Chapter 150: Drach With Attitude

I swept into the veil, leaping from the wall of the Stronghold, bypassing the dining hall and Max, leaving Jiao behind though I felt her curiosity at my departure. I reassured her with a flashed image of the darkness, a touch of my need to be alone. She let me go without comment for which I was grateful.

It wasn't that I was watched or followed. Quite the contrary. I thought being a coven leader and a witch meant being in touch constantly with those around me. I had no idea what true loss of privacy meant until I joined the drach. Funny, it didn't bother me so much just yesterday. Now, as I shifted shape and spread my wings, soaring into the slice in the veil, I shivered at the thought of having all those minds in mine.

And while I felt a momentary pang of loss for the peace I'd left behind, I embraced the bits of the old me I allowed to return, even grinning with my muzzle stretched over my sharp teeth in the perma light of the veil at the thought.