“You are not the only one who thinks of Crystal Hollow as a prison, but the world isn’t yet ready for us to exist in the open. You endangered us all by living outside the wards for as long as you did, with the kind of magic you possess. There is an entire line of magic trapped within your veins until your brother comes of age and claims what is his. Any other witch would have gotten rid of him before he could do so,” Headmaster Thorne explained, picking a strand of my deep red hair off his suit. It swayed in the breeze from the flowing air at the front of the vehicle as he dropped it beside me, the only sign of him being remotely affected by our scuffle in the woods.
“Perhaps that selfish greed is why only I remain of the Greens. Maybe the witches deserve the fate that awaits them without connection to the magic that formed the wards,” I snapped, staring up at him.
His face was so close to mine as he twisted in his seat, his lips curving up into a little grin. “You’ll get no argument from me that the witches are selfish, greedy creatures. Do not forget, your ancestors came into their powers by selling their souls to the devil himself. The magic that flows through your veins may be green, but your heart is black like all the others in the end.”
I scoffed, laughing as I reached between us and poked him in the space where his heart should have been. “At least I have one,” I said.
His gaze dropped to the finger against his dress shirt, to the place where only fabric separated us from touching. It trailed leisurely over my finger and hand, up my wrist and sweater-covered arm until it jumped up to meet my gaze.
“I believe the humans have this saying that may serve you well,” he said, reaching up to grasp my hand. He squeezed it tightly enough that it felt like my finger bones ground together, lowering it into my lap. “Don’t poke the bear?”
“What do you know of humans?” I asked, refusing to look at where he still held my hand.
“I know they don’t taste as good as witchlings,” he said, bringing my hand to his face. He bent it back, exposing my wrist as he placed it beneath his nose and inhaled my scent.
I drew it back sharply, struggling against his grip as I growled a feral warning. “They’re also much less likely to slit your throat while you sleep.”
He released my hand finally with a small, crooked smirk—revealing a hint of a single fang. I couldn’t tell if it was a threat or a promise, if he meant to instill fear or hoped for something more carnal.
“Does that mean you intend to be in my bed, Witchling?”
“Over my dead body,” I hissed, turning back to face the window.
Trees surrounded both sides of the road, curving over the gravel to form a canopy. Mist filled the woods around us, stretching toward the sky and casting an eerie presence over the forest that surrounded Crystal Hollow.
“I’ll have to come to yours then,” Thorne said, making me snap my gaze away from the window and back to glare at him. The arrogance in those steel-blue eyes was everything I dreaded, and I decided it wasn’t a matter of threat or sin.
It was both.
“I will—”
“Would you two just fuck already?” the woman from the driver’s seat said with a groan. She rubbed her chin on the steering wheel as she drove along the winding road, climbing up the subtlest of inclines. “You’ll feel better once you get it out of your system.”
“I’m not sure I could live with the shame,” I said, giving her a saccharine smile.
She raised her head, looking at me in the rearview mirror as she grinned. “Don’t knock it until you try it, baby girl,” she said, lifting her chin. “I’ve got a friend—”
“No, thank you,” I said, swallowing back the surge of nausea spinning in my gut. The Vessels were a symptom of the disease I’d been raised to hate, bodies created to exist alongside the Coven. Housing something nefarious and sinister.
Even knowing that it would likely be part of what I needed to do to achieve what I’d come here to do… I couldn’t stomach it yet.
I wasn’t ready.
“I’ll bet Kairos would be more than willing to give you a soft introduction when you’re ready,” she said, turning the steering wheel to go around a particularly harsh curve.
I swallowed back my nausea, leaning forward in my seat. The belt stretched to accommodate me as I lifted my hands, touching them to the man’s shoulders from behind. He didn’t so much as twitch as I moved them toward the side of his neck, trailing my fingers over his skin gently. He shuddered at the touch, at the warmth of my body against his cool skin.
If he was the chilled air of autumn, I was the warmth of deep earth that kept out the frost. Reminiscent of the mud from which he’d been formed, calling his physical form home.
A low, subtle growl vibrated through the car, bringing a smile to my face as I pressed the side of my cheek against the back of his headrest. My eyes went to Thorne, finding his cold stare watching my every move. I held it, putting every bit of challenge I felt into the glare I gave him as I spoke.
“Do you want to fuck me, Kairos?” I asked, watching as Thorne’s upper lip twitched.
The other man didn’t answer, remaining wordless as his body was perfectly, unnaturally still. I pressed two fingers into the front of his throat, gripping him slightly and placing my flesh directly beneath the path of his nose. I didn’t take my eyes off Thorne’s as Kairos grabbed my hand, lifting it to his nose as if he might scent me.
Thorne’s growl made him stop dead, dropping me as if I’d burned him. “That’s enough,” the headmaster ordered, sighing as if it pained him to admit that I’d made my point.
“I’m the last of the Madizza witches who gave their blood to the formation of your Vessel. Not only will the Covenant be eager to breed me with a male witch of their choosing, but I could have my pick of your kind if I so chose,” I said, crinkling my nose as I sat back in my seat and glared at the man across from me. “You know, for fun. So do not disillusion yourself into thinking that I would ever choose you.”
“That sounds like a challenge, Witchling,” Thorne said, grinning as if he’d won something. “I very much look forward to reminding you how much I hate you when I bury my cock between your thighs.”
I flushed, my mouth dropping open as I fumbled for words. Thorne’s steely blue eyes burned with cold as he studied me, his smile broadening when I didn’t have a quick enough response.
“Called it,” the woman said, saving me from having to come up with a response. I shifted my gaze toward her, trying to quell the racing of my heart. It was all according to the plan my father had decided would be the most likely to produce results, so why couldn’t I squash the dread sinking into my stomach?
“Are we nearly there?” I asked, swallowing as I looked out the window once again.
The trees seemed taller, more ominous, the farther we got from the main road. The mist seemed to spread, thickening and becoming more difficult to see through. The brush and dead leaves on the forest floor were lost to it, and I realized how startling the forest was without that. It was something I’d become so familiar with, something I needed to feel rooted.
I didn’t like it when I couldn’t see the earth at my feet.
“Nothing to say?” Thorne asked, and I didn’t bother to glance at him. I knew the exact expression I would find if I did, could hear the smug note of satisfaction in his voice.