bChapter /bb188 /b

    Eryx POV

    The southern sector has always been a ce that makes me feel uneasy. I’d never admit that out loud bhowever/bb, /bweakness isn’t something we do.

    It’s just the ce, there’s something about thend around here that is heavier, thicker and it feels threaded bwith /bba /bbkind /bbof /benergy that doesn’te from wolves. It wraps around everything, around the trees and burrows into the bearth/bb. /bIt’s ancient and patient, but it’s not as strong as my magic, Still, it is weird. Even the window sounds different thereb, /bit’s like bit /bwhispers warnings only those with the right kind of ears can hear.

    The witches though, call it home, they always have, even as the magic fades.

    The ride to the Southern sector is long and the silence from Garrick and Killian only makes it feel longer. We move quickly, I’ve ensured we’re cloaked and marked by the runes, which my mother helped me to do before we left. The magic hums under my skin, it’s subtle but a defensive buzz and I can feel the barrier that they create between us and whatever bmight /bbe watching.

    It’s not exactly perfect, but it’ll do for what we need.

    When the tree line breaks, I see the old crooked wooden sign with Athena’s Reach written on it. Everything slows, and Garrick looks at me, his brows pulled tight but he says nothing. He doesn’t need to, I know he doesn’t like witches, he never has, my mother, me and sister been the exception to that of course. He shifts beside me, and he we get out of the cars. His hand settles on the hilt of the long de that’s strapped to his back.

    He’s not hostile exactly, more cautious than anything.

    The little settlement nestled beyond the trees hasn’t changed much at all. There’s roughly a dozen homes made of wood

    that are in an uneven circle. There’s a wide bonfire pit in the center of it, that is surrounded by low stones that are etched

    in symbols I don’t dare to touch or disturb. They’ve carved runes into the trunks of every tree and even painted protective sigils on their doorways. It’s a ce of knowledge and notfort.

    We don’t even get through the boundary line before a group of women step into our path and stop us.

    The leader is a tall, thin witch, she’s in her fifties and I know her as Vasha. She doesn’t smile as we step closer, but doesn’t scowl either. Her face is calm, and unreadable, but also weathered like thend around here. Her silver hair is braided down her back, and tied with what looks like bones and ck feathers.

    “You havee here cloaked,” she says without even trying to greet us. “Which tells me that you’re expecting bto /bbfind /b

    some enemies here.”

    “Not exactly, it could be that we did it to keep from being seen by enemies,” I reply as I step forward

    Her eyes sharpen and narrow slightly, though I can feel the weight of her magic crawling bacross /bbmy /bbskin /bblike /bba /bbmist/b. bShe’s /breading me, testing me for if my words are true or not.

    “You seek answers about the Hollow,” she says.

    It’s not a question, more of a statement.

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    I nod. “You’ve felt it. I know you have. We need to understand.”

    Vasha turns and then gestures for us to follow. So we do, we walk toward the central circle where a few more witches are. standing and waiting. All of them are quiet but having conversations. I recognize some of them from past dealings. Things like supply exchanges and information trades. We’ve never really been enemies but there’s always been space between us. A wall that we don’t cross. Wolves don’t trust withces easily and witches never trust wolves at all.

    “So, you want to know if what is sleeping beneath the Hollow has begun to wake,” Vasha says as she lowers herself bdown /bonto one of the low stone seats that is near the fire pit. “The answer is yes.”

    As she says it, cold weight drops in my guts, it’s one that I’ve been trying to brace against for days now. Still, hearing ti spoken aloud makes it feel sharper and more real.

    “Do you know what it is?” I ask.

    that you

    understand. It is a

    Vasha looks at me for a second then she nods once. “It’s not a creature, not in the sense perence, an echo, a hunger that was bound but not destroyed. She waits, and she listens.”

    “The Hollowed Queen,” I say.

    The younger witches stiffen slightly at the name, and one whispers something under her breath, before she makes a warding gesture with her fingers.

    Vasha doesn’t even flinch. “Yes. Although, she has has many names in her past life. In the oldest tongues, she was called Vythra, the First Tongue, the Whispering me, the Witch–Eater. She devoured magic from others just so she could strength her own. When the witches turned on her, they believed that they had unraveled her existence, but they didn’t. They only severed her from her body.”

    My fists clench loosely at my sides. “So she’s been lingering all this time?” I watch her and wait.

    “Drifting,” Vasha confirms. “She was waiting for someone to summon her, and for a vessel strong enough to hold her. One full of fury, pain, and power. Your rogue fits that profile far too well.”

    “Rnd,” I mutter, the name feeling like poison in my mouth. “She’s inside him?” I ask?

    “Not futty, at least not yet. He’s marked and touched. But the more he kills, the more fear he spreads, the more she feeds. When she has enough, when he allows her in willingly, she will burn through him like wildfire and rise again as herself.”

    Killian shifts beside me, unease in on his face. “Then we kill him before that happens.” He looks at her and she sighs.

    “It’s not that simple,” I say, ncing at Vasha. “Is it?”

    “No,” she agrees. “If you kill the host before the essence has fully taken root, she can scatter again. She could look for another vessel, ior /ieven jump into someone that is nearby. Someone who is marked.”

    The image of April’s body shes into my mind. The bite marks, the im, and the pain. Her bond with Rnd that’s bnow /btaking over my own.

    “You’re telling me that she could take April,” I say quietly.

    Vasha doesn’t answer right away, she just watches me carefully. “The Queen prefers stronger bhosts/bb. /bbFemales /bbhave /bbcarried /b

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    her before, sure. If April is bound by magic to Rnd, even partially, the connection may be enough bto /bbcarry /bbthe /bbQueen /b

    into her.”

    My chest tightens and I step back from the fire pit. I drag my hands through my hair, and try to find a piece of this bthat /bdoesn’t end with April being devoured from the inside out.

    “She’s healing,” I say quietly. “She’s getting stronger, we’re going to sever the bobnd as quickly as we can. She has her bwolf /bback but to remove the bond means me reiming her which can’t be done until she’s strong again.”

    “But the mark will still be there,” Vasha says, her eyes level with mine. “And the Queen’s attention is fixed. She is going bto /breim what belongs to her, or at least what she believes belongs to her.”

    “So how do we stop her?” Garrick asks, finally stepping forward and speaking. “There’s got to be something that works, wards, barriers, a weapon, something! Anything!”

    Vasha nces toward one of the younger witches, who ducks inside one of the nearby cabins. She returns just momentster carrying a small box that is wrapped in a dark cloth. She sets it down gently in Vasha’sp.

    “This,” Vasha says as she unwraps it carefully, “is one of thest remnants of the seal that held her before. The stone inside was taken from the original prison, which your kind now calls the Hollow. It’s not enough to bind her againb, /bbut it can reveal her influence. Where it burns, she has touched, where it’s split, she has entered.”

    She hands it to me, and I stare down at it. It looks ordinary, just a dull, reddish stone, small enough that it fits into my palm easily enough. Of everything I expected this wasn’t it. But as my skin brushes it, I feel the heat from within it instantly. It’s not from the sun or warmth but something a lot deeper and living. It pulse like a heartbeat that proves this isn’t just a stone, a random thing they have handed me to push me out of their home quicker.

    “Take it into the Hollow,” Vasha says. “Then you need to use it to find the root of her presence. A warning however, if you step too close, and if she senses April’s scent on you, she may act. Desperation makes her reckless.”

    “What about if we do nothing?” I ask. Even I know that doing nothing isn’t an option right now.

    “Then I hope that you’re all ready watch the Queen risei,” /ishe says. “And no pack, no alliance, no magic will be enough to stop whates next. Witches don’t have the magic anymore to stop her, so she will rule, and for wolves, that’s not a good thing.”

    I nod and tuck the stone away carefully, wrapping it again in the cloth. “Thank you.”

    Vasha studies me for a long moment before she speaks again. “You have a fire inside you, Eryx. But don’t misjudge that as been your way to win, don’t think that fire makes you unbeatable. Because fire must be guided, or it consumes everythingb. /bDo not let your grief make you reckless.”

    I meet her gaze. “bIf /bit keeps April safe, I’ll burn as much as I have to. I won’t stop until I know that she’s safe.”

    I turn, motioning to Garrick and Killian, and we leave the witches behind in their silent circle.

    The drive back is heavier and, faster than before. The trees blur past us, and the air thates through the windows

    grows colder as we near the edge of our territory again. I don’t speak, but I keep my hand tight around the cloth bin /bmy pocket, feeling the heat radiating through theyers.

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    The Queen is moving.

    And now that I’ve touched the thread of her magic, I know she’s aware of me, too.