Chapter 7

7

“I like it,” Corey said. “Mmm, feels right.”

I, along with the guys and Rooke, listened to him without comment. The expressions ranged from bemused to amused. Varden had filled Corentin in on his new task as the leader of morning, afternoon, and evening centering circles.

This task vibrated at the same frequency as Positive Patrick.

“Good, good,” I said after clearing my throat. “Because we’ll need to be unified with the threats on our doorstep. That starts with us being one with ourselves.”

Corey lobbed me a grin. “Don’t consider the threats, Tempest. Be without that. Let your worries flow in and out.”

He was broken. I tried to look under the table to see what material his pants were today.

“Linen,” Wild muttered under his breath. “Already checked.”

Sven growled, no longer paying attention to the conversation.

Corey frowned at him. “That sound is off-putting.”

“So is your goofy fucking smile, Patrick,” came his reply.

“Patrick?” Corey repeated, glancing at the rest of us.

I answered, “It’s what we call the new you behind your back.”

He nodded. “Right. Cool. I dig it.”

Wild shook his head, then focused on Sven. “What is it?”

“You haven’t noticed?” Sven said darkly, jerking his head to something behind me.

I pivoted on the bench, then turned back, smirking. “I did see that.”

Frond had set up a table that included Josie, a few of the magus he was chummy with, and some of those I remembered from the accession as being wary of my new position. Bedwyr’s presence there was a surprise, but then again, if he and Josie were an item again, then he may’ve been dragged.

I wrinkled my nose. “Don’t you guys think it’s hypocritical that my relationship with Wild got so much attention for being off and on, but that Josie and Bedwyr are constantly off and on and no one says a thing?”

Huxley sipped at his tea. “No one cares about them; that’s why.”

Huxley. Master of the brutal truth.

“They’re serious,” Sven said to me.

“This time is for good? How can you tell?”

“I don’t give a fuck about Bedwyr and Josie. I’m talking about Frond’s group. They’re focused.”

I could take that to mean his magic wasn’t having its usual effect. “Counter efforts?” Are your parents working on them?

“Nope. Just their determination.”

I pulled a face. “This was bound to happen.” After the advisor meeting yesterday, the coven had new direction. Teams would be put in place over the next couple of days, and the work would begin. Frond’s band of merry dissenters wouldn’t have the time or energy to spread hate then. And if they did, then whatever—they were welcome to their opinions. My intentions were pure.

My gut churned at the thought of my secrets. Could I really blame those magus for obeying their instincts? With Frond, it was personal. With his friends, they might be supporting him—or be interested in joining the original coven also. The others at that table… they weren’t really wrong. They were trusting their guts, which told them that I was concealing parts of the truth.

And I was. The meeting yesterday had confirmed how much. And I was meant to keep track of all the lies too. Eventually, they’d catch up with me. Eventually I’d be free of them. But we had things to get done first.

Wild looped his arm around my shoulders, looking across at his friend. “As long as it doesn’t grow, right?”

Sven folded his muscular arms. “I’ll watch it.”

“Thanks,” I said. Wild was right. As long as Frond’s supporters didn’t amass, then we were good. “I’m off to divination.”

“Joining the centering circle?” Corey said in a dreamy voice.

“Nah, more work with the staves.” Divination was the area I needed the most work in. With grimoire, I didn’t sense the same resistance. I’d come into the fourth affinity out of love shared with Wild. My divination was born of pain and loss, and maybe I’d never given its origins enough credit.

I tipped my head back to look at Wild. “I wouldn’t mind getting together with you, Huxley, and Spyne one time to work on grimoire.”

“I’m busy. Get in line,” Huxley said, standing. He glared at Rooke. “Have you purified the greenhouse?”

I glanced between them. “Uh, why?”

Rooke smiled. “Sven and I had a lot of sex in there yesterday.”

“Amongst all the poisons?”

“Some things excite me.”

Huxley snapped, “I’m not putting my notebooks where you’ve put your ass, or where Sven has slapped his balls.”

Wild laughed quietly as Rooke and Huxley walked away, bickering.

Sven’s smirk was smug. “It happened. Woman has a thing for danger, what can I say? Turned me on, too, after a bit.”

I needed to vacate this conversation. I stood.

“Your attention,” I boomed in a magically enhanced voice.

The quiet was immediate aside from a few comments from Frond’s table.

“You will note changes being made in the coven today,” I called. “Please go about affinity practice and your projects as normal. These changes will be explained during a coven gathering tomorrow morning after breakfast. For now, I’d like to announce that Positive—I mean, uh, Corentin—will hold daily centering circles in the divination center from now on. These will commence after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I encourage you to attend as often as possible. I will reveal the reasoning behind this tomorrow also. Have a good day, everyone.”

Conversation gradually resumed, and I turned to say goodbye to Wild, who’d be with his sentries all day. He was staring at my chest.

“Need sunglasses?” I asked him.

He blinked a few times, squinting to peer at my face. “It’s bright.”

I tried to push my magic down some. I used to always keep it concealed, but now tendrils floated about. “Better?”

Wild rubbed his chest. “For my eyes, not the rest of me.”

I let it go again.

He sighed. “That’s better.”

“Just look at me sideways.” I winked and joined Ty on his way to mentor our divination affinity magus.

“Have you accepted the seat?” he asked me once we’d exited into a main tunnel.

I glanced up at him. “I’ve accepted that it’s a very hard seat and needs a cushion.”

He didn’t answer as we entered the divination center. I summoned my purple beanbag, and Ty settled onto a low cushion as I summoned the set of Ogham Staves he’d given me a couple of weeks ago.

“I recall beith, luis, ferm, and sail, and their properties. I’ve started my reading on Celtic ancients.” I relayed what I remembered of that, which was nearly everything, thanks to being a grimoire. Perks.

Ty listened, adding in information here and there that I hadn’t come across. “And did you explore the history of the staves?”

“Not yet, sir. I will.” There had been a bit to do, okay.

He summoned a stave from my pouch. “Today, we move on to duir. Tell me of this stave.”

At some point between novice and proven, a magus’s magic started to operate on an instinctual level. This increased through the proven journey. Rooke, for instance, could pick up this stave and just know things about it. She’d sense its nature and purpose without having prior experience with it. I wasn’t close to that with divination, but I was there in battle and apothecary, which helped me somewhat.

I took the stave, pushing my apothecary magic to test it. “Oak. I would say strength. Protection.”

Ty’s deep voice washed over me. “Open your divination affinity to the stave.”

I exhaled and closed my eyes, drifting up the affinity. I pushed energy through the channel to my fingertips holding the stave. I let the magic wash over the carved piece of oak. “Strength,” I repeated. “Protection. Something… unknown. Ahead of me?”

I opened one eyelid.

Ty nodded. “You are sensing that duir has the ability to open new doors and paths. That it will protect you while you walk both. Remember that the staves convey relationships between person, the spiritual and physical tree properties, and then the stave meaning itself. If you were to scatter the staves, duir may be particularly responsive if you are divining something about yourself—about a choice you had to make. Oak can be a symbol of leadership. It could be present in combination with other staves to let you know that a new door must be opened during your rule, but that you would be protected when walking through it.”

I wouldn’t mind that reassurance. “Can we scatter the staves?”

Ty murmured, “First we learn the meanings of the twenty staves. Then we begin to understand how they interact.” He paused. “There is something in your divination affinity.”

I nearly closed the affinity in panic. My chest barely confined my thumping heart. “Yeah.”

“What trauma caused it?”

He didn’t know what he was looking at. I released a quiet exhale. “The death of my family.”

“Such damage does not come from quiet deaths.”

Rich brown eyes were focused on me.

“No,” I admitted. The council was under the illusion that a car accident killed my family. I doubted they’d believed the lie. They’d also never questioned me further, and now I’d disbanded them, they couldn’t do anything about it anyway. “I gained my divination affinity upon their murders.”

Ty stiffened at the last word. “I’m very sorry, High Esteemed. I can feel what it has done.”

I swallowed. “I believe exploring this affinity is the answer to healing.”

“Have you considered a journey?”

I pursed my lips. “I have undertaken several journeys back. Each ended in chaos. Chaos that got worse rather than better.”

He was quiet. “I see. There is much to respect about the power of chaos.”

I met his gaze. “Yes, there is, sir. I’ve spent an eternity there.”

The divination mentor flinched at whatever he saw in my eyes, though he didn’t lower his focus from my face. “I can see it,” he hushed. “You walked there for a lifetime.”

I’d watched Wild die in thousands of ways, unable to do a thing. “Perhaps the meaning of the experience will find me one day.”

“I believe so.” He took a breath and swallowed. “We shall continue here. The next stave is gort.”

We worked through eight more of the staves, giving me knowledge of twelve of the twenty. I may never use these things to divine my choices or the paths of others, and yet being active in an area of magic that had haunted me for years did feel empowering.

I rose after and watched the group who’d gathered for centering this morning. More than expected. We were all in need of extra healing after last week. “Sir, I wondered about something.”

“And that wonder has led to a question.”

“Naturally. Could you summon an echo of the past for the entire coven to see? There have been comments about how far this coven has drifted from its former self and unity. Seeing this with our own eyes may be important.”

Ty considered that. “It would be possible. I would need to search through time for such a moment you describe.”

“Could you?”

He bowed. “I would be happy to, High Esteemed.”

“Thank you, sir.”

I walked to join the centering circle, sliding between Berry and Gentri. They were two people who wanted to be with each other but feared damaging their friendship. Couldn’t say I’d ever had that issue. There was something to be said about not having many friends.

They didn’t stir from their meditation as I slipped into my affinities. I may not feel the need to center today, but I had to lead by example, and it didn’t hurt to give myself ten minutes of self-care in this insanity.

After I’d centered, I did feel clear about my path for the day. There was a task I’d put off. Now that the covens had drawn their lines in the sand, and I’d seen how paltry the level of magus support was, I had to act.

Opening my eyes, I looked straight across the circle. Josie, sitting opposite me, wasn’t quick enough to hide her hate, and my thoughts weren’t quick enough to stop my reflex wink either.

She smoothed her expression, and I got to my feet, seeing that Berry and Gentri had left at some point. A stream of happy magus were leaving the learning center. I had a good feeling about these circles.

The next stop was the advisor chamber, where I summoned parchment and a quill. I set my pointer finger to the bottom of the quill to fill it with black ink.

After staring at the blank page for some time, I set the tip to the paper.

To Crown Prince Kyros Atagio and Princess Basilia Atagio of Clan Sundulus, and to Pack Alpha Sascha Greyson and Tribe Leader/Pack Leader Andie Greyson,

I am pleased to have the opportunity to reply to your missive sent some weeks ago. I am further pleased to inform you that the previous response from the Buried Knolls council can be dismissed. I spoke, in very brief terms, to some of your people recently of an imminent threat from demonkind. This threat has become more urgent, and as I am now in a position to act as the High Esteemed leader of this coven, I invite you to our caves at your first convenience to deliver the warning in full. I would see that you are armed with knowledge at the minimum, and another alliance at the optimum.

You will be under my protection upon entering this coven and can be assured that no harm will befall any of you during this time.

Sincerely,

High Esteemed Tempest Corentine

The letter wasn’t long, but by the time I’d squeezed my brain to form each sentence, my neck and fingers were stiff, and the light in the caves had dimmed. I read over the letter anew. Would it be enough? Did it give enough assurance, or was it too open that they may distrust my motive and not accept the invitation? I blew on the ink to be sure it was dry, then folded and sealed the letter.

Rubbing my neck, I left the chamber, encountering Bedwyr outside. His gaze dropped to the letter in my hand.

“Bedwyr, can I help you?”

“No, High Esteemed. Just walking to dinner.”

“I’ll join you. Congratulations to yourself and Josie. I’m sure you’ll be very happy together.”

“Thanks,” he replied, not offering more.

Maybe he was thinking about the time Wild got possessive and turned him to rock for asking me on a date? Such things may be hard to forget.

My last encounter with Bedwyr was of fighting by his side in the last game against Fertim. We had history, but things weren’t usually this awkward. “Something’s on your mind, Bedwyr. I can almost hear it.”

His fearful expression made me laugh.

“Not really,” I told him. “It’s just an expression.”

His expression cleared, and he smiled. “Right. Sorry, we’re all on edge.”

“It’s to be expected. The place we believed ourselves safe was proved unsafe. That’s not a thought that inspires deep, healing sleep.”

“No,” he agreed. “It’s not. You feel that too? You seem so… unsurprised.”

“Knowledge is some consolation. Which is why I’ll share what I’ve put together with the help of others at tomorrow’s coven gathering. You also know that I grew up outside of the coven.”

His brow cleared. “Yeah, I guess it’s really different out there. Why did your mother and grandmother leave the coven? Why did half of your family stay here?”

Pointed questions. Either a result of the coven’s talk or Frond’s whispers.

It involved a demon king, an unheard-of love affair, and an impossible pregnancy. I could only imagine his face if I’d had the vagina to say that aloud. “I can’t say why they left, Bedwyr, and that ignorance made me angry for a long, long time. It felt like a betrayal that I didn’t know such important things about my family’s past. Yet since then, I have realized that there are things parents and older magus don’t believe a young woman should be told. Perhaps they hope to keep her a child for longer, or maybe they don’t know how to voice hard things. Or maybe, they’d planned to tell me everything the week after they were stolen. I can’t be angry at those sentiments, but I do wish I could tell you.”

“I’m sorry you lost your family.”

“So am I.” Their deaths had come up a couple of times today, and I felt a familiar sadness crush my chest. My twin. My mother. My grandmother. How life would be different. My grandfather, my uncle, Rooke’s mother. Our family had lost a lot because of the love my mother had shared with the previous demon king. She’d died before my grandfather and uncle, but I had to wonder if guilt might not have crushed her if she’d lived. I was glad she hadn’t been witness to my life since losing her. I was glad she only saw the happiest and most content of me. I’d get to that happiness and contentedness again with Wild, I could tell, but there were years in the middle I wanted to forget. That I didn’t want anyone to see.

I left Bedwyr at the entrance as I beelined for the food tables, then after, took my loaded tray to my usual table. Maybe I should sit at a special table now, but I couldn’t be bothered. I wanted to eat like a normal person, not a spectacle.

“What did you say to him?” Sven leaned closer to ask.

I glanced at Bedwyr, who had turned from Frond’s table and the closely watching Josie to join a table of his friends. “Nothing much. Answered his questions.”

“It did good. Try it with the others.”

“Only if Rooke knows antidotes to every poison in the world,” I said, thinking of Josie and her hateful look that morning.

Sven didn’t laugh. He really was concerned about Frond’s group.

“You doing okay?”

“It’s a lot,” he said. “I could use a drink.”

“Did someone say drink?” Rooke sat next to Sven, kissing him on the cheek. Playfulness returned to his eyes.

She looked at him, and her voice gained a hypnotic quality. “Whiskey. On the rocks. Smokey.”

I shoved a zucchini and eggplant fritter into my mouth, along with crispy bacon and salsa dressing. Mmm. Chewing and swallowing first, I then said, “You’re in luck then.”

“Dare I ask why?” my cousin replied.

I swallowed another bite. “Because we need to go out tonight.”

“Can’t,” Corey said from across the table. “Circle.”

True. “The rest of us?—”

“Can’t,” Huxley said. “Spyne and I are meeting with our chosen grimoires.”

“Can’t,” Wild echoed, grimacing. “I’m on sentry duty.” He was torn. “I don’t want you to go by yourself.”

Sven laughed. “Do you realize who you’re talking to? She got hit by fucking lightning, and was like ‘Woo! That felt incredible. I’m so pumped!’. You have nothing to worry about.”

Wild’s mouth twisted into a wry smile. “Perhaps.”

I sent a pulse of warmth through our bond. “I’ll be fine.”

“And we’ll go too,” Rooke told him, linking arms with Sven, then to me said, “We’ll meet you outside in an hour?” She hauled Sven away from the table.

Huxley screwed up his face, glaring at me. “You need to lay down some ground rules with her. It’s out of hand.”

“You’re telling me that Spyne and you don’t get freaky in the library?” I retorted.

Huxley colored.

Exactly. Some people liked poisons. Others probably did kinky Scrabble stuff. I didn’t want to know.

I shoveled in the remainder of my food and stood. I had to get dressed for the bar. I may have an agenda to find Rhona—the human rep of the Deception Valley Luther pack—tonight, but the idea of a drink or two outside of the coven excited me too. No wonder Wild used to escape there from time to time.

He fell into step beside me. “I’ve got time before I need to head out.”

“I haven’t seen you all day. How did you get on?”

“Well enough. There are a lot of questions. People are looking forward to tomorrow. They want something solid.”

Bedwyr had conveyed as much. “I can understand that. I’m calling an early meeting tomorrow—before breakfast. I’d like updates on everything before I speak to our magus.”

“Your magus,” he corrected. “Our coven.”

Yuck.

Wild snorted. “It will feel normal one day.”

“You sound like Ty.”

“What’s he been saying?”

“That I haven’t accepted the seat.”

“Have you?”

We entered my new quarters—the one with handy access to the demon realm. Just what every magus wanted. “You know the answer.”

“You see it as a temporary thing.”

Yes. I walked into the bathroom and turned on the faucets to fill the tub. “This can only be a temporary thing.”

He didn’t need to disagree aloud. I felt it. I just felt strongly that my days as leader were numbered.

I stripped off my clothing, and Wild groaned as I tossed a few minerals into the water, followed by a few herbs and plants from my purification kit. “Like what you see?”

Wild’s hand wrapped around a fistful of my long, white hair. He pulled my back against him, so I was looking in the mirror, arched.

My lips curved. “Is that a yes?”

With his other hand, he reached down, and then his erection was pushing between my thighs. I widened my stance, tilting further, and my groan not long after was half despair and half elation as he sank all the way inside.

Too much sensation at once, and yet I knew the deliciousness he would deliver.

“That’s a yes, my temptress,” Wild said in my ear. He held me still, one hand in my hair, and one hand hooked around my hip, and I watched him work in and out of me, my breath quickening at the rhythmic tightening of his abs and arm muscles. He was peering down my back, watching his length enter me, but eventually, he lifted his gaze to mine in the mirror.

Wild moaned low, releasing my hip to deliver a sharp slap to my ass.

I cried out, and Wild pressed me forward on the vanity, lifting one of my knees onto the bench surface.

Impossibly, he filled me even more, and I shrieked, pressing a hand against the mirror in order to shove back with his drives forward.

“Fucking exquisite,” he said harshly, pulling my head to one side to half kiss and half bite my exposed neck.

I panted, no longer able to meet him in movement as well as before with my head held in such a way.

“You want what only I can give you,” he told me.

“Give it all to me,” I whispered, watching him in the mirror. My gaze was scorching, and all for him. His fire was mine. All fucking mine.

He worked his thumb into my mouth, and I sucked on it, gently biting it too. Wild pulled it out, and his thumb pressed on the tight entrance to my ass a second later.

He sustained pressure there, never entering, but the possibility of him doing so was enough to make me crazy.

“Wild,” I hushed.

“Show me,” he demanded.

I detonated around him, and though he held on initially, I watched the moment he couldn’t deny the pulsing temptation of my body around his erection any longer. I got a show of my own as a speechless release left him shaking.

That made two of us.

I was spent.

Wild set me on the vanity, still breathing hard. “I could fuck you over and over again. That’s all I want to do.”

“That’s all I want you to do,” I replied, looping my arms around his neck and drawing him in for a kiss.

I pulled back after, distracted by information through our bond. “That’s a relief?”

He searched my face. “Of course.”

My eyes narrowed. “It’s more than that.”

“Nothing to feel concerned over.”

“I’ll let you know if I don’t want to be concerned about something. How about that?”

His amusement floated between us. “Noted and understood. I feel unsettled that you aren’t feeling any urge to continue our ritual. I’m struggling to deny its call, and… Is there any change in your demon?”

I shook my head. “I’m sorry.”

He kissed me hard and fast. “Nothing to be sorry about. Just ignore this insecure mate.”

Mate. I smiled. “I like that. Mate fits better than boyfriend.”

“I’d hope so.”

No matter what he said, Wild really was worried about my inability to see magic glowing from his chest. “You don’t think we should do more to figure out what happened to her?”

“What can we do?”

A good question. One I didn’t have an answer to.

He kissed me again. “I meant what I said. Ignore me. I trust that everything has a time and place.”

“Why?”

“Because of what the Mother said to me in the cave.”

I waited.

He kissed my nose and started to dress.

“You cannot be leaving on that cliffhanger,” I said in outrage.

Wild left the bathroom.

“Unbelievable,” I shouted after him.

“Be careful tonight, my love.”

I pouted, alone in the bathroom.

He called, “I’ll wake you later on. Nice and slow.”

I lost my pout. The man was forgiven.

But I’d squeeze the truth out of him. The Mother blasted me with lightning, but I’d never had an actual conversation with her. I wanted to know what she’d said on a personal level outside of my relationship too.

But all of that could wait until I was done conspiring with Vissimo and Luthers.