Bear Protector - Bella Love-Wins Page 0,32
of that part of your mind for years, and I didn’t even know it.”
“Wait one minute.” Coco faced the door, waving her hand as she uttered her go-to boundary spell so no one could hear them. “Don’t be mad. I had no choice.”
“I had a right to know!”
“Newsflash on a little tidbit, Kiera. In case you didn’t already realize, if you let your emotions get out of control, that boundary spell on the door won’t do a damn thing to stop the Chancellor from reading your thoughts. Because he won’t have to read your mind when your mouth is spewing everything out just fine!”
“Who the hell cares what he knows anymore. I have a week to live!”
“I do too!”
“Yes, but you found out and kept it from me for all this time.” Kiera sat on the side of her bed. “How could you keep something so big and ominous and horrific from me?”
“The Chancellor does not want any of the Chosen to know. Or their familiars. Do you really believe anyone would think it is such an honor to die for the sake of a stupid shifter transformation spell? You think witches would be lining up outside the fortress begging to be selected? Look outside your window. There are probably some waiting right now! That would not be the case if they knew the cost that comes along with being a Chosen.”
“That is not the point, Coco. I will deal with the big picture when I get to it. I’m talking about you and me right now.”
“So wait. Do you believe I would have come forward as your familiar and volunteered to fucking die after living for over three hundred years?”
Kiera pondered that for a few moments. “Probably not. Why did you?”
“Because I did not know back then! Christ, you are daft!”
“Well, you obviously knew before I did. I had to learn this from Xander, of all people, and you did not tell me. Right now, we are discussing trust, or the lack of it…and our supposedly unbreakable bond. There is no bond or trust with this level of deception and betrayal. I don’t even know if I can forgive you.”
“Well, that is a big problem.”
“It does not matter anymore. We’ll be dead in a week.”
“We’ll be dead either way, but if our connection is not strong, there is absolutely no way in hell that we will complete the transformation spell.”
“What? Why not?”
“Do I have to spell it out?”
Kiera took a breath as she considered it. Then she remembered. “No. I understand. Trust between the Chosen and her familiar must be implicit,” she said, parroting one of the transformation preparation scrolls.
“Exactly.”
“Wait one second, Coco. How did you find out? And when?”
“Do not be pissed.”
“Just tell me. I’m already pissed.”
“Two years ago.”
“Two years? You have been keeping this secret from me for two long years?”
“Dammit, Kiera, will you just get over it? I am sorry. It was an accident, really. Do you remember that day Aleena had forgotten to reopen your bedroom window after she cleaned it?”
“Yes. And you screamed at her for ten minutes straight because—”
“Because I had to find another open window in the fortress, and I was tired as hell after sneaking off all night.”
“Right. Yes. That was when you found out?”
“Yes. I flew in through the Chamber of the Sacred. I saw their crypts, Kiera. Every one of the Chosen and every familiar. Sixteen fucking tombs in a massive room, with space for a hundred more. It was horrible.”
“Oh God. We’re going to die, Coco.”
“Yes, we are…you should be glad now that I did not tell you.”
“Why?”
“Could you live any kind of life, knowing for all that time?”
Kiera suddenly realized the burden Coco had been carrying for two years. Alone. Come to think of it, that was about the time her familiar would sulk in her room next door for days at a time, not eating, unwilling to speak, and had even refused to take on her human form for over a month. “God…you are right. I am so selfish, dear. I did not think about what you had to have gone through. I am sorry.”
“I think I liked it better when you were angry just now. Then we could get to the actual betrayal.”
“How do you mean?”
“That son of a bitch Minassus. He needs to pay.”
“Goodness, I am not sure I’m ready to go there. I will be in a day or two, but I am tired of all the ups and downs of the last