Bound by Spells (Bound Series Book 2) Read Free Page B

did you say those things? Why tell me that story about my mother?” The question I didn’t ask was why she allowed me to believe I could have Aidan.
    For the first time in as long as I could remember, Rynna would not meet my eyes. She stared down at her clasped hands resting in her lap and answered quietly, “It wasn’t fair of me. I wanted more for you. I wanted you to run from this and have the life you wanted. The one I wanted for you. I wanted you as far from this as possible. I shouldn’t have. It was selfish. I know exactly what you mean to our people and how much we all need you, but you were just a young girl and this was all so much. I didn’t think it would happen so fast. I thought we would have time to prepare you and you would have time to find some happiness.”
    A soft knock on the door, likely from Micah, signaled our time was over. Rynna approached me cautiously. She held out her arms, asking, “May I?” I nodded, emotion filling me as her words settled into my mind like rocks weighing me down in the water. There was a good chance I could drown, but in this moment, Rynna was part of my life raft. She had handed me knowledge and power and asked for nothing but patience in return. For now, I had to overlook the rest. At this point, who hadn’t only given me part of the story in the name of protecting me?
    Rynna pulled me into her embrace and whispered, “I love you, Amelia. Your father loves you. Your uncle and brother love you. We will not allow this to happen. Just stay strong. Be smart. Know we are coming for you. And trust Mikail, he is an ally to you.” She pulled back and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Okay?”
    I gave her a small nod. “Okay.”
    “You are your mother’s daughter. And you are so much stronger than you think.” She squeezed my hands one last time, an indecipherable look haunting her eyes as she turned away from me and left the room without looking back.
    I thought Micah might come back inside, but he didn’t. I stood, rooted to my spot, staring at the closed door, realizing my future and the future of so many others was in my hands.
     
     

Chapter 3

     
     
    “Didn’t we just start wallowing?” I asked, sullen.
    “Yep. And now we’re done,” she countered. “We’re going to do something about all this. I may be the only lowly human in this debacle, but I’ve got my ways. We need to find Cole. We need to make a plan. We have to get Amelia out of there.”
    I instantly stood up, sand falling everywhere as I turned to Bethany. “No. Oh, hell no. I’m not going to Cole. I can’t.” I tried to cover my emotion with indifference. “And she made a choice, Bethany. She chose Micah. Don’t you get it? She could have left with me. He couldn’t have taken me. Not then. Not with her fighting with me. He wouldn’t have stood a chance. We could have run and been fine. But she picked him.”
    While I had been speaking, Bethany had stood, crossed her arms, and assumed what I called the “chick stance”—one of her hips was cocked to the side and she actually looked annoyed, and impatient. Like she wanted me to shut up already.
    “What the hell is that look for? Where do you get off looking at me like I’m the idiot here?” My hands clenched and unclenched on their own accord as my anger spiked. It had been getting harder to keep the beast at bay once my emotions took over. I was shocked as she took a step toward me and shoved both hands into my chest, sending me back a few steps and fumbling in the sand.
    “Oh, no you don’t, Aidan Montgomery. Don’t think you can stand there all macho, tough guy with the weird blue eyes and scare the little southern girl. I’ve dealt with jerks my whole life. Guys with worse tempers and scarier intentions than you’ve even dreamed, so you can take all your huffing and puffing and shove it.
    “And while you’re at it, you can just get the hell over yourself. You don’t even have half the story. Where do you get off judging