Bound Powers Read online

  Joy stooped and picked up Maisie to help her across, a tiny ache leaving her heart when Maisie nuzzled her shoulder before Joy set her down.

  “Then what?” Joy asked in a hollow voice. “What will he—he’ll come back for me, won’t he? Again?”

  Anger shone for a second in Todd’s eyes. Joy shrank back, even knowing she wasn’t the source of it.

  “He will,” Todd admitted. “But it’s not you he wants.”

  “It’s me,” Hope finished with a hard look in her eye. Her cheeks were whipped pink by the wind but she still looked—old. Older than her years, aged by circumstance instead of time. “I’m the one the seer saw. But dear Uncle Charlie thinks it’s you, so you won’t be safe until he’s dead.”

  “Dead,” Joy echoed. Her stomach twisted.

  “We’re not killing anyone,” Todd disagreed in the tone of a familiar argument. “But we will stop him when he tries something like this again. And I’ll set up shields around your house, Joy.” His eyes when he looked at Joy were uncertain. “If we’re lucky, your freezing spell will free the elves long enough for Charles’s compulsion to fade, for them to die. But even that won’t put much of a dent in his army, he’s too clever for that.”

  Hope nodded, frowning. She looked like a doll, beautiful with her large eyes and beauty mark and clear skin, that rope of pale hair. Joy saw all this from the corner of her eye; she could barely look at Hope.

  Silence fell as they neared a dark strip of land, lights speckling the distance, and moored. Joy watched dispassionately.

  “We’d better be quick,” Todd interrupted. “The shield means nobody will see the boat out there, but if Charles has set up waves of Riven, we’d better leave before we meet another.”

  “Riven,” Gabi repeated as they set off walking. “That’s what those elves are called?”

  Todd nodded without looking back. “An unforgivable act, making one elf into that soulless state. Charles has over a thousand.”

  “A thousand.” There had been twenty in that house in Glasgow and that was dangerous enough, but being faced with a thousand of them… “Why?” Gabi asked. “What does he want with all this?”

  “He’s … something went wrong in him, in his makeup, when his daughter died. He was always controlling but now he’s something else. And he has enough power that he’s impossible to contain.”

  “He sent two killers to Agedale—for Joy,” Gabi said in a tight voice. “How long before he sends another? A week?”

  Joy went cold inside, to hear it spoken so plainly. Perchta, these elves—Riven—all because of her... And it wasn’t going to end there.

  Todd nodded. “About that.”

  “So he has an army of those … things,” Joy said quietly, shivering, “and he’s coming for me. To kill me. For some spell.”

  Todd stopped and faced her. “I won’t let that happen, Joy.”

  “Neither will I,” Gabi agreed. Joy trusted her girlfriend’s word more than her dad’s. “It’ll be okay,” she promised, even though it wouldn’t be, even though Joy’s uncle had a thousand of those corrupted elves.

  Even though there was a chance he would bring that army right to Joy’s door, and she’d be responsible for more and more deaths.

  “It’ll be okay,” Gabi lied again.

  Joy stared at the dark water as the boat bobbed, hollow inside again. A week until Charles broke free, until he hunted down Joy to kill her. They would prepare an armoury of spells, they would fight, but Joy saw what would happen.

  It was a death sentence.

  I hope you enjoyed Bound Powers!

  The next Pride & Joy book is available for pre-order now! Want more adventures of Joy’s coven? Keep up with new releases and get a free urban fantasy novella by joining my mailing list at BookHip.com/RMNXGC

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  As an indie author, reviews and word of mouth are essential to get my books into the hands of readers, and even the smallest, one-line review has an impact. Thank you to everyone who’s already reviewed. Your words mean I can keep writing the books you love!

  SARUUH KELSEY lives in Yorkshire, in a house halfway between the countryside and the city with an absurd amount of books and craft supplies. She’s the author of The Legend Mirror and Lux Guardians series. Find her online at saruuhkelsey.weebly.com or follow her on twitter at @saruuhkelsey.

  Find these other books by Saruuh Kelsey:

  Urban Fantasy:

  Pride & Joy

  Fae Witch (Free on KU)

  Bound Powers (Free on KU)

  Dire Magic (Free on KU)

  Book Four (June)

  The Legend Mirror series

  Books 1-3 (Free on KU)

  The Beast of Callaire

  The Dryad of Callaire

  The Powers of Callaire

  The Divine of Callaire

  Science Fiction:

  The Lux Guardians series

  Love In Forgotten Places

  Under (Novella)

  The Forgotten

  The Wandering

  The Revelation

  Fantasy Stories:

  Kiss of Gold & Thorns

  Wicked Song

  saruuhkelsey.weebly.com