Chapter 56

Chapter 56

ALICE

J oy had been furious.

“Our own sister, Alice?” she’d said, disgust and anger swirling in her beautiful blue eyes. The air in the apartment had turned so cold it had stung Alice’s skin. And she’d endured it without complaint. “You accused our own sister of this? Of hiding it from us?”

It did nothing to eclipse the shame she already felt inside. Nothing to eclipse the disgust she felt in herself.

But she’d had no choice, had she?

“I had to be sure,” Alice told her, trying to hide the pain in her voice. Joy had turned her back on her, then, and gone to the bedroom alone, slamming the door behind her. She didn’t bother saying goodbye to her when Alice left for the council meeting that evening.

We can spend our whole lives fighting for balance, fighting for stability, but eventually everything falls to chaos, no matter how hard you try to stop it.

Was Kallista right? Was Fey—was Joy —just another thing she might lose to that chaos?

It felt like the tighter she tried to hold on to the things around her, the tighter she gripped the stable things in her life, the quicker they vanished.

Alice tried to shake those thoughts away.

There was no time for thoughts like that.

It was time for the council to convene again.

Fey was the last to arrive.

To Alice’s surprise, the other members of the council were already there and waiting by the time she’d entered the throne room. All of them, despite the danger, despite the morbid specter of Linh’s death hanging over them all, had shown up. Even Sana, pale-faced and trembling, sat in her usual seat, straight backed and looking determined.

The Water Witch had more courage than Alice gave her credit for, clearly.

Someone had cleaned Linh’s blood from the table. Alice couldn’t help but stare at the spot where it had been, wondering who it could have been. A servant, maybe? Or Sana herself?

An oppressive silence hung over the room as they waited.

Callum was the first to break it.

“Tell us about these Blood Witches,” he said, and though he, too, stared at that spot on the table, Alice knew he was speaking to her.

“Blood Witches are the most dangerous of our entire Faction. They hold power over every living creature,” Alice answered, voice rote. “They can reach inside your mind and command you to act and bend you to their will.”

“Do they need to be close by?” Sana asked, voice a frightened whisper. She glanced around the room as she spoke, eyes bouncing between the doors all around the throne room. Too many doors.

Alice had long known how indefensible the throne room had been, with so many avenues of ingress. She’d placed soldiers in the halls tonight, to guard the doors. But the palace hadn’t had many to spare, and she almost hadn’t bothered.

If the Blood Witch came tonight, it’s not like a few guards could stop her .

“It’s harder with distance,” Alice answered. “But not impossible.”

“You really believe this could be the work of your sister?” Kallista asked, tapping her painted fingernail absently against the wood of the table.

Alice shook her head.

“I thought… maybe. But now, no. No, I don’t think it’s her.”

Callum shifted in his seat.

“And you’re sure it’s only Witches with this power?” he asked. Something in his tone tugged at Alice, and she turned to look at him. Unlike Sana, Callum didn’t look scared. He looked… sad.

Before Alice could tease that mystery apart, the front doors opened, and every head pivoted toward the door as Fey walked in.

Head held high, blood-red hair cascading down her back, Fey entered the throne room like a queen. Alice couldn’t help but glance toward Kallista. But if the Demon thought anything at all of Fey, or the danger she might pose the council, she hid it behind a mask of cold indifference.

Fey stopped before the council table, eyes sweeping over the members of the council one by one, before finally landing on Alice.

“I’m here, sister,” Fey said, eyes flashing. “Let’s get this over with.”

Maybe Joy was right. Maybe she had crossed a line by accusing Fey. Her chest felt unnaturally tight.

But it was too late to change that now.

“Tell the council what you told me,” Alice demanded.

Fey took a deep breath. “I was home all yesterday evening and night,” she stated with barely contained anger coloring her voice. “And my partner Alastair can confirm that. I have not set foot here, or anywhere else in this palace, since the last time this council summoned me. And I’d have happily stayed away forever, if you’d let me.”

“And?” Sana prompted. She sounded almost frightened to ask.

Fey raised her eyebrow and somehow made that simple act look like a declaration of war.

“And what?” Fey asked, rage flashing in her eyes.

Sana took a steading breath. “Do you have access to the fifth element, Fey? I… I have to record your answer for our meeting notes, so please. We need a verbal answer. Are you a Blood Witch? ”

Fey’s lip rose in a sneer. “If I were a Blood Witch,” she said, voice dripping with violence, “Queen Edelin would have slit her own throat long before she’d had a chance to lay one finger on me or my sisters.”

It was, all things considered, a terrible choice of words giving what had just happened to Alastair’s father. Alice glanced over quickly to see Callum’s face, to see if the imagery had bothered him.

But he didn’t look upset. Instead, he was frowning at Fey, eyes still inexplicably sad.

“If that’s all?” Fey prompted, looking around at them. “I had nothing to do with any of the council member’s deaths. And I swear to the Goddess herself that I cannot use Blood Magic. I’m not the one you’re looking for.”

“I believe you, Fey,” Callum said, suddenly. Alice frowned, watching him closely. Why did he sound so heartbroken? “I believe you when you say you can’t use Blood Magic.”

He stared straight into her eyes, like she’d shattered his heart.

“But my brother can, can’t he?”