I laughed, belting out a string of giggles that probably made me look insane, but I didn’t really care.Zeke glanced at Asher; his eyes wary. “Think she’s going feral too? Should we run?”“I’m not going feral, you jerk.” I scoffed, swatting at him. “You understand how crazy that sounds, right? The power to change reality…that’s just not possible. If it was, why wouldn’t I have just snapped my damn fingers and made the Blood Witch disappear or turn into a toad?”Asher spun the book around to face me, but it was Zeke that spoke.“Probably because it’s not that simple. It says here that Conjuration is the hardest form of magic to master because of how easy it is to slip up. A single thought or desire that’s too strong can become reality, which is both a good and bad thing. This paragraph talks about how conjuring drains the witch’s energy differently and mentions the different types of power the witch pulls from when she’s conjuring. I’m sure we’ll learn more on the next page.”He turned

Asher grew still in his seat, chiseled from stone as he stared at Clara with a blank expression on his face. “How do you know this?”“They probably promised him power in exchange for his help, and like the dumbass he is, he accepted.” Zeke muttered under his breath. “They were probably going to kill him off once they got what they wanted.”“Yeah. Me.” I swallowed, glancing at him. “They would’ve used my magic, I’m sure of it.”“When you two were fighting, he had a witch using magic on you. I sent Mason off to find her, but he didn’t have any luck. Chances are she was being protected and whoever was doing the protecting pulled her out the minute you won, which shouldn’t have happened, by the way.” Clara replied to Asher’s question, leaning back in her chair.I swallowed the knot of unease in my stomach at the thought of Asher losing. “What do you mean it shouldn’t have happened?”Clara looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Your mate should be dead, but he isn’t and I don’t know why

Rowena answered the door when we knocked, and immediately took Asher into the den to scan him for any charms, spells, or curses. She pointed me upstairs where Cordelia was, and as I climbed the stairs, I searched for the words to say. It had been an accident, stealing the book, but once I had it I’d knowingly cast a spell from its pages.“Come in, Lola.” Cordelia called out, her back turned to me as she rummaged through the old trunk in her bedroom. There were stacks of magical textbooks, the entire culmination of Cordelia’s collection throughout the years. Most of which she’d gotten from her family, but there were a handful she procured from powerful friends and distant cousins. She’d told me previously that she had charmed the box to vanish should anyone try to break into it.When I entered her bedroom, which was a cocoon of tapestries and billowing fabrics, she had just snapped the lid shut. The bangles around her wrists were clinking as they hit into one another, playing the same

A few hours after the sun had set and the chill of night kicked in, the rest of our guests showed up.Tristan and Holly stepped inside toting a cooler full of blood bags, which I eagerly took to the icebox in the garage. My reserved half-sister looked elegant as ever, wearing a midnight cocktail dress that somehow seemed to blend in perfectly. Her hair was identical to my own, falling down her back in long dark waves, only it was pinned back with a single crimson bow.She smiled shyly at everyone, but was quickly swept away by Cassidy, who had no qualms striking up conversation with anyone. Kendrick followed her around like a lost puppy, but judging by the cheeky grin on his face, he was just happy to be here. Tristan remained by her side, a detail I quickly noticed, but he too could only stay quiet for so long with Cass launching question after question at him.During their stay in Asher’s family home, Dad and grandma had become good friends with his parents and wandered into the liv

After personally apologizing and promising Kendrick a plate of grandma’s lavender cookies, we headed back into the living room and continued with the game.Whether it was the blood, wine, or scaring the shit out of Kendrick, Holly had finally loosened up and no longer fiddled with her fingers or picked at the hem of her pj’s. She chose Breyona next, who quickly picked ‘truth,’ and proceeded to ask her about her relationship with Giovanni. There was a light blush staining my half-sister’s cheeks as she asked about the ins and outs of their relationship.Breyona, who answered Holly’s question gracefully, set her sights on Clara.“Clara, truth or dare?”The curly-haired witch set her glass of wine down and quickly licked the residue off her lips before smirking.“I’ll go with truth. I know you been chomping at the bit to ask me about my thing with Mason, so I’m giving you the chance for one question.”My eager best-friend gasped, clasping her hands together while contorting her face into