Free Witch Bound (Twilight of the Gods) by Eleri Stone Page B

didn’t mean to force her out of the coven, they could come to work together peaceably.
    It became hillier the closer they got to the lake, rockier too, and eventually they had to abandon the horses. Dismounting a short distance into the woods, they secured the reins to the saddle so they wouldn’t snag. The horses were Æsir stock, intelligent, loyal and responsive creatures. They wouldn’t wander far and would come when called.
    Raquel extended her senses, checking the edges of the fault for weakness. It didn’t feel as if there had been a recent breach even though she knew it had happened only two nights ago. Usually, there was a slight thinning to the wall separating their worlds around the new moon and full. That was what allowed the demons to push through. Raquel tapped at her thigh where she’d strapped the Skimstrok blade her father had given to her on her twelfth birthday.
    “It’s like they punched a hole through a solid brick wall and someone patched it up again. There aren’t any weak spots now.”
    Lois pursed her lips. “I assure you there was a breach. Ask Aiden if you don’t believe me. A demon damaged the Abrams house and one of the hounds was injured. We can go see the claw marks in the siding if you need proof.” She sighed and shook her head. “Poor Dan. You can’t put an insurance claim on something like that.”
    “Brian,” Raquel said. Lois gave her a blank look. “Poor Brian, you mean. He was the one who was injured, wasn’t he? Christian said he’s all right but still limping a bit.”
    Lois shrugged. “I’m sure Alan will be able to fix that. Dan is Julia’s husband. It was their house.”
    Raquel bit her tongue on a sharp response. Really, the more she got to know Lois, the less she cared to.
    Lois seemed to be struggling with the uneven terrain, but Raquel didn’t offer her arm. When she paused at a patch of disturbed earth where there’d obviously been a struggle, Lois kept walking. The leaves were churned up, revealing dark, damp earth. Hoofprints and paw prints. A black, sticky substance splattering some of the leaves and a nearby rock. Raquel shivered. Fen had been here, risking his life to protect the clan. Christian too.
    “Over here. I found one.” Lois squatted to brush the leaves off the first rune stone and Raquel turned away from the bloody patch of earth to do her part in protecting the clan.
    Fen had done the heavy work of placing the stones precisely as she’d ordered them in a circle ringing the ward stones. Those stones contained the fault and kept it from spreading. They kept the portal from opening in town or worse, in an area populated by humans. They couldn’t prevent the portal from opening during the lunar surges, but they should prevent it from opening at other times. The fault should be at its most stable right now. Even without the ward stones in place, a portal shouldn’t have opened so near a quarter.
    And yet, this one had done just that.
    She could feel the wards buzzing along. A familiar sound, reassuring. These were weak, no doubt about that. A hundred years was the outer edge of their life expectancy. All magic dissipated eventually. Strange to think that the founding witch of Ragnarok had set these so very long ago. Kathy had replaced their own as her first order of business once she took over as clan witch. Apparently Aiden had expected Raquel to do the same. She wished she could. It was hard to be excited about the wedding when she was so hyperaware of how badly she was letting everyone down.
    Christian... He hadn’t even spoken to her since her revelation.
    Dry leaves crunched underfoot. Everything was painted in shades of brown except for a couple of tall pines and some stubborn tufts of grass poking through the leaves. It was quiet and very peaceful. But not safe, particularly not now.
    She knelt on the ground when she came to the next stone and covered the rune with her hands. It was warm to the touch. All potential energy there,