Fifty-Six: Joselin

Joselin’s P.O.V.

My tower was my safe place, my comfort zone when I wasn’t with Tobias. Yet right now, I stood in the middle of it, feeling like there were bugs crawling on my skin.

The ward surrounding it hadn’t just been broken.

It had been shattered. I had seen the damage to it before entering. The shimmering surface looked like it had been attacked violently, like a glass window that had taken hail damage. Craters and spider webbing from the cracks covered the surface.

No one would have seen it if they didn’t have magic in their blood, but they should have at least heard her attack. Based on the damage I could see, she had been wailing on my shield for a while. There was even a charred spot on the floor where she appeared to have resorted to throwing fireballs.

How had we been oblivious to this, and when did she do it?

She hadn’t been here during the attack on Cyrus, so it must have been before dinner. That would have left her time to get to Rona’s, attack her, and perform the ritual while we ate.

Meanwhile, I had been sitting at the hot springs with Natalie, distracted by the idea that I might be…

No. Don’t think about that. There are more important matters to deal with, and knowing won’t do anything other than distract me.

Still, the guards and servants, even Killian, should have heard it. Aisha and Margot, at the very least, should have recognized the sound of the magic slamming into my ward.

My skin prickled when I walked through it and opened the door to my tower. It felt like I was walking through a low-level electric fence. It was angry, yet so weak. I was almost expecting to find a trap in my tower, something to off me so Cora could be free of me and escape.

But my study was clear. There were no tricks or traps, just a safe door that, by the way the metal was bent, had been forced open, exposing that there were many missing valuables. The only thing that remained was the small vial of Rona’s blood. It was crusted to the glass, having dried up when she died.

Cora clearly had no use for it. Either that or she left it as a clue, wanting to lure me to Rona’s cottage so she could kill me too.

If the bears hadn’t attacked her, I had to imagine she had plans to deal with me. The real question was whether they got to her in time to prevent her from absorbing Rona’s powers. I could assume so since she hadn’t completed enough of the ritual to take Cyrus’s magic and seemed to be using Rona’s magic as a conduit to get to Cyrus.

But I had already made too many mistakes. I wouldn’t underestimate Cora, not after everything she had done and planned.

over, picturing the smug look she must have had on her face when she left it

She would have gotten his blood one way or another; I just made it easy for her to do

air whipped around the room, feeding off my anger as I

every corner, closet, and shadow. He would have smelt or felt it if someone was still in there,

I quickly cut out the bottom chunk

have a larger map in his office, and I didn’t want everyone in my tower. Not that I had anything left

had stolen all

your fault,” Tobias said as

of the blood I had been hiding.

stare, determined not to let him see how affected I was by my indirect involvement

his hand on the back of my head, and kissed my forehead,

you touch me, the harder this will be. I can’t let myself feel anything right now.

grateful because I knew I would fall if he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me. “We have a world map in the command center. I’m having a few warriors bring it into the

there. A glance to my left and out my tower window showed a group of men running with a long piece of rolled parchment across the field from the war room attached to the

tall, and I knew it was even wider. I nodded

gripped his hand, squeezing it appreciatively before releasing him

but she

shot through my stomach as I reached up, grabbing a few candles from my shelves. I sucked in a gasp of air, and it faded away, leaving me shocked and

about it, Joselin. Do your job.

to take the candles from me so I

it to the pile. It had drawn a lot of blood, and that made it powerful. For every life it took, that one piece of

Tobias gathered the corners of the blanket and lifted

and dropped a passing kiss against my lips. My lips curled up as I admired the muscles

is a damn good

conference room, we could see the table pieces against the wall. It seemed they had deconstructed it instead of trying to find another

done what I needed and did it so

maybe they would rather I face off with Cora

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