My heart didn't ache—only my bones as the cold ground stole the rest of my warmth. 

Maybe I was forsaken. Perhaps I wasn't worth saving and I deserved this. The only person I cared about was limp and devoid of any life because of my choices. 

This feeling wasn't self-pity. My hollow chest couldn't be filled with just any pathetic emotion.

Rage. 

Pure, right from the core of my very existence. A fury so rabid and untamed it scorched everything deemed worthless—like Fear. Love. Mercy. 

I didn't care to suppress the manic laughter as I dragged Lucien's body.  It was out of necessity. I could never stand the silence and that wasn’t going to change any time soon. I needed to mask how vulnerable I felt. Me—the orphaned girl traumatized, coping by hiding behind layers of deceit. The one who couldn't accept herself. The girl who believed she could never be loved and only abandoned. And so the fuck what if it was all true? What I truly couldn't stand was allowing it to take over me. The fear held me down for far too long.

Mother. The coven. Valeria. Ingrid. Kaschel. Gren.

I yearned to get the chance to crush their last bit of hope. They want the keys? I’ll steal them for myself. They want some flimsy door opened?

I'll take it all. Every. Last. Thing. They. Desired.

A sharp pain pinched me in-between my ribcage and it tightened my grip around Lucien's waist. “Now would be a fan-fucking-tastic time to wake up,” I huffed out, quickly wiping the sweat rolling down my forehead. 

The gloaming sky surrounded us so I remained close to the side of the highway; the only source of light to guiding me was the small reflectors and the occasional big rig flying past us—surprised not a single car stopped or questioned why a twenty-three-year old woman was dragging a body in the middle of bumfuck nowhere.

People truly didn't give a shit. The whole mentality that someone else probably called for help or took care of it turned my insides to mush.

A beam of light dominated my sight and blinded me. A sign slowly blurred into vision and I gasped in relief. 

Oh, thank god. A few more meters and Lucien could get the medical attention he needed. We were almost safe.

“They won't be able to help him.”

“Holy fuck.” I stumbled back and fell onto my ass as Lucien’s limp body crashed into me, knocking all the air out of my lungs.

I tipped my head and it was Tara. Her black hair radiated against the afterglow of the moon. Her expression was perky as ever with a slight grin. It kind of ticked me off. 

Did I have anyone in my life without ulterior motives? Did they have nothing better to do than torment me?

Tara waved her hand. “I warned you but you didn't listen to me or my mother. She demanded I let you be since you didn't want our help but . . . look at you! You’re pathetic.” Tara shook her head and stepped closer.

I threw up my hands, infuriated by her words and anxious she might attempt something shifty. “Don't fucking move an inch!”

Tara froze and craned her head in confusion. “I'm here to help. He's been hexed. The doctors can't do shit about it, but if you want to see him rotting in a hospital bed, be my guest.”

“Wait, shit. Hold on. This…” I slid out from under Lucien, dusted myself off, and propped him up against me. “How can I believe a word you say? And your mom? Who the—” All that happened flashed before me. The beginning of this hell cycle with the witch lady. “Your mother is Raagini?” I squinted, only now seeing the uncanny resemblance.

How did I not notice it until now?

Tara raised her chin and pressed a finger to her cheek and grinned. “Dead on.”

My grip on Lucien tightened. “She knocked down my door like a raging lunatic! How can I ignorantly follow you when she so blatantly harassed me?” My mind spun the worst thoughts imaginable if I chose to follow Tara blindly.

Tara waved her hand again, dismissing the urgency in my tone. “Your apartment was covered in residue. A harbinger beat my mother to your place. She feared you were already taken.”

My eyes narrowed in suspicion. “A harbinger? Why didn’t you tell me all this at the club? What's your excuse this time?” I was getting pretty fucking sick of people withholding information from me.

“We can discuss this later at my house but first, he needs serious help, so come with me if you want your friend to survive.”

I scoffed, peeved she avoided my question and I hate to admit it but—she wasn't wrong. Dammit. Lucien needed help, my pride could suffer a little while longer.

I nodded and Tara assisted Lucien up by grabbing his other shoulder and led us to a beat-up black van with the logo Spells and Flores with green vines weaving between the letters.

I couldn't tell if Tara was actually trying to help or screw me over. And the job she offered me before, what were her true intentions? Was I walking right into a trap? After everything I've been through, I couldn't throw caution to the wind.

Not knowing who I could trust was taking its toll on my body. A heavy pressure built up in my heart but I pressed it down.

Tara dropped Lucien's shoulder and I staggered to keep us both from collapsing as Tara slid the back of the van open. “The drive will be windy so you’ll need to hold him.”

Tara snatched his feet and we both set him inside and I climbed in after him. I pushed myself against the side of the van and dragged Lucien so his head rested in between my thighs.

I couldn't believe I was just lured into a van like a kid getting bribed with candy. If I died because of my desperation I truly was an idiot.

Tara slammed the doors shut and the pitch black swathed us besides the faint light pooling in from the front window.

Lucien's body was unusually warm. He was probably fighting a high fever. My jaw clenched at how useless I was at this moment. I lifted my hand and wiped the sweat dripping down his forehead; it was the only thing I could do for him.

A few powerful emotions swirled inside me as I brushed his damp, gold hair out of his face and it set ablaze to my anger. If Lucien died, I would never forgive them or myself.

I tossed my head back and closed my eyes. I could hear Tara fiddling with her keys until the van started up, and she peeled out of the parking lot.

She said something about it being a little ways away and I mumbled a short, okay.

All the stress from the last couple of months started to taper down and exhaustion droned me to sleep, and I let the cool steel pressed against my back lull me into complete emptiness.