Chapter 19

Chapter 19

" Y ou gave him your number?" Fey asked incredulously, eyebrow raised.

"What?" Willow snapped. "He was nice, Fey. And you should have seen how he blushed when I asked about his antlers."

"It was embarrassing," Joy admitted, but her smile was warm. "The poor guy was so smitten with her, we couldn't have gotten him to shut up if we tried."

Fey had to hand it to them—they'd managed to gather a rather absurd amount of information about Phillip Danvers in only one day at the university. Most of it, they already knew from Joy's research and what Alastair had told them.

But Alastair's sources had been wrong about one thing: Phillip Danvers was a member of Prey for the Crown—a group of Shifter extremists dedicated to overthrowing the Witch regime and installing a government representative of all Factions. Or, if not a card-carrying member, he was at least sympathetic to the cause.

"He lets a group of PFTC members meet in his classroom every week, after hours," Joy explained. "We tried to get an invite, but?—"

"But no one was going to give two Witches access to an anti-Witch group," Fey finished with a frustrated sigh.

"Exactly."

Willow had even swiped a copy of Professor Danvers's doctoral dissertation from his office. They'd found it ‘mysteriously' unlocked when the Shifter had taken them by it and convinced him that there was no harm in looking around.

Fey read the cover, An Investigation on the Ethical Ramifications of Allium Therapy in the Treatment of Sanguine-Focused Elemental Magic by Dr. Phillip Danvers, and felt her eyes drift out of focus. She flipped through the pages of the book absently, stopping to read bits and pieces every few paragraphs.

‘ While effective in the dissolution of any individual power sets, the use of Allium has historically been confined to only one elemental practice. I refer, of course, to that of Sanguine-Focused craft, colloquially called ‘Blood Magic'.'

"What is ‘Allium,' anyway?" Fey asked aloud. She flipped to another page, skimming it.

Joy shrugged, clearly as in the dark as she was, but Willow perked up in her seat.

"Allium? It's a poison," she said excitedly. "They used to use it ages ago, to dampen Blood Magic. There's a whole book about it in Lilith's library."

"Blood Magic?" Fey mused. Of all the elemental gifts, only Blood Magic—the power to bend people and minds to a Witch's will—was forbidden. It was a thankfully rare power and one that had been actively destroyed from the bloodlines. Fey flipped back to the title page of Phillip's dissertation. "An Investigation on the Ethical Ramifications of Allium Therapy in the Treatment of Sanguine-Focused Elemental Magic , " she read. "Okay… so, what, this is about how they used Allium to fix Blood Witches?"

"Well," Willow made a face. "‘Fix' is a pretty shitty description, honestly. Allium cut off access to their power, completely. One day you have power over blood, and the next—bam, nothing, no gifts from the Goddess at all."

Fey felt ill just thinking about it. She remembered her dream, remembered the feeling of being cut off from her power. It made her stomach roil.

"They don't use it anymore, though," Willow said. "Someone came up with an antidote for it, and that was that. No use in giving it to treat Blood Magic if a Witch could just go out and find the antidote somewhere on the black market."

"So, what do they do now?" Fey asked. She immediately regretted asking. She knew what happened, now, when a Blood Witch was identified during their Awakening.

Knew, because she had been sent to kill one, once.

Blood Witches were too dangerous to let live. Too dangerous to be allowed to stay in their society. It was better for everyone if they were taken out before they got full control of their powers.

Fey tossed the book aside, not wanting to look at it anymore.

"You don't think Alice was chasing a Blood Witch… do you?" Willow asked. If Fey didn't know any better, she'd think that was fear in her sister's voice.

Joy shook her head. "No. No, I don't think so. There hasn't been a new Blood Witch identified in years, and I just don't think it's possible that one could slip through the Awakening without being noticed." Joy rubbed the palms of her hands against her eyes. "And even if she'd found one, why hide it from us? Why contact a professor , for that matter? The solution to a Blood Witch is death—Alice knew that. She wouldn't go looking into some… archaic cure."

"Agreed—I think the Blood Witch angle is a dead end." Fey sighed. "So… where does that leave us?"

"Prey for the Crown," Willow offered. "Look, I know they're kind of a joke. I met with them, I get it. They're…" She searched for the words. "They're kids. Just teenagers, looking to make a difference. I don't even think they're dangerous, but… I mean, what else could it be?"

"Maybe Phillip wasn't a member of PFTC at all," Joy mused. "Maybe we were closer to the truth when we thought he was a drug informant—what if he was feeding Alice information about PFTC meetings, giving her names, locations for events and attacks?"

"That…" Fey let the idea settle in her mind, let it fit itself like a puzzle piece with what else they knew. "That could be it."

"And she didn't tell you guys because…?" Willow asked .

"Because she didn't need to," Joy offered. "Because there wasn't a reason to tell us yet. Or, maybe, she didn't know who to trust yet?"

"Maybe she had reason to think someone close to the Queen was working with PFTC." Fey finished.

"Could that have been what Phillip gave her?" Willow asked. "What if he gave her some evidence that someone we trust was actively working to take down the Crown?"

Joy smiled sadly. "Well, if that's the case," she said, "then I think we have a lot more to worry about than just one murder."

"What if she did tell someone?" Willow asked. "Just hear me out—what if Phillip was involved with Prey for the Crown, and Alice was feeding information about him and the group to Dameon? I was sent to kill him, right? Doesn't that make way more sense than a plot to take down the Queen from within?"

Joy nodded, considering.

"We need more information," Fey insisted. "This is all just us guessing at this point. We need some evidence that Phillip was working with Alice on this, or that he was actively involved with PFTC, or… anything ."

"Can't you just… you know, ask? " Willow suggested. "If Dameon sent her to gather information from Phillip, you could just ask him?—"

"It's treason," Joy interrupted. She sighed. "Sorry, little sister, but there are rules to what we can and can't do, and questioning an assignation? Especially one we weren't even told about? That's treason against the Crown. It's questioning the Queen herself, and Dameon… Dameon doesn't react well to any threats against the Queen, even from us."

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

"What did you do with Alice's stuff after…" Willow's voice trailed off.

It was hard to speak around the lump in her throat, but Fey managed. "We put everything together into boxes… everything that wasn't?—"

Burned . She couldn't say it. The sentence hung in the air and died without another word.

"I'd like to look through it all if that's okay," Willow offered in a small voice. "I think you could use some fresh eyes on this, and I could?—"

A knock on the door was the only warning they had before it opened, and Dameon walked in.

Fey sighed. Playing detective with Alice's death would have to wait.

Dameon was holding a black envelope.