Chapter 58

"No," I gave him a deadly stare while my blood rushed to my cheeks in embarrassment. It wasn't the wisest decision to have sex in a house where someone could surely hear me. My eyes rolled back and I continued, "It's something else."

He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. "What is it, then?" The uncanny smirk didn't disappear from his face.

I brushed my hair behind my ears and lowered my gaze before collecting my thoughts and responding to him. It took me a moment after what he had commented. "The mountains. I've been getting a feeling since a yesterday about the mountains. There are covens of witches there, abandoned, forgotten but powerful witches living there. What if we take some help from them? What if they knew about the curse?" I explained.

The smirk finally left his face and his lips thinned as he gave my words a thought. A quick second later, he shook his head and stood up from the ground. "No."

That's all?

I went behind him, knowing there was something in the mountains. They were calling for me. "Why not?"

"Those witches are dangerous. Most of those witch covens have been banished because of the magic they practice. Do you really think they are going to help you?" Elijah snapped and turned to me.

"Why not? I know there's someone there who has more knowledge about this curse than we do. What is the issue if we simply go there and ask them?"

"They are going to kill you." A warning set off in his tone and even then, I didn't bother with listening to it.

"No one kills anyone just like that." My hands spread in the air in disbelief.

Elijah shook his head. Clearly disagreeing. Walking past me, he stepped out of the room, but I didn't stay there, I followed him, unwilling to let this simply go. I was feeling something and I had to know what it was. What kind of help could be found in the mountains?

"Please," I begged him. "I know there's something—or someone there who can help us and your mother's rule doesn't reaches there. No one will know where we are, or even if we are together. Those people probably despise her!" My voice thickened as I came further into realization.

There wasn't much knowledge I had about Vragus, but I always kept myself updated.

"And do you think they do not despise me?" He turned and asked.

I didn't even think about that—about Elijah. He was Alexandria's only son. He shared blood and everything that came along in the bloodline he was born in.

"I'll take Dion with me," I suggested upon finding him stepping down the stairs. He buttoned up the last few buttons of his shirt and reached down. "I know what I'm doing. It's clear I can't do this on my own, and we need help before we all are dead."

Elijah clenched his jaw and then turned his hands into fists as I finished. The silence grew as Dion glanced at me and then at him. I waited for Elijah's approval, not that I could leave without him lifting the spell he had casted on me, to forbade me from leaving this—his house unless he wanted me to.

"Fine," He grunted in frustration. "We'll go."

"Where?" Dion asked.

Elijah walked past him and whispered, "To all of our deaths."

This had to be over as quickly as it was possible, and sitting here wasn't going to be helpful. We simply didn't have the knowledge about the curse, or the sort of black magic that was used by Stephan Sven to create it. And why had he done it to begin with? Did he fear Alexandria's magic? Or was there something we didn't know about her?

I watched Elijah as he disappeared outside the house, defeated that I had convinced him to take me to the mountains and to the witches living there.

"I've a feeling about the mountains. I believe there might be someone there who can help us with breaking the curse. What do you think?" I asked Dion.

His response was rather calm and collected, "It's not a terrible idea, a dangerous one, but not terrible. The witches there are powerful, they have knowledge about everything and anything. Some of the covens there were made centuries ago."

My brows furrowed, "How do you know all of that?"

"Occasionally, Alexandria used to send us there to bring information back about what was happening in the forbidden mountains. We never bought her the truth, only the lies. Those covens and packs were banished from her kingdom merely for what they were, or what strengthens they held." Dion explained to me while his arm went over my shoulder.

We stared ahead at the door and I continued to wonder further.

The mark on my neck throbbed and I snapped out of my thoughts. "Come with us?"

"Of course," He leaned in and placed a kiss on the side of my head. "I wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

By next afternoon, we headed for the deadly mountains. It was a long drive, and we didn't talk much. Elijah sat in the driver's seat, quiet and a little furious while Dion sat beside him, in the front passenger seat. I remained behind, looking outside from the window and watching the world after being contained in a house for days.

The air was heavy with tension, but I found some peace in the silence.

We drove past barren landscapes, deserted towns, and twisted trees, and the only sound was the rumble of the car engine.

It was a few hours drive even when we were already in the north of Vragus. Elijah stopped the car two hours later at an empty gas station in the middle of nowhere.

"Wait." He said as I reached for the door of the car.

Turning his head around, he looked for anyone in the gas station and there was only one man inside the store, at the cashier. There was no other car with us, or in the gas station.

"Go."

I unlocked the door and stepped out to catch a fresh breath of air. My lungs filled and I smiled to myself before walking inside the store.

"Good afternoon," The gas station managed said.

I turned my head around and looked for the washroom which was further behind at the end of the store. My stomach grumbled as I walked past all the food and entered the washroom to freshen up. There were still three hours left of the drive, even more. I wasn't sure.

We had to head toward the top where many of the covens lived—survived.

According to Dion, it was a long hike as there were no roads as we went further toward it. He had gone with Callan several times and was aware of the trails up there. In order to find the witches, we had to hike.

I grabbed open the door minutes later and gasped upon finding Elijah standing near to the wall across the door. My hand went straight to my chest. "You scared me."

"Oh, you'll be more terrified when those witches cut you open and set you on fire for stepping in their land." He gave me wide smile before drawing himself from the wall and walking away.

"If I can bear you, I'm sure I can bear anyone else..." I whispered behind him, and he still heard me.

"There's a little truth there." He didn't turn around, instead, he grabbed a few things and headed toward the counter to pay for it.

In the meantime, I slipped a few more things of my own onto the counter and stepped out of the store. The car was stopped a small distance further from the store and Dion was remove the gas pump from the car. A warm smile stretched over my face as I saw him.

I was still in disbelief that he had marked me.

My cheeks tingled and I lowered my gaze and stepped down from the three stairs of the store. Just as I reached, I sensed Elijah behind me, his warm breath trailing down my neck.

"How was it?" He whispered in my ear and I quickly understood what he meant. He had caught me looking at Dion. "Better than Callan's?"

"Boundaries." I mumbled under my breath and walked away from him.

Even that didn't stop him. He chuckled on his way over to the car and got inside along with the rest of us. I opened the packet of juice and began sipping on it as Elijah drove out of the gas station and back on the road.

Callan didn't agree to the whole idea of camping in the mountains and finding some witch to help us. He didn't want me to go, but somehow they convinced him and we left the house after the heated phone call.

I wondered what he knew that he didn't want us to go there.

Either way, there was no going back now.

Read ahead of Inkitt or Patreon and get access to other books and steamy one-shots. Inkitt: www.inkitt.com/miakerr www.patreon.com/miakerr