Shadow's Cypher by Nicole R. Taylor

Author:Nicole R. Taylor [Taylor, Nicole R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Nicole R. Taylor

The door to June’s flat creaked open, a soft sigh escaping its weathered frame as the pair slipped through.

Lucas followed close behind her, his gaze searching the doorway. “I thought you said you’d put a spell on your place? I don’t feel anything.”

“You’re not supposed to,” June replied. “Though I’m still learning warding, so it’s really sloppy. With everything that’s been going on, my lessons have been a little lacking.”

“Well, sloppy or not, I’m glad you have some kind of protection.”

“Let’s hope so,” she replied. She felt the thrum of magic beneath her skin, the sagging threads of her wards still bothering her. “I’ll need to tighten them. Harry gave me some new threads.”

They settled on the equally saggy couch by the small television in the corner, the room illuminated by the muted glow of street lamps filtering through the open curtains of the large bay window.

Stonebridge is at war… June shivered, her thoughts turning inward. Lucas was right, though she’d never considered it like that before. Not really. War. A magical war that was only just getting started.

“Lucas,” she began, turning to face him, “I know today was a lot. Remembering the possession and the Shadow’s Embrace. And those things you said to Alistair…”

“Were all true.” He nodded slowly, the gravity of his experience written in the lines of his face. “I remember everything,” he murmured, “how it felt like being trapped in a dark ocean, currents pulling me under.” His gaze met hers. “It must’ve been how you felt as you were being dragged under the water. As that thing tried to drown you.”

“And if you hadn’t been there to pull me out…”

“Likewise.”

June worried her bottom lip, waiting for the catch. “Are you really okay with all of this?”

“I’ve got a lot of questions,” he murmured, leaning closer. “And I’m going to be asking them all the time, and you can’t run away again. No matter how tough it gets, or how dark…”

She offered a small, sad smile. “We’ll need more than light to fight what’s coming, Lucas. The darkness killed my parents—it wasn’t suicide or an accident.”

“I figured.”

“Lucas, this is serious.” She took his hands in hers. “The dark power that’s after me, it tried to claim my parents. I don’t know what happened, or how it got to them, but I saw the changes. It was slow at first, subtle even. They forgot small things, like where they placed their keys or the names of old friends. But then it escalated. Nightmares, whisperings in the dark, a growing paranoia about everyone around them. They started disappearing in the middle of the night for hours at a time. They were performing rituals in secret, skinning helpless animals. Dark, terrible things. It consumed them to the point where I think they were going to sacrifice me.”

Lucas’s face hardened as he listened to her story, his grip tightening slightly around her hands. “That won’t happen to you.”

“That’s the aim, but this thing is strong. It took two of the most powerful witches of the Stonebridge coven like it was nothing.

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