I woke up with a start, dragged out of whatever kind of sleep I’d been in, and stared around me. The room smelled slightly musty, like a basement, and had unfinished walls. Beams ran overhead, and the floor under my feet was smooth concrete. My toes curled away from the cold.

I was seated in a chair with a straight back and severe arms, my wrists tied tightly and my ankles bound to the legs. My chest still ached from struggling to breathe through the paralysis of Palmer’s spell.

He was nowhere to be seen, regardless of how I craned my neck, and when I managed to hush the desperate gasps of my breathing, I didn’t hear anyone else stir around me. I closed my eyes and focused on calming my heartbeat and collecting my thoughts. Panic wouldn’t help me. Clear purpose, clear thoughts.

My first instinct was to burn the rope away so I could escape, but the second I pulled power into a fire spell, lightning jolted through me and almost knocked the chair over. I cursed, wrenching at where my hands were bound, but all that did was tear my skin. Tears burned my eyes but I bit them back. I couldn’t panic. I really couldn’t panic.

Maybe if I played along, Palmer would fall for it. There was no telling what was in the water he threw in my face—it could have been just a knock-out spell, or something else combined with it. A love spell or compulsion hex or anything. It certainly hadn’t affected my feelings for Palmer, because I definitely still intended to beat the shit out of him the next time I saw him. Which I hoped was never.

I rocked the chair a bit, since it wasn’t bolted to the floor, and tested whether I could stand with my legs bound. I managed to lurch forward, still bent over in the chair, and hobbled closer to where I thought the stairs might be. My thighs ached and my back throbbed, but I gritted my teeth and pushed to get the hell out of there.

A door opened and closed, and just as I reached the first step, Palmer appeared. His eyebrows arched when he saw me, but a smile crossed his face as if I’d entertained him. “Deirdre. What on earth are you doing?”

“Going for a stroll. How about you be a dear and release me?” I tried not to sound as pissed off as I was. I could still take refuge in the ice queen facade even without magic, so long as I could cling to my mantra. I am Deirdre, Maureen’s daughter. I am the heart of magic. I have the power of the world before me, ready to be used. I am stronger than the circumstances that confront me. I have the love and guidance of my mother and her mother and all their mothers before us.

Palmer tsked and guided me back to where the chair had been originally, in the center of the room, then went over to a long table covered in bags, boxes, and piles of herbs. “Relax and this will be so much easier.”

“What do you think you’re doing?”

He sighed. “Deirdre, you’re the inheritor of a significant amount of power and even more knowledge, distilled down through generations of witches. Your aunt shouldn’t be leading that coven—you should.”

“I don’t want to. I don’t want anything to do with—”

“That’s because your mother didn’t instruct you correctly,” he said. He started lighting candles around the room, creating a circle, and my throat started to close. Holy Mother help me from whatever kind of magic he was about to do, since I couldn’t even defend myself. “You should have been ambitious enough to get rid of your aunt last year, before she ever had a chance to control the coven. And yet you didn’t. And every time there’s been an opportunity to lead, you’ve ignored it. So I’m doing this for you. You’ll thank me when we’ve got a powerful coven behind us and can control more of this city. We’ll finally be able to get rid of those animals, deal with the fae riffraff and other creatures, and take our place at the top of the food chain.”

Swallowing a few times helped clear away the knot of panic, but my voice came out rusty all the same. “Look, Palmer, I don’t know what you’ve heard or what you think you know, but the shifters won’t—”

“Animals,” he snapped, glancing back at me. “They’re animals through and through, Deirdre. Calling them something else only confuses the issue.”

I clenched my jaw and wished I’d never sounded like him, even though I knew I’d thought the same about shifters. “There are a lot more of them than you think, and they are far more powerful than any coven would be able to fight. It would be prudent to reconsider and maybe establish a truce. There’s no reason—”

“They’re easy enough to get rid of,” he said, waving his hand in dismissal. “A little poison and venom, maybe a hex or two, and it’s all taken care of.”

“Except not really,” I said. “Since Miles is still alive.”

“For now.” Palmer frowned as he made another circle around me, waving burning sage as he went. “Because you intervened. It took some time to find that other group of animals and convince that stupid bitch to go along with starting up another conflict. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about your role in ruining all that. They can kill each other off, then we can finish off the survivors when they’re weak. It won’t take much.”

The thought of him igniting an inter-pack war made my blood run cold. “You’re crazy. You’re going to get innocent men, women, and children killed for nothing.”

“Not innocent,” he said. Palmer put some incense in a burner and lit it, still not looking at me. “Just animals. It’s like putting out rat poison or mouse traps.”

“Let me go,” I said, struggling to stay calm. “I don’t know what you think you’re going to do, but it’s not going to work. The ErlKing marked me; he can find me. I’ve already asked him to intervene, and Miles will be on his way, and—”

“They don’t know where you are,” he said. He managed to sound cheerful despite the fanatical look in his eyes. “And neither do you. So how are you going to give them directions?”

“I’m Miles’s soulmate,” I said. “He can find me anywhere. We’re connected.”

And I knew in my heart that I hoped it was true. That they weren’t joking about the fate and soulmate and forever and ever thing. Because I wanted Miles to find me. I wanted him to burst through that door and down the stairs and then tear away the ropes so I could be free. I tried to take a deep breath but hiccupped instead as my vision blurred. I wanted Miles there with me. I needed him.

When I blinked my vision clear and the tears ran warm down my cheeks, Palmer stared at me in abject horror. “You can’t possibly be crying for him.”

“I love him, Palmer. Let me go and I’ll tell him not to kill you.” I didn’t think I could stop Miles from killing him, but I’d at least shout it at him as the wolf ran by.

Palmer sank to sit on his heels in front of me. “Deirdre, you’re above him. More than him. Whatever kind of base attraction you might have had to that monster, it will go away. It’s not love.”

“It’s more than love,” I said. And I knew it with every beat of my heart. Why hadn’t I said that to Miles? Why had I questioned him and myself and our feelings? “Palmer, if you ever for a second had a kind feeling toward me, please—let me go. I won’t tell anyone what happened. It’ll just go away. No one has to get hurt.”

“No one will be hurt,” he said. His lips compressed as he watched me, like I’d disappointed him. “At least, no witches will be hurt.”

I clenched my hands into fists and wished I could touch just a hint of magic so I could wipe that look off his face. “What are you going to do?”

“First, I’m going to sever whatever connection the ErlKing placed on you,” he said, pushing to his feet. “Then I’m going to bind us together and make sure you’re... cooperative. Maybe eventually I’ll be sure of your loyalty, Deirdre, but it will take a while. You said some rather hurtful things and your behavior in the florist in front of your aunt and the others... Appalling. Once you’re appropriately docile, we—you and I together—will take over the coven from your aunt and lead them to power in this city. The animals will have to go.”

Swallowing grew difficult as I watched him prepare a ritual knife and a paste of herbs at the side table. “Palmer, wait. Just wait.”

“Why?” he asked. He didn’t even sound curious. He was just making conversation as he fiddled with herbs and paged through the massive spell book in front of him.

“So Miles can hunt you down and kill you” was not going to do me much good as a response, even if it made me feel better. I softened my voice and let a waver creep in among my words, hoping the traitorous thought would distract the witch. “I’m scared.”

And inside I sent a message with every beat of my heart: Miles, please. Find me. You have to find me. Help me.

Palmer’s eyes narrowed as he looked at me, half-turning away from the book. “You? Scared? What kind of game are you playing, Deirdre? You’ve never admitted being frightened in your life.”

“It’s been…a very turbulent few months,” I said. I lowered my eyes and took a shaky breath. Holy Mother help me. I just needed to buy some time, let Palmer think he didn’t have to cast a love spell or whatever it was he intended. “And then the shifters kidnapped me and made me heal Miles, and they kept me in their pack house for three or four days. He said no one even looked for me, Palmer. No one went to the house or tried to call me. What was I supposed to think?”

“Of course I looked for you,” he said. He put his hands on his hips and frowned. “I went to your house every day, I tried to find your car. I asked your aunt to submit a missing person’s report, but she wouldn’t. Said your life was your life and you were probably working a lot or busy in the garden.”

Maybe I owed my aunt an apology for all the mean thoughts I’d had. I shivered and looked down more, slumping in the chair, and hiccupped as I struggled to breathe—all to buy more time, to search for a thread of magic that could be used to call Miles or Smith or Estelle or anyone.

Smith, I call you. I call you, Horned God, ErlKing, Leader of the Wild Hunt. Find me. Find me and your debt is paid.

Static crackled in the air and I sucked in a breath and hope at the same time. Palmer looked around, then shook his head and went back to his work. “Just relax, Deirdre. This will all be over in a few minutes.”

My mouth went dry and I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn’t decide if seeing the end coming would be worse than watching Palmer work the magic that would steal my free will. My heart beat a steady rhythm in my ears. I used it as a metronome and found a new mantra. A new center, a new way forward. My old mantra, the old ice queen, was the past. I needed to look to the future to save myself.

And Miles was part of that future.

I am Deirdre, daughter of Maureen, beloved of Miles Evershaw, alpha of the SilverLine pack. I am a soulmate, a friend, an ally. I am descended from a long line of powerful witches. I have the love and guidance of my mother and her mother. I have the love and support of Miles and his people. I am the heart of magic. I am strong. I am capable. I will survive this.

Tears burned my eyes and my chest ached. Miles’s face flooded my mind and I held on tight to the memory of his smile and the surprised rumble of his laughter and the soft way he’d cradled my face when I was uncertain. The way he’d fed Cricket tender pieces of steak even after the cat used him as a scratching post. The way his eyes flashed gold when we squared off and he didn’t feel like taking it easy on me.

Palmer kept doing things across the room, his mumbling interrupted by the soft whisper of pages turning, but it didn’t matter. Miles mattered. Our connection, whether from Smith’s geas or whatever fate brought us together, mattered.

Miles, please. Come find me. I need you. I’m afraid. I don’t want to be here alone.

He had to hear me. He had to. I held on to the arms of the chair and kept twisting, grinding my teeth against the pain, and hoped that I could somehow sever the rope before Palmer’s spell was ready to cast.