Page 147 of Bound By Fury

Let them heed the warnings of a traitor.

Rest assured Lucille’s deceit will not go unpunished.

Her betrayal was pointless. Odette had been doomed from the moment she was marked. And her body swung just the same as the others.

But the truth is, just as there is power in kinship, there is power in secrets.

Now Lucille is missing.

Thankfully retribution knows no bounds.

There is something no traitor could have warned them of. Something I haven’t told a soul.

In four generations, four witches will build an army for the battle that will end it all.

Four witches… and a Guardian.

Because the men that have hunted us will someday be betrayed by one of their own.

And heed this, child of my child, blood of my blood—if the last Cardinal fails to ascend before a century’s time, the power of Lee Valley, with all its hidden lands, will be gone.

Forever.

—Nora

FORTY-NINE

DROPLETS SPLASH AGAINST THE PAPER. The ink bleeds, and I rush to wipe away my tears before they ruin this woman’s story. As the pages flutter with the motion, a photograph falls onto my lap, and when I pick it up, I gasp.

I can see now that the elderly woman from my dream is the same as the woman from the woods, the same as the apparition in my kitchen only an hour ago. I whisper her name. Nora.

In the photo Nora stands next to another beautiful woman, mouth wide as she smiles down at the small brown baby in her arms. My heart races as I turn the picture over and look at the back. Slanted, looping handwriting.

Eleanor “Nora” Willow, 43, Harper Willow, 24, and Harper Margaret Willow, 6 months. January 1951.

When the realization hits me, I sway, gripping the bed.

Her words repeat in my head. For my baby, and her baby, and her baby, and her baby.

Four generations starting from the miracle in her belly.

Nora was my great-great-grandmother.

Pain rips through me like lightning.

I really am a Cardinal Witch.

I am the prophecy.

I am the savior of my people.

FIFTY

LEAD FILLS MY STOMACH, CEMENTING my body to the bed.

Because in exchange for twelve lives, no Lee Valley Witch will wield her power until the final Cardinal ascends, bringing forth the prophecy and ushering in the Great War.

Twelve lives for peace, no matter how temporary. Twelve lives to bring forth the power of the Cardinals. Twelve lines of ancestral magic to shroud the Celestial Cusp, to hide the lines from sinister creatures, ill-intentioned monsters, and shadow ilk hell-bent on destroying all that stands in their way.