Destined (War of the Covens 2)

Ryder’s voice echoed in her head: I’m telling you, Jae, they’re okay. Vil seems like a stand-up guy, and Laila … well, she won’t tell anyone, including Vil, what happened to her back at that camp, but I’m telling you it was enough to make her hate them.

“Can I speak with Laila alone?” she suddenly asked, standing over the pair.

Vil frowned, eyeing her warily. “I don’t think so.”

“I’m not going to hurt her.”

“No, she—”

“It’s fine.” Laila placed a placating hand on his arm, and he glanced at her sharply.

“You are sure?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. I’ll be down the hall if you need me.” He got up and threw Jaeden a stern warning look before he left.

She settled on the arm of the sofa, scrutinizing Laila, who had retreated a little from her. “What happened at this camp, this army camp?”

The magik shook her head. “I don’t talk about it.”

“If I’m to trust you, I need to know about this camp.”

“It was … just a camp.”

“Under Ethan’s control?”

“Yes.”

“So …” Jaeden searched for the right phrase. “It was like special ops?”

“What is … special ops?”

“You know, like a government operation designed to … let’s say, win a war when normal tactics aren’t moving things along as nicely as one would like.”

Laila snorted, her face twisted in disgust. It was the most negative emotion Jaeden had seen her emit. “Yes. You could say it was this special ops you speak of.”

A moment of silence fell between them as Jaeden worked toward posing her next question. She blew out a shaky breath, her voice husky as painful memories swept through her. “Did it involve torture?”

The witch’s mouth fell open in surprise, her eyes round with torment. “Why …?”

“I’ll take that as a yes, then.”

Laila shook her head. “I don’t … I can’t … I—”

“I’ve been there, Laila,” Jae whispered, not even sure why she was telling the girl something so personal. Perhaps she knew it might be the only way to get information from her. “Ethan … personally kept me in a cage. He tortured me. For weeks. Although it felt like years.”

Laila’s young face crumpled in empathy, and she placed a cool hand on Jaeden’s wrist. Jaeden was surprised by the gesture, for Laila had only allowed Vil near her since their arrival. As her hand withdrew, Jaeden’s pain at the memories dissipated, leaving a warm peace lingering in its wake. Relaxing back into the sofa, she smiled sadly at the Midnight.

“Is that what happened to you?”

The girl nodded rigidly.

“Why?”

A tear slid down her pale face. “It was a behavioral modification camp for magiks. He took children of magiks from all over. I come from Halmstad, but others came from Grena, Oslo … all over Scandinavia. He told our parents he was going to train us to be an elite force. It was an honor to be chosen. Instead, he used all measures of control—withholding food, brainwashing—all to turn us into an elite force that would only answer to his command, no matter the order.”

“Like daemons.”

Revulsion passed over Laila’s face. “Like daemons. But so much more powerful.”

“Why the torture? Was that part of it?”

She shook her head wildly, and Jaeden was surprised to see an almost smug smile form on her lips. “His men couldn’t break me. So they tortured me in an attempt to subdue me.”

Horror rippled through Jaeden at the thought of what this girl had gone through.

“How did you escape?”

A cold, ferocious look froze her face. “The oldest trick in the book.”

“Being?”

“One of the warlocks had an … unhealthy interest in me.”

No, no, no. Jae pulled back. He didn’t … oh goddess.

“Don’t worry,” Laila assured her. “They had orders not to touch us that way. It could have a disturbing effect on the controls. But this one”—she shuddered—“he would sneak in some touching, petting.”

“Bastard,” Jaeden snarled.

The witch looked startled at her vehemence before throwing her a grateful smile. “I used it against him, though. I pretended an interest in him, which is probably the most difficult thing I have ever had to do, and he took me from the cage and snuck me out toward the back of the camp. He turned his back for a second, and I knocked him out with a spell my mother taught me years before. Stupid man.” She shook her head in disgust. “I stole his keys to his car, got a few miles away before I abandoned it and set off on foot, confusing my trail as I went. I thought Ethan would find me … but he never came.”

Jaeden snorted. “Yeah, ’cause he was dead.”

“He is dead, then?” Laila asked quietly, her haunted eyes begging for an affirmative.

“Caia killed him.”

“She helped save me from prison … and now this news. It seems I will be forever in her debt.”

A sense of connection threaded between them, and Jaeden smiled warmly at her for the first time. “The way that girl is going, we’re all going to be in her debt.”