the snow and ice on the ground, making them weapons.

In response, my magic flared. I muttered the words to create heat and light to use against him, careful not to hurt the man on the ground any more than I already had. All of this had been for nothing.

“Did you really believe this would be it? I’d just walk away after everything I’ve been through?” His voice was thunderous as he closed the gap I tried to create, still dragging the man at his feet.

“No,” I whispered, my voice stolen by the wind. “I always knew you were a liar. Just like me.”