Unblessed Witch (Phases of the Moon #4)

7. Micajah

7

MICAJAH

My world was painted in ruin. That wasn’t a metaphor, either. As I stood holding Deva against my chest, I looked around the cavernous room that she’d nearly brought down with a single blast of power.

My little siren had only shared a fraction of her power with us, and it was enough to level me—to make me understand that we were dealing with a magnitude and type of magic we had never before encountered.

Deva had conquered death and reaped the reward.

“I don’t understand,” she said from her place in my arms. I had no doubt she could stand on her own, but I was thrilled she was letting me hold her. “If you blasted the door open to get in , when did it close back up?”

That was a fantastic question. “We aren’t sure, little siren.” I had a feeling that it had everything to do with the power that coursed through the walls of this room. This was no ordinary burial site. Crystalline stalactites hung from the ceiling, their sharp points looming above in constant threat. Water ran in a protective ward between where the concrete slabs had stood before Deva’s explosion of magic, the only light the dim glow emanating from the crystals on the ceiling and the symbols on the walls.

The space had an eerie feel, even to me. The macabre display of death, while amusing at other times, had been insanely over the top. Nearly one hundred and fifty corpses, by my count. Even before they’d been disturbed by Deva’s release of power, the way they’d been laid on their concrete slabs was a mockery of a mausoleum. There was nothing respectful in the way the bodies had been displayed, no hint of honor for the dead.

This place hadn’t been designed for them anyway. No, Astaroth had created this space to drain magic from the not-yet dead.

Something I was no longer concerned about. I didn’t fully understand what had happened with our magic in relation to Deva’s, but my blood magic seemed undisturbed. It was almost as if the runes that had appeared under our skin contained the extra magic within their lines, stopping it from mixing with or affecting our normal power.

Yet despite that, my magic felt overpowered as fuck, and I knew the others felt similarly. Astaroth was a threat because we were in his territory, but if I had to face him one-on-one, I felt even more confident than before in my ability to kill the demented fuckhead.

Plus, if having more runes on my body stood as a testament to Deva’s love for me—wanting to mark me—then I was more than happy to bear those marks for the rest of my life.

Keeping myself from thoughts of Astaroth strolling around completely unharmed as Deva lay nearly dead beneath him, I held her close and focused on getting us out of here. Oz had refused to leave Deva’s side, but Alek, Grim, and Lazaro had all taken turns attempting to blast open the doors to little effect. Individually, in pairs, all three of them at once—it didn’t matter. The wards trembled under the force of their magic, but never broke. That wouldn’t fucking do.

The only thing keeping any of us from losing the little bit of our sanity left was the absolute need to get Deva out of this damn compound. If we couldn’t get out, if we had even a second too long to consider what we’d just seen—the image of Deva inside of a glass coffin, truly looking dead, burned into our memories—well, I knew that none of us would make it out of here. The compound would be brought down on our heads by the magic that our fury would unleash.

“I’ve never been down here,” Deva murmured, looking around the space. Her silver hair fell over my arm, and I resisted the urge to bury my nose against it—just to breathe her in. To reassure myself that she was here and in my arms. Her mercury eyes avoided the bodies strewn around us, and I wished I could shield her from seeing them.

“He must have moved me at some point because he did the ritual—or whatever he did this time—outside like normal,” she said after a moment.

Like normal . I loathed every single thing about that statement.

“How much longer did he continue after you blocked us out?” Oz asked, the first time he’d spoken since we’d arrived in this cave.

“When you received the runes, it was my last-ditch effort to keep Astaroth from getting my magic. So until then.”

Oz just stared at Deva, returning to his mute state. He didn’t need words to express himself, though. The man was wrathful. Rightfully so. I myself planned on slaughtering whoever we came across in Astaroth’s camp, but I wasn’t sure Oz should be allowed on the battlefield in this state.

I buried my face against Deva’s neck, whispering roughly, “I love honesty, but maybe we spare the details when it comes to Oz, little siren.”

Deva nodded, glancing at Oz with concern. “I am so sorry that you guys had to feel that?—”

I dipped my mouth and kissed her before she could finish her sentence. She didn’t need to apologize for a thing. The only thing that would fix this now was Astaroth’s death.

“You’re back with us, and that’s what matters.” I took the moment as an opportunity to take her in. Her naturally luminescent skin now glowed with light from the runes beneath her skin, surrounding her in a halo of light in the dark room. Even her hair was now streaked with moonlight, and I couldn’t stop touching it in an attempt to soothe both her and myself.

“This isn’t working!” Grim called out, striding toward us in frustration. Lazaro took his place, blasting lunar magic toward the door. It was an impressive display of power, lighting up the room with sparks of dangerous magic, but it had no effect on the door.

“Let me try.” Deva tried to squirm from my arms, but I locked her down with an arm across her waist and her chest.

“No,” Alek called out before I could answer the same.

“You need rest,” Lazaro agreed, he and Alek joining the rest of us in the center of the space.

“More so, you may end up bringing the entire compound down on top of us,” I pointed out, kissing the top of her head. “We want to wait until we’re outside to do that,” I teased as she looked up at me with a smile, feeling relief echo through our bond.

I felt everything but humor or amusement in this moment, but I also could tell she was worried about me—worried about all of us. I was more than happy to give her some assurance that I would be alright, even if it was a facade to cover the maddened state I could feel myself slipping into. One that was plagued and obsessively focused on the need to slaughter Astaroth.

“Fine, I’ll wait till we’re outside then.” She rolled her eyes in mock annoyance. “Seriously though, we know these wards are breakable because you were able to get in. There has to be a way to get out.”

“I have a feeling that you helped us enter when you pulled on our connection, zaya ,” Alek explained, “so maybe we need to figure out how to do something like that again.”

“I did feel your magic before I could even put together what was happening, and I did try to pull on it,” Deva said, thinking out loud. “I was with my mom, and?—”

“Your mom?” I snapped my gaze downward.

“Yeah.” A soft smile transformed her face. “I spent what felt like days with my mom while I was dead?—”

The word alone had me seeing red as I hung tight to my last strand of sanity. I could see how the others reacted, and I had no idea if Deva saw it or not because she continued on with her explanation.

“—and she taught me some things about runes. It’s supposed to help me use my magic—my true magic, not just the runes under my skin. I practiced combining runes to create new ones, which I think is supposed to help me channel this new well of power I have access to.”

Runes were fucking tricky things. You could know a million of them, but if you didn’t have the specific magic to activate them, they were useless. Deva and Alek were two of the only people I knew who were able to use almost all of the known runes. But the creation of new ones? And combinations? That was new.

When silence filled the space, Deva threw a hand in the air. “Come on! My mom appearing to me while I’m dead isn’t that crazy, at least compared to everything else happening.”

“You aren’t wrong,” I confirmed with a chuckle, finally releasing her. “That isn’t the only new information we have—just wait until we tell you what we found out about the ritual you underwent and why you were reborn this last time. Claw was pretty damn useful.”

Deva blinked up at me. “Claw? Like Bone claw? And what did you find out?”

“In due time!” I called out as I strode toward the door. We absolutely could not continue to stand in here talking about her death—we had to get out of here, and now. Not only for her safety and escaping Astaroth, but because I couldn’t handle it—I knew that about myself. “Let’s focus on getting this damn door open first. We don’t want to be down here like sitting ducks if Astaroth decides to check on the disturbance that nearly brought down his entire damn compound.”

“Not that extreme,” Deva murmured, making me smile. It had absolutely been that extreme.

“What’s your idea?” Grim asked.

“Okay, so follow me on this.” I motioned to the room around me, “What if we used the corpses?—”

“No.” Lazaro’s voice rang with finality, and I rolled my eyes. To be fair, I wasn’t sure where I’d even been going with that. Still, I thought I should get brownie points for trying to come up with something.

“Plus, I don’t want to abuse them more than Astaroth already has,” Deva said, stepping up next to me. I ran my hand up her back, her frame melting into mine. My sweet obsession thinking about others—even the dead.

Unfortunately, my bag of tricks was pretty much empty.

Deva stared at the doors for a long moment before putting her hands on her hips. “I’m going to use my magic—not just a pure blast of it, although that is still an option. I’m going to pull on my knowledge of runes to create something to help us. Hopefully.”

“We trust you,” I said, taking a step back to give her some space and sharing a concerned look with the others. None of us wanted her to exert herself after what she’d just gone through, but an option that didn’t involve her expending all her power in a single push was appealing. Plus, I was beyond curious to watch her work. As she studied the doors for a minute more, she nodded and stepped back, seeming confident in her actions.

“You may want to stand back,” she called out, but the others ignored her and moved forward anyway. In a swift movement, she grabbed the pocketknife from my pocket and cut her palm, casually handing it back as if it were something she did every day. I let out a groan, her lips pressing into the faintest smile. She knew exactly what she was doing to me, which was why I didn’t think twice about licking her blood off the knife. Her heartbeat was a siren song to me, but her blood was ambrosia.

My eyes shut as I let out a hum of satisfaction, absolutely loving the explosion of flavor. There was something new, though—something that tasted older, more ancient than what had been coursing through her veins before.

“Cage.” Grimshaw’s voice had me offering him a look of annoyance as I put away the knife.

The room shuddered around us as Deva walked in a circle, sprinkling her blood before drawing a rune in the dirt under her feet. I recognized it as a shadow magic rune, but then she added two more runes above it—two I didn’t recognize, although one looked faintly lunar to me.

When she was done, she sprinkled blood over the runes, and I watched with interest as they lit up, swirling and combining to create something new. Something so powerful that a phantom wind blasted from the center, nearly throwing me back. Crouching down, I kept my center steady as the ritual circle around Deva exploded with magic. A funnel of shadows streaked with moonlight rose from the ground, surrounding our girl.

The wind rose as the funnel grew, pulling crystals from the ceiling to create a sharp-edged tornado that moved out of the ritual circle at Deva’s command. Standing in a circle of her own blood, Deva moved her hands in a swift, elegant movement and threw all of that power right at the doors.

It was absolutely decimated, disintegrating at the first touch of her magic. Fucking glorious.

Despite the chaos of her awakening, Deva had the utmost control in the moment, her magic immediately shutting down as she swayed on her feet from the backlash.

“That was beautiful,” I praised as she hummed softly and rested her head against my chest. Watching her put her newfound knowledge into action, channeling her energy into something so dangerous, was spectacular to watch. I could tell it made her feel good, a determined glint to her eye that I loved.

“Good job, little thief,” Lazaro said in passing, Deva’s smile causing him to pause momentarily before he scowled. “Now save your damn energy. We’re going to have to get out of this place, and it won’t be easy,”

“Bossy,” Deva murmured as he strode past. I kept her against me as we walked forward, knowing that I was being a selfish bastard. But until we got to the surface and out of here, I needed this. Plus, between all of us, I felt like I was the least likely to demand a lot from Deva right now. I was more than content just holding her.

“We have another problem,” Alek bit out.

“The other tunnels are gone,” Grimshaw said, looking back into the room we’d just come out of. “Was that the wrong door?”

“ Nyet , the space is changing. Probably under his command.”

“Exactly what we needed,” Lazaro grumbled. “This damn war is going to begin with us trapped inside this labyrinth, mark my words.”

“What war?” Deva asked.

“The Society of Shadows plans to attack at dawn to aid in our escape,” I explained. “Ideally, we will be in the upper levels of the dungeon when that happens.”

“Over here,” Alek called. “There’s a singular staircase leading up.”

It sounded like a trap to me…not that we had other options.

“A war with Astaroth?” Deva frowned. “They shouldn’t. He’s so much more powerful than they know. He’s more powerful now than I remember him being.”

“Don’t worry about them.” I brushed her nose. “Let’s get you out of here and then we can talk all about it—but trust me, the Society of Shadows has been planning this for some time.”

Placing Deva down, I urged her forward, resting a hand on her hip and staying right behind her as she climbed the stairs. Lazaro was already halfway up with Grimshaw close behind, and Alek and Oz brought up the back of the group. The narrow walls only allowed us to climb in a single file, and the sound of tiny heartbeats had my gaze moving towards the darkened ceiling. Bats. I wasn’t a fan of the fuckers.

“Good thing none of us are afraid of the dark or claustrophobic. This fucking sucks.”

“Now that you mention it.” Deva shot me a teasing look. “I do feel a bit squished. You should give me more space, Cage.”

My hands slid up her waist as I fought the urge to tug her back against me, wanting to fully invade her space and feel her body against mine. The relief I had at having her back was unmatchable, making me feel manic. Hyper.

After nearly fifteen minutes, the staircase opened onto a long corridor that branched off into five paths, all equally dark. Three torches flickered on the walls, lighting the way to the split in the road, but outside of that—absolutely nothing. As we all came to stand in a horizontal line, the silence grew suffocating.

“So who wants to pick our next move?” Grimshaw asked.

“We need to use our magic to try to feel down each path,” Deva decided as she walked closer. Her lunar magic, which seemed to be intertwined with shadows, shot down the middle path. Her brow dipped as her magic explored, then her body suddenly shuddered.

Her magic snapped back as she groaned, leaning into me. “Not a good idea.”

“What the hell was that?” Lazaro demanded.

“Some type of creature. It grabbed at my magic like it was a rope. I immediately dissolved it, but that shit hurt. Let’s not go down that one.”

“Let’s get a feel for the others,” Alek agreed. There were four tunnels left, Grim, Alek, Lazaro, and I each taking one.

Oz took my place next to Deva, and I hoped she didn’t mind that we never left her side. My little siren wouldn’t be going anywhere alone any time soon.

Standing at the entrance of the tunnel, my eyes closed as I opened my senses, searching for any sign of life. I could taste dried blood, but it was old— very old. Outside of the faintest heartbeats from scuttling rodents, there seemed to be nothing.

“This one appears fairly empty!” I announced.

“Mine was not,” Grim growled, shaking his arm out as if he’d been hurt. “I surged my magic into it and got thrown back into a damn wall.” My gaze darted to the wall he’d collided with, and I winced in sympathy. I hadn’t even heard that happen because I’d been so focused on examining my own tunnel.

“There’s water over here,” Alek said from my other side. “A lot of it.”

“So the middle and ends are no-gos. What about you, Lazaro?” I asked.

Lazaro was concentrating, his eyes closed as lunar magic leaked out of his hand. “I think this is the one.” He opened his eyes but kept his gaze on the tunnel. “There’s a ward up, but when I pushed through it there was nothing—just a clear path.”

“What if we can’t get through the ward?” Oz pointed out. “Cage, you said your path was clear?”

“Yeah, but it does smell like dried old blood, so it may not have been at one point. Maybe Lazaro’s is the right path and whoever came through here last killed the threat in this tunnel.”

“ Zaya , you have a preference?” Alek asked.

Deva considered, stepping in front of my tunnel before moving to Lazaro’s. After a long moment, she looked toward my path. “Astaroth is convoluted. He would put a ward up on an otherwise seemingly harmless path to lure us there. Most people would avoid the one with blood in it…I vote for Cage’s tunnel.”

“Let’s do it,” I agreed.

Intertwining my fingers with Deva’s, I inhaled happily. There was no way this shit would be easy, but I had my little siren back and nothing could be fucking better.