“Every moment Loralei spent with the Coven was a threat to her brother’s existence. I couldn’t risk the Covenant learning the truth of his birth. Not before he met your mother and contributed to you.”
He reached down, grabbing me and pulling me to my feet in front of him. “Bleed them,” he said, raising a single hand to point at where the Covenant hung suspended. They’d not spoken a single word, watching in unnatural silence that led me to believe they couldn’t speak.
“They’re nothing but bones. They cannot be bled,” I answered, shaking my head.
“Then I guess you will just have to give them flesh first,” he said, touching a pinky finger to the edge of one of the bones on my neck. That inky, dark magic snapped out, lashing forward toward Susannah like a whip. It wrapped around her bones, drawing her closer to us as Gray slid his fingers into mine and entwined them. “Take what you are owed, Witchling.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head in protest. “I won’t be like you. I won’t be like them.”
Gray tucked my hair behind my ear, leaning in to whisper against my skin. “I think you’ll find you will, whether you like it or not. Please do not make me force your hand. We both know you will hate me for it, and neither of us want that.”
“Speak for yourself, Headmaster,” I snapped, jerking away from his touch.
He sighed into the side of my neck. “You disappoint me, Willow. Remember this moment when you cannot bear to look at me come morning. I didn’t want to have to do this.” He touched his mouth to my temple in something that seemed close to pity. “Bring him,” he said, turning to look at one of the other Vessels.
He hadn’t been able to compel Lorelai because of the bones. He couldn’t compel me any longer either, I realized.
“Bring who?” I asked, glancing around the room. I tried to think of who he might have to hurt me, who he might think he could use to force me to become a monster like him.
Iban.
I stared at the door that led to the halls, watching for any sign of the male witch who had become one of the closest things I had to a friend. In spite of the fact that I suspected he didn’t approve of what he assumed was happening between Gray and me, he hadn’t judged me for it.
My heart sunk, dropping into my stomach as two figures strode into the Tribunal room. My father’s face was twisted with arrogance as he guided the small figure at his side. His knife lingered just in front of Ash’s throat as everything in me stilled.
“No.”
“Do as you’re told, and I promise you nothing will happen to your brother,” he said, running his nose along my cheek.
I gasped, breath evading me as my father took up his place at the side of the room. Ash’s gaze held mine, the terror in his brown eyes hardening something inside me that I’d sworn I’d always keep soft.
Killing the ember of life within me and turning it to rot and decay.
“I will kill you for this,” I growled at my father, my jaw tensing as I rolled my neck.
“Don’t worry, baby girl. You won’t live long enough to make good on that threat,” he said, his laugh coating my skin.
Gray touched a hand to the bone necklace, drawing my attention back to him with a ragged gasp. He leaned in, whispering in my ear as he smiled. “Do what you’re told, and I’ll let you kill him and raise him as many times as it takes for you to work out that anger.”
“And what about the hatred I feel for you? Do I get to kill you, too?” I asked, wincing when he stepped behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist once again.
He held me, that dark magic that existed within him drawing mine to the surface. He covered my hand with his, raising my palm to face Susannah. Her bones had started to heal, forming back into her original shape just enough that I could make out the horror on her face.
Her bones covered with raw, bloodied flesh as the magic sprang forward in dark tendrils. It wrapped around her as Gray raised his knife to my palm and slashed the skin. My blood dripped down, the dark tendrils swallowing it as it grew.
Susannah’s eye sockets filled with opaque flesh, muscles wrapping around her leg bones. Gray raised my other hand toward George, doing the same as life once again filled his features. Reversing the rot that claimed a body was disgusting work; their bodies a mess of blood and gore and organs.
When it seemed like Susannah would fill out with skin finally, Gray tore my hands down and severed the magic. The freshly grown flesh melted from their bodies, dropping to the ground as liquid. The thick, viscous blood slid across the floor, gathering in a pool just on top of the mirror and filling the space between the pile of organs.