Broken Bonds (Lizzie Grace 3)

My gaze went to the purple haze pulsating above the ruined section. Even though we weren’t standing within attacking range, I could nevertheless feel the force—the strength—behind the spell. Belle was right—even if we combined our magic, we more than likely didn’t have the strength to contain or destroy whatever that spell was. And that left us with very little choice in the matter. But using the wild magic in any capacity was still damned dangerous.

I glanced up at her. “Did you throw your spell stones into the pack as well as mine?” When she nodded, I added, “Let’s do a weave protection circle around the entire building. I’ll go clockwise, you go anti. If anything goes wrong, it should at least contain the magic.”

Which won’t help us, given we’ll be inside said circle, Belle commented.

Nothing will help us if that glow is some sort of trap and our attempts to contain it either trigger it or go ass up. But we have to try.

Yes.

She tugged the silk bag containing my spell stones out of the pack then walked away. As she began placing her stones, I returned my gaze to Aiden. “Once we’ve contained the heretic’s magic, we’ll create a doorway in our protection circle so you can get through. You’ll only have a finite time to get into that building and get the men out, though, so don’t stuff around.”

His expression was grim. “Then let’s just hope no one has any serious injuries.”

“Even if they have, you’ll have to move them. Neither Belle nor I will have the strength to contain the heretic’s spell for long.”

He nodded. “How will we know when it’s safe to enter?”

“The doorway will be visible. Until you see it, tell everyone to keep well away from the building and our spell stones, no matter what happens.”

He frowned. “What if something goes wrong?”

“If something goes wrong, none of you are going to be able to help us. Only another witch will be able to deconstruct our protection circle and get in to help.”

“Not good news given you’re the only witches currently left on the reservation,” he growled.

“And for that, you can thank your damn council.” I rose on my toes and dropped a kiss on his lips. “We’ll be okay. We have a hot date with a shower, remember?”

A smile tugged his lips but didn’t erase the concern from his eyes. “Be careful in there.”

I didn’t say anything. There was little point given we’d be as careful as we could. But we were about to play with forces we didn’t entirely understand and more than likely couldn’t control.

I went in the opposite direction to Belle and carefully placed my stones in spots where they’d be easy enough to find again—although that shouldn’t be a problem given the white quartz glinted softly in the dusky light of the oncoming evening. I passed Belle out the front of the building, and started placing my stones about a foot away from hers, the first one on the outside, the next on the inside, and so on. Once we’d both finished, we stepped into the circle and warily approached the building. The purple barrier flared brighter at our approach and flickers of bright light stabbed toward us. We immediately stopped. The flickers didn’t abate, but they didn’t stab any closer, either.

“I’m not liking the look of that,” Belle muttered.

“No.”

I sat cross-legged on the ground and took a deep breath to center my energy. She sat opposite, inched forward until our knees touched, and then dug into the pack and handed me a fistful of charms. “Just in case.”

I didn’t comment. I just put them on. Whether they’d help or not was anyone’s guess, but I still felt safer with them.

Once she was similarly protected, she breathed deeply to center her own energy. Then, as one, we psychically opened ourselves up to one another. Our energy and auras pulsed and merged at the point we were touching and once again she sucked in a breath.

“That distant thunder is a whole lot closer right now,” she said. “And it’s not just around us or on your skin. It feels like a part of you—a part of your DNA.”

“That’s a conundrum we can worry about later. Right now, we need it to contain whatever the spell over that building is.” I took another deep breath to still the gathering nerves and then added, “Right, let’s do this.”

I began raising my protection circle, weaving multilayered threads across each of the stones, making them as strong as I possibly could and ensuring there were no entry exceptions in this initial spell, not even for Belle and me. We had no idea what the heretic’s spell actually was, so until we’d either contained or destroyed it, we had to make sure it couldn’t in any way use us. If it wanted the circle destroyed, it would have to take over both of us, and I doubted the heretic had catered for that possibility, as it was highly likely he didn’t even know about us.

Belle’s magic rose around me, a familiar touch of energy almost as strong as my own. Both her magic and the uninvited but ever-present wild magic wove in and out of mine, until we’d formed a circle that was more a tapestry, and the strongest thing we’d ever created.

Hopefully it would be enough.

I held my hands out. Belle gripped them tightly and, as one, we began the containment incantation. I didn’t look at Belle or the building—I could see them both in my mind, as vivid and as clear as the stirring wild magic. It wove in and out of the spell we were now weaving around the building—and around the darker magic—bolstering the weight of our words, strengthening the threads of our magic.

The dark magic reacted. Violently.

It began to churn and twist and shake. Pieces of the building were thrust into the air, deadly missiles that never made it past the tapestry of our protective circle. We continued to spell and the tremors got worse. Lightning struck at us, vicious forks of energy that came close but never hit. The purple haze pulsated and the wind surged, tearing at hair and clothes, until it felt like we were sitting on the edge of a cyclone. But our words rose above the noise and our spell began to draw its net around the haze.