The Veil of Blood and Magic (Enchantress)

19. Zev

Chapter 19

Zev

“ S he’s an enchantress,” Jagger says again, his words unbelieving. “How the fuck is that possible?”

Panic threatens to close my throat. Adrenaline still pumps in my veins, my magic thrashing and angry from the moment we’d heard her scream.

“I don’t know,” I admit, barely able to manage the words. My voice sounds more animal than male right now, and even though I ripped out Balan’s heart, the need for revenge still pounds with each beat of my pulse.

He took what belonged to me .

Touched her. Poisoned her. Harmed her.

I can’t even close my eyes to collect my thoughts, I’m spiraling that badly. My magic leaks from my fingers, the white, crackling power looking for an outlet. If I could see myself, I know my eyes would be wholly black.

Fuck, I almost lost her.

My bounty.

“ Zev ,” Jagger says my name, a hint of wariness in his tone.

I turn to look at him from where I’ve moved over to the succubus’s collapsed body.

He’s approaching me slowly, his dagger firmly in his grip.

I tilt my head, brow furrowed.

He raises a hand toward me, imploring. “I’m going to need you to drop that sword,” he says, looking to where I still have my blade in my hand.

I glance down, noting the way it hovers just over the succubus’s neck.

Oh, fuck.

“I’m not going to kill her,” I growl, sheathing my sword behind my back.

Jagger blows out a breath, making his way to me more quickly. “Don’t look at me like that,” he says as he stows his daggers. “You know the drifter code. Tresses are…”

“Forbidden,” I grumble. We’re trained to kill anyone with even a drop of tress blood in their veins, let alone a half-blood as powerful as Livana. Fuck, and she’d been under the effects of silver too. Her power must be endless. It makes my drifter and Fae magic look like a grain of sand on the beach compared to hers.

Rain whinnies as he nudges the succubus in a worried sort of way. I shush him, pushing him back.

“The Collector made sure his armies targeted any surviving Enchantresses during the war,” Jagger says, kneeling next to me as he looks over the succubus.

“And The Drifter Academy has made sure we kill any ancestors or quarter-bloods for years.”

“How the fuck is she alive?” Jagger asks.

Something sharp spears through my heart as I look her over. She’s been hiding and running her entire life, fearful of anyone who uncovered her secret.

“This is what you’ve been hiding,” I whisper, pushing some hair out of her face.

“She’s nothing like the legends say,” Jagger says, shaking his head. “She never once tried to sacrifice us or siphon our powers. And she could’ve easily siphoned mine. I submitted to her twice already, giving her my blood willingly.”

She hadn’t.

Fuck.

“What do we do, Zev?”

“Duty demands we slit her throat and then burn her body.”

Jagger reaches for his dagger again so subtly I almost miss it.

“You would kill me for her?”

“I wouldn’t kill you.” He shrugs. “I’d wound you enough for me to get her somewhere safe.”

He’s so easily ready to betray everything we’ve been taught to protect her.

I’m not angry with him, but it’s reckless.

This entire situation is chaos.

I thought I’d found a succubus to trade and now…

A tress is inherently more valuable. I can get what I want and more .

Turning her in would set us up for life, one free of bounties and hunts and death knocking on our door.

But the succubus… fuck .

My senses prickle, a new energy snapping through the air.

“Collector core,” Jagger hisses, eyes snapping to mine. “We can’t let them find her.”

I scoop her into my arms, her body so damn limp. “ Move ,” I command, mounting Rain with the succubus in my arms.

Rain propels us into the wooded area near the Banach swamp, and I send a silent prayer to Aletha to protect our backs as we run. Jagger follows us, keeping up his speed by shifting into his baser form that propels his strength.

Sweat drenches my skin beneath my leathers the longer we ride, despite the chilly autumn night. We weave through the dark tangle of trees, pushing ourselves harder and harder in the hopes of clearing Tamworth and making it to safe ground.

Fucking idiot Balan brought her here thinking the Banach territory would keep me from my bounty.

Primal possessiveness streaks through me, and I cling to her tighter.

“Almost,” Jagger whispers, now leading the way. His sense of direction has always been better than mine. “Caelfalls is close.”

We don’t stop riding or running, not even breaking to catch our breath. Not until we’ve made it across Tamworth’s border and into Caelfalls.

Jagger presses on even after we’ve cleared the territory, ensuring we’re deep in the forest tucked against the mountains of Caelfalls before he finds an empty cave near a stream and ducks inside it.

He starts a small fire while I gently lay the succubus down, careful of her head.

“Why isn’t she awake yet?” I ask once Jagger finishes with the fire. My lungs burn as I struggle to catch my breath.

“I don’t know,” he answers. “Maybe she used too much of her power?”

“Hmm,” I grunt, while grabbing the flask on my hip. I don’t bother telling Jagger where I’m going as I head out of the protection of the cave and to the stream.

Rain is there, drinking his fill after the hard ride, and I kneel on the bank, cupping my hands in the water and splashing it over my face and the back of my neck. I scan the area, my ears straining for any sound that is out of place.

There’s nothing but the sounds of insects and animals in the night.

The Core didn’t catch our scent.

I tilt my head back, eyes on the stars shining in the midnight sky. “Thank you,” I say, relief pouring through me. Rain nuzzles me before heading off to graze nearby.

That was close. Too fucking close.

And what the fuck are we going to do now?

We’ve clearly made our choice, but…

I don’t understand it.

Don’t understand this need to protect her even when she drives me mad.

We just protected the most forbidden monster in our realm’s history, and we can’t even blame it on being Linked.

“Hmm,” I grunt aloud, shaking my head as I dip my empty flask in the stream and fill it. I drink half of it down in a few swallows, then refill it and head back into the cave.

Jagger automatically reaches for the flask, taking a few drinks before reaching in his satchel for a strip of cloth, soaking it before handing the flask back to me. He shifts around her torn clothing, wiping off the blood from various long cuts.

My teeth grind together as I watch, glaring at every bruise and wound he uncovers.

“I killed him too quickly,” I growl.

“We didn’t have time for a capture job,” Jagger says, still focusing on cleaning her up. He gently dabs at where her lip is split, then a wound on her cheek. Satisfied with his work, he takes off his leather vest, bunching it up and tucking it beneath her head. “Her breathing is even,” he says, covering her with the cloak from her satchel. “And her heart sounds steady.”

I dip my head in a nod, taking up a lean against the cave wall next to her.

Jagger mimics the position on her other side, the two of us finally catching our breath.

“This changes everything,” he whispers after a few moments.

“Mmm,” I respond.

“What are we going to do?” he asks.

I look down at her, brow furrowed. “I don’t know.”

It’s an answer I’ve never given before.

My world feels like it’s been turned on its axis.

It doesn’t make sense, but it’s undeniable.

“She saved us,” he says. “ Again . How many times is that now?”

“Twice,” I say, never taking my eyes off her.

She’s nothing like I’d assumed.

Not a bloodsucking, emotionless succubus whose only care is her next feed.

Not a power-draining, evil-plotting tress, either.

“She risked her secret, one that will get her killed, to save us,” Jagger says, more like he’s speaking to himself. “I knew I felt connected to her,” he continues, shaking his head. “But this…”

He doesn’t finish. Probably doesn’t know how to finish.

I don’t either.

“We can’t make a plan until she’s awake,” I say.

Jagger looks at me. “Do you think she’ll try to run?”

I shrug. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she awoke and killed us both so her secret would die with us. But after going to such lengths to keep us alive, there’s no telling how she’ll react.

“I just hope she wakes soon,” I say, studying her.

Her eyes are moving beneath her closed lids, her forehead pinched like she’s being chased.

And I hate that I don’t know what she’s running from.