Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

SAM

If I had been undecided on which side of the war to place my allegiance . . . what just happened would have given me an answer.

I'd already known which side I fought for.

Now I wanted to be the one to deliver the fatal blow.

I wouldn't get it. There was zero doubt in my mind The Emperor was destined for that honor. Hell, I'd heard Lilith and Sweyn conspiring on ways to kill him. So, if I couldn't be the one to kill Lilith, I would be the one to make sure no one laid a finger on Tennessee Wildes. If my entire life's mission was to keep him alive until he ended her, then I would be his bodyguard. His shadow. Even if I were merely that two-second warning he needed to keep himself alive. I wasn't foolish enough to think I was anything in comparison to him, but I'd seen a chess board. There was a row of pawns for a reason.

That would be me.

Because nothing made a woman feel more like discarded trash than being reduced to a piece of meat. It wasn't about him. He was my uncle, and every second of the Jerry Springer episode we were just forced to fake would haunt me. His heart lay elsewhere and mine was a pile of ash trapped in my chest. I just wanted to hold my stomach long enough for him to leave my room. He didn't need to see me puking my brains out. I'd earned the right to do so in private.

Because he'd told me our survival had relied entirely on my acting skills, and I'd taken that to heart. I imagined it was the kind of desperate strength they say mothers got when their babies were in danger. I'd let my mind and body be consumed by lust and desire, then gave the performance of a lifetime.

It'd worked. I was happy. I felt magic rushing through my veins unlike before. This was magic. This was power. This was electric, an energy unlike I'd never experienced. It was like I suddenly discovered I'd been color blind my whole life and now I saw vivid color.

I still felt sick.

Movement in my peripheral vision made me look over just as Everest walked back to my bed where I'd covered myself up with blankets. I would not cry in front of him. He gave me no reason to think I could rely on him for help or support. For all I knew, he wanted to kill his mother so Earth could be his.

He sat on the edge of the bed and faced me.

I licked my lips and shook my head. "You don't need to say anything. We did what we had to. You may leave. I will continue to act the part in court."

He held up a folded piece of paper. "When I leave this room, open this . "

I frowned and eyed the paper like it was a snake about to bite me. "What is it?"

"I wrote two spells. They are both written in Mother's demonic language. You will not know what they say." He held his hand up to stop me from speaking. "You will have to trust me and do as I say. Read the first two lines of the first spell. You will see red light like tunnel vision creeping in from the corners. Let it. Then read the last two lines of the spell. Do you understand?"

I nodded. My pulse was racing now. He was helping me. I almost wanted to cry.

"Once your vision clears . . ." he ducked down to meet my eyes and regain my attention. " Only once your vision clears, you will read all four lines of the second spell. It will hurt . . . like . . . brain freeze, follow?"

I nodded again. I didn't dare speak in fear he'd stop.

"Repeat the steps so I know you know the order. This is critical."

"Read the first two lines of first spell. Red tunnel vision. Read last two lines." I licked my lips as a rush of adrenaline swept through me. "Once vision clears, I read the second spell."

"Good. Once you complete those steps, you will understand the why of it. But do not speak of this to anyone. What you discover is yours to know only. Once completed, you must burn this paper to dust." He handed me the paper. "Understand?"

"Yes."

He nodded and pushed to his feet. His eyes watched me for a moment. "I am sorry you felt abandoned. It was not my intention. Nor is it my intention now. I am . . . off my game. I believe that's the saying?"

At that, I snorted. "Thank you."

"For what it's worth, and do not dare repeat these words out loud to a single other person or it will get many people killed including ourselves . . ." My eyes widened. He leaned down and whispered, " I may have delivered a killing spell to your friends at the safe house, but I bet if you think back to right before I arrived, you'll recall a certain visitor who behaved . . . weirdly."

I sat up straight. The memory of Tegan and Bentley at the safe house had been forgotten once they were killed and I was stolen. "Do you mean?—"

"Perhaps you can ask Mei-Ling."

My eyes filled with tears. Mei-Ling had been Tegan in disguise. He was telling me Tegan had kept my friends safe. I didn't understand the how or even the why—at least the why she knew it was going to happen. But after what I'd seen from Tegan when she escaped with Frankie, I had to trust my friends were secretly okay.

He reached out and brushed a tear off my cheek. "Do not let them see how they hurt you, for it will be used against you. If we are to win, we must be cold, heartless monsters that no one has any reason to not trust."

My jaw dropped.

He turned and walked to the door, then paused and glanced back at me. "By the way, that was one hell of a show up there. I'm impressed and proud of you. Try to remember that strength going forward."

I grinned. Butterflies danced in my stomach. "I didn't want to let you down."

"I am sorry I let you down before now." He smiled. "That ends now. So, Lord Braison ought to be on your agenda this evening."

"Th-thank you, Everest."

He nodded. "Be strong of heart, mind, and soul. You will need it."

And then he was gone.

I stared at the door for a long few minutes, trying to compose myself. I'd been through a whirlwind of emotions in such a short time. But I was anxious to see what these spells were, so I finally pushed myself up. It wasn't until I was holding the paper in front of me that I realized the cut on my arm was gone. He must have healed it without me realizing.

I frowned. He'd said he was off his game. I had thought he was just saying that to be nice, but perhaps he meant it. If my guess was right, which was looking more and more like it was, then Everest was as against his mother as I was, which meant he had to be rattled with everything that'd happened the last few days.

And I suspected Frankie played a big role in his game being off. Or Saber. Or both.

I wasn't sure which female had his heart, but it was one of them.

At least he was helping me now.

There were eight lines written in Everest's elegant handwriting on this paper, which honestly was proof enough of his age. Okay, step one is to read the first two lines.

I had no idea what they meant, but I read the words out loud to myself. As Everest said, red light crept into my vision from the edges, then slowly slid in until my eyesight was entirely tones of red. It made me feel queasy and panicked. I looked down at the paper and read the last two lines. It took a few seconds but then the red light faded as if it'd never been there at all.

Okayyyy. Next read the second spell all at once.

I was halfway through the second line when sharp pain shot through my temples and into my eyes. I hissed and bent over. Brain freeze, my ass! It took me longer to get the rest of the spell out, but as soon as I did, the pain vanished. I sagged against the end table beside me. I leaned against it for a minute or so, just breathing and letting my brain put out the fires in my nerves.

But I didn't feel anything different. I frowned and glanced down at the paper—and gasped. The words were in English now. No, wait. Not English. OH MY GOD. The spells were very much still in demonic language, but suddenly, like the flip of a switch, I could read them. My jaw dropped. I swayed so hard I had to lay down. Everest had gone full Matrix on me and uploaded the language into my brain. And he'd told me not to tell anyone about it, which meant he wanted me to know what was happening while Sweyn and Lilith assumed I wouldn't. My eyes burned with the need to cry.

I had to read the first spell a few times before I realized what it was for. When it clicked, tears ran down my cheeks. It was a spell to block Lilith from my mind so she couldn't just walk in unannounced whenever she wanted. Now, if Lilith wanted to speak with me, she would have to call and my vision would turn red as I'd seen. That was my bat signal now. Then I'd go to the orb and accept the call. Only then could Lilith communicate with me.

I sobbed. Totally and entirely unraveled on my closet floor.

He'd given me privacy from the beast. He'd heard me before, even when I thought for sure he wasn't listening.

Someone knocked on my door.

"Who is it?" I yelled.

"My lady, do you require sustenance?"

Shit. It was one of the servants. "No, thank you."

"Very well, my lady."

I cursed and jumped to my feet. Everest was very clear on the instructions to burn the paper, so I ran to the bathroom and tossed it into the sink. Wait, do I have matches? How do I burn— green flames billowed from my palms. I gasped and waved my arms only for the flames to stretch out wider.

I felt like Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty.

Before, my green magic had been a smoky fog. Now it was like fire. I felt it rushing to the surface for me to use, and I started to panic. The paper had been consumed by my green flames and was disintegrating before my eyes.

" Shit, shit, shit. Easy, magic. EASY, " I hissed at it and held my arms out straight. "Pull back!"

It took a few minutes to calm down, but when it did, I was exhausted as if I'd run a marathon. I sat on the edge of my bathtub just breathing. That wasn't going to work. I wouldn't get far in my escape if that bit of magic drained me so much.

Wait.

Lord Braison. Everest said he ought to be on my agenda tonight. He knew I'd need help with my magic! All of the mean things I said to Everest or thought about him I instantly regretted. I'd just misunderstood him. I eyed my reflection to make sure I looked normal, then confirmed the paper was gone . . . then I stormed out of my room.

It took me a few minutes to find Lord Braison's room. I was distracted by my emotions and forgot where it was. When I finally found it, I glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then I knocked on the door.

The door swung open, and Lord Braison stood in front of me. His red hair was a little disheveled and his red and green eyes were bloodshot like perhaps he'd been asleep. "Lady Sam, Lord Everest is not here?—"

"I know. I was hoping to have a word with you."

"Oh." He frowned and looked me up and down, then stepped back. "Come in."

I walked inside and marched to the far wall where the window was, then I turned to face him. "Are you alone in here?"

He cocked his head to the side. "I am."

I gestured around, then tapped on my ear. "Is it . . . private here?"

"Ah." He crossed the room to stand a few feet away from me and then wiggled his fingers and gray smoke filled the air. "It is now. What may I do for you?—"

"I know you're team Coven still, so don't bother denying it."

He opened his mouth, then closed It.

"Just help me," I finished in a rush. "Everest told me to come to you."

"Oh?"

"Well . . . actually, he probably sent me just for this . . ." I held my palms out in front of me and neon-green flames shot up to the ceiling. "Shit, fuck, dammit. Ah, hell?—"

He laughed. Gray smoke coiled around my flames and brought them back down to my palms. His laugh deepened. "Shit, fuck, dammit. That's quite a combo, Sam."

My face burned from what had to be a glorious blush. "See? Help?"

He was still laughing as he nodded, but at least he pressed his palms to mine and my magic vanished, then he curled my fingers over my palms and lowered my hands. "I see. You completed your task and now you have more magic . . . and yeah. Help. Right. Let's just keep those cannons at ease for a second, okay?"

I nodded. The idea that Braison knew of my task made my skin crawl, and I wanted to vomit all over again, but if that meant I didn't have to explain why I suddenly had more magic, then I was thankful for him knowing.

He smirked. "And the second reason?"

I opened my mouth, then closed it. This was harder to speak out loud, so I had to basically whisper it. " Like I said, I know you're still team Coven. I know there's no way you'd turn on your family. I need your help to get their help. "

He narrowed his eyes. All humor gone. "Their help?"

"Please, Braison . . ." Tears filled my eyes. I shook my head. "I may be her granddaughter, but I want her dead. Gone. I am on Heaven's side in this war. I'm with The Coven, and I will do anything to help destroy her. But I have to get out of here. I'm so scared. I'm not asking you to help me escape, I'm sure you have your own plans, but I can't get out of here on my own. I'm from Florida. "

Braison snorted. "Sorry, sorry. Um, yeah, I'm from Florida too. It's fucking cold out there."

"Please help me. I just need to get a message to them to tell them what happened to me. To get their help out of here. I'll do whatever they say. Even if they want espionage, I can do that. I can spy for them, but I need them to know I'm a good guy, bloodline be damned."

He stared at me for a long moment, then cursed violently. "I can't send a message to them, Sam. Not yet. It's imperative that I remain as seemingly loyal to Avolire as possible right now. If I want to see my family again, then I can't reach out to them."

My heart sank. I nodded. "Okay. All right. I understand. I'll just . . . um?—"

"But you can."

I gasped. "H-how?"

"How good is your memory?"

My eyes widened. "It's about to be real good."

He smiled. "Get a single piece of paper and a pen, then sit in the window here beneath the light of the moon. Make sure one bare foot is touching the ground. Got that part?"

I ran to his desk on the far wall to where I saw a stack of parchment paper and a pen. With those in hand, I sprinted back to the bench beside the window and kicked one heel off so my bare foot touched the cold marble. Then I looked back up to him. "Now what?"

"I'm going to tell you a spell that you're going to write on that paper. Once you write the spell, the channel is open and you write your message. You're going to want to think about what you want to send to her so you're ready before you start because the channel only stays open for thirty seconds or so, which means your message must be short and sweet. No greetings needed. She'll know who is speaking to her. Concise statements. Got it?"

I nodded. He meant Tegan. He had to mean Tegan. "How will I know if she gets the message?"

"She'll get it. That's a spell only for the—for her." He scratched his jaw, and I saw the worry for them in his eyes. "She may not respond right away, or she may not give you a real answer. Be patient. She has ways of communicating that no one else does. Send your message and then continue on with court as if you are so honored to be here."

I nodded.

He continued. "The spell is three sentences. You will write the first two sentences, then write your message, and then write the last sentence of the spell."

"Like saying over and out on a walkie-talkie? Or ten-four on a?—"

"Yes, exactly. Now, I cannot write this out for you. It's complicated, especially given my Coven magic, so I will recite it once. You must be ready because it would be too dangerous to send more than one message to her at once. And I cannot be in the room when you do it. Got it?"

"Got it. I'm ready." I knew what I was going to say. Short and sweet and to the point. "I understand."

"Okay, here it is. Listen carefully . . ." He leaned closer and whispered, " For what I speak must not be spoken, send my words to the rainbow token. Bound by Earth beneath the moon, hear my plea in a whispered tune. Silent the night I shall be heard, for her ears only, see my word."

I repeated the words in my head a few times, then nodded to him. "Thank you, Braison."

He smiled and headed toward the door. "When you're done, meet me out front so I can teach you how to use that magic."

"Really? Like . . . in open sight?"

He laughed. "Trust me, Sweyn will love seeing you with magic. I'll be out there waiting."

"See you in a minute."

I waited until he walked out of the room, then turned my attention to the paper in my lap. I took a deep breath to calm my thoughts. The marble floor was cold against my bare foot and the moonlight streamed in through the window. This was my chance. I couldn't fuck this up.

In quick movements, I wrote the first two lines of the spell: For what I speak must not be spoken, send my words to the rainbow token. Bound by Earth beneath the moon, hear my plea in a whispered tune.

Then I added my message: By the Goddess's magic I shall be heard, with mine heart's power I give my word. For in darkness or in light, I pledge myself to Heaven's fight. SOS. #TeamCoven

I wrote the final line of the spell: Silent the night I shall be heard, for her ears only, see my word.

Then I watched and waited. Surely something had to happen. Braison hadn't instructed me to burn the spell like Everest had, so— rainbow light suddenly covered the entire parchment paper. My eyes widened. I froze. TEGAN. I didn't dare move. He said she might not answer. He also said I didn't need to say who I was.

My words vanished . . . and then words written in little rainbow flames appeared on the paper.

‘Put that damn pearl necklace back on, dudette.'