Page 2 of The Endless One

Good enough. At least he wasn’t dead. These new witches had a lot of anger in them still, and she didn’t blame them for it. But she had to be able to trust them.

Frowning, she made eye contact with Sybil. Her friend sighed. “I’ll watch her. Want to take care of the last one yourself?”

Not really, but she’d do it. Jessamine turned toward the guard, who was quite literally hanging on to the gate like it was the only thing keeping him upright. His breathing was heavy as he stared at her, clearly not sure what would be done to him. His gaze kept flicking to the other two men, and then back to her. If only she had more time to show him just what witches were really capable of.

Whispering, she coiled Elric’s dark magic with her own. She needed no spell, only intention. “Bind him.”

Shadows tangled around his arms and legs. He didn’t fight her as she brought him onto his knees and gently deposited him in a bush next to the gates. That should keep him for a little while, at least.

Long enough for them to kill the man he was supposed to be protecting.

“Good enough,” she said as she strode through the gates and into the garden beyond.

The first time Jessamine had been here, she was struck by the beauty of it. But now she only saw the warning signs that filled the entire area to the brim. Flowers bloomed in any season and filled the air with a cloying sweetness. The ground was too squishy beneath her feet from months of overwatering that kept people walking slowly so they didn’t trip. But at the very center was what she hated most.

The gardens spiraled down into a deeper hollow. That way, during festivals, the king could be in the center, with everyone’s path leading to him and worshipping as they were supposed to do. Neither Leon nor his late father had ever had to be concerned that someone would kill them. They were overly confident like that. Of course, they hadn’t given anyone reason to try to kill them either.

Not until now. Now, as Leon stood in the center of that depression, etching out markings that looked like familiar runes.

She stood there, waiting in silence as she surveyed the massive web of magic he had woven around himself. Protection spells. Barriers that would be difficult to get through. Runes that were calling to the spirits of gods who were supposed to be dead and gone.

Sybil stood next to her, silently taking in all that they had to get through. “Want me to start unraveling it?”

“Can you?”

Her dearest friend shrugged. “I’m not all that sure. It looks like he aimed a musket and scattered shot everywhere he could with runes. It’s a minefield of spells that are meant to harm.”

“I only see protection and barriers.”

Sybil lifted an ancient, gnarled hand and pointed out a few runes in front of them. “That’s an entangling spell. That one is a frost spell. There’s another that’s just fire. I don’t know what he thought that would do, because it’s not like he can make something burn with that spell. It makes a fire burn hotter. But I suppose if someone walked in with a torch…”

Jessamine lifted a hand. “You’re giving him too much credit.”

“Look,” Sybil said. “He’s got a book of spells with him, the brat. He’s just taking every single spell in that and sprinkling it around the area. This must have taken him hours on end.”

“How is he even casting magic?”

“They aren’t really magic. They feed off the ground where they are, blighting the land. Nasty works that only the priestesses knew about.” Sybil sucked her teeth before shaking her head. “He’s a right asshole, isn’t he?”

“You’re just realizing that?”

Jessamine took her time looking through every single spell he’d chaotically spread around them. There had to be a weak spot. Leon wasn’t that smart, and something as random as this couldn’t keep him entirely protected. Could it?

He continued etching his markings on the ground, but then she saw it. Of course there was a hole. All she had to do was make sure not to step on that rune that looked like it was meant to summon crows, and she could get into the inner circle.

A warmth pressed against her spine, and she knew who it was without looking back. The ominous wall of crackling energy could only be one person.

“Careful, nightmare,” Elric murmured in her ear as he snaked a hand around her waist. “We won’t want to ruin the art of surprise.”

“I don’t need him surprised to kill him.”

“Arrogance gets you nowhere.”

“Confidence,” she corrected before turning to press a kiss to his cheek. “Let me work, Deathless One.”

He melted back into the shadows, ready to be there when she needed him, and Jessamine steeled herself for the confrontation she’d been waiting for. She’d run from Leon at Fortuna’s party in the Pleasure District. Even now, she could feel her palms growing sweaty. He’d always had that effect on her. No matter how confident she was when she went into a conversation with Leon Bishop, she always left feeling much smaller than she really was.

But not this time. This time, she would walk right up to him and tell him exactly what she thought of him.