Free Bound to Me by Jocelynn Drake

throat, threatening to choke me. I couldn’t sense him. I remembered seeing him get hit with the wooden stake and fall to the ground, but at that time I could still sense his essence. He had not been killed.
    Not being able to sense Valerio now meant that he was either dead or that he had left the immediate area completely. The thought of his possible death shattered my thoughts, but I felt no better if he was alive and had chosen to leave me alone in Sadira’s clutches. I would have been safer in the hands of Artus.
    “I believe Artus has him, though I do not know if he lives still.”
    “Then I have to go after him,” I declared, taking a step toward the door. Sadira quickly slid between me and the door. She raised her hands to touch me, but I lurched backward, out of her immediate reach. I was taller than she, but I wasn’t willing to bet that I was stronger. She was older than me by centuries, and beneath her old, frail demeanor was a vicious tiger waiting to bare its claws. I had learned to tread cautiously when dealing with my maker.
    “You can’t leave here, Mira. It’s not safe.”
    “I won’t stay hiding in the castle with you and the rest of your family. I’m going after Valerio.”
    “A full day has passed since I found you in the park. It’s likely that he’s dead now and you will only follow in his footsteps if you attempt to take on Artus. He’s extremely powerful.”
    “All the more reason to go. Someone must avenge his death,” I said in a rough voice as grief threatened to swamp me. There couldn’t be a world without Valerio in it. Such a thing couldn’t exist. He was the one that taught me to laugh. He was the one that taught me to enjoy my gifts and powers in this dark and violent world. He was my only bright spot in the eternity that stretched out before me.
    “Rest, Mira,” Sadira cooed, approaching me in such a way that I was forced back against the bed. “You’ve been through so much. I can feel what Valerio meant to you. He was a wonderful friend to you and I am grateful that he had been by your side these many years. But you have to keep in mind that he was also an old and powerful nightwalker. If he was killed by Artus, what hope do you have?”
    Pain and anguish swamped me, pulling me down until I found myself sitting on the edge of the bed again. Tears slipped unchecked down my cheeks as I stared blindly ahead at a tapestry hanging on the wall. Sadira’s cool hands cupped my cheeks as she wiped away my tears. I could feel her in my mind now, weaving her way through my thoughts and memories as if she were a vine choking out the life that was growing there.
    “You’re home now and safe. Away from the demands of the coven and back where I can watch over you, protect you,” she murmured in a haunting voice. While the pain of Valerio’s death consumed me, there was a simple comfort in her words. If I stayed in the castle, I would not have to go back out and deal with the coven again. I would no longer be a pawn to be batted about in the war between Jabari and Macaire. Sadira would keep me veiled from the sight of the world.
    Tipping my head up, I found myself getting lost in her dark eyes. “With you home again in the castle, Artus will leave Madrid and make trouble elsewhere. We are all safe.”
    I blinked a couple times as a thought came nagging back to the forefront of my mind. “That’s not what the coven wanted.”
    “It doesn’t matter what the coven wants,” Sadira corrected. “All that matters is that you’re home and that the nightwalkers in this little family are safe again. Isn’t that what’s important?”
    Another thought swam forward through the darkness that was crowding my brain. A memory of the coven and Jabari sitting on his chair. Jabari had protected me, taught me, loved me while Sadira had been the one to manipulate and tear me down so that I was easier to control. Jabari had sent Valerio and me to kill this warlock to protect our people. The