by Amelia Shaw
Even though the arrest warrants had been retracted. And my name had been cleared...
My father frowned.
“Technically, no, you’re not,” he said. “But I would prefer you don’t go anywhere without one of us, Ava.” He glanced at Tavlor, who nodded in agreement, then looked back at me. “Even into the town. There are too many people who will be jealous of who you are, and worried too. It’s too uncertain a time for you to be safe. Especially since you haven’t made a decision yet.” He paused. “I know you want to explore, and it’s not fair to keep you locked away, but I think it’s safer if you stay here. I hope you understand.”
I nodded. “You’re probably right.”
I didn’t know what people would do to an illegitimate heir that just popped up out of nowhere.
Look what Mallory had done, turning me in to the Council, and she’d allegedly been my mother’s friend!
“I’ll rest for the afternoon,” I told them. “I probably need it.”
Some alone time might be good. I’d been craving a good conversation with my mother. I missed having the necklace on. I missed knowing she was with me if I simply touched the necklace with my fingertips.
“I won’t be long.” Tavlor said, coming over to take my hand and kiss my knuckles. Every part of my body tingled. He had that sort of effect on me. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to it.
“Me neither, Ava. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” my father said as he stood.
“Don’t worry about me,” I said. “I have some sleep to catch up on, and I might write my sisters a letter, or something.”
The men nodded and headed out the door.
I spoke an enchantment and locked the door behind them.
Tavlor had put a lot of work into the guards around this room, and my bedroom, but I still hated the fact I had so many enemies. People like my step-mother still wanted me dead.
Speaking of mothers....
I piled my plate with a couple of finger sandwiches and a quiche and headed into my bedroom. Now that I could eat freely without talking, I wanted to get as much in my stomach as I could. The next time we traveled, I wasn’t certain when I’d be able to eat so I wanted to do as much of it as I could now.
I loved the feel of the room my father had created for me. The large bed, the rugs underfoot, the photos I’d put up. The books lining the shelf and my jewelry box, sitting by my bed.
Everything I needed.
I walked over to the bedside table and opened the lid of the jewelry box. My eyes focused on the necklace and I sagged my shoulders in relief. There it was. I picked up the gold locket and sighed. I still hadn’t told my father about my mother’s essence being trapped in this locket.
I’d never allowed anyone else to wear the necklace, or try to talk to her, except my sisters. And the magic had failed at that time.
Part of me was worried that it wouldn’t work for him either, that I would lift his expectations, and then he’d be disappointed.
Another part of me was strangely possessive of the necklace. I didn’t want to share my mother and her thoughts with anyone else. But after seeing how much her journal had affected him, when this was all over, I would give the necklace to my father.
He needed to talk to my mother more than I did. Well, at least, he would in the future.
Today, I needed her.
I lifted the locket and placed the necklace over my head, then lay down on my bed. I groaned as my tired body relaxed into the soft mattress and I got comfortable on the pillow. My eyes began to droop even though I wasn’t tired. I picked at some of the food, but the effort was halfhearted at best.
The locket began to burn against my skin. I smiled as I reached for the locket, my touch activating my mother’s voice inside my head.
Ava! Oh, my God, I’ve been going crazy here! Where have you been?
Guilt hit me in the gut like a kick to my stomach. If time passed for my mother, with any sort of real timeline, then I should never have taken the locket off. She would have been alone for days. Worrying about me.
“Hello, mother,” I said. Even though both my father and Tavlor weren’t around, I still feel obligated to keep my voice down. It was as though I didn’t want anyone intruding in on our conversation. “I’m sorry I haven’t been wearing the locket. Things have been a little too intense out here.”
Intense... in a good way? What was the outcome of the Council meeting?
I sighed, fingering the locket and glancing out my window. “It’s a long story.”
I have all the time in the world.
I sighed again. “So, basically... the Council tried a whole lot of dirty tricks, but in the end, we won. Mostly because Dad took them on with his magic. He’s so much more powerful than I thought he was.”
Mother laughed, the sound strong and happy. Enough to make me smile as I lay on the bed. I thought she would be upset at the compliment I gave him, but I was glad to see that wasn’t the case.
He’s the High Warlock of all the realms. Just because the Council has done a good job in manipulating him and confining him to the position they want him to fulfil, does not make him weak. In fact, he’s the most powerful Warlock there is.
I grinned now. She sounded so proud of my father, even if she hadn’t seen him in twenty years.
“Well, sorry to correct you mother, but Tavlor is more powerful than Father. Although he is half Fae, so perhaps he doesn’t count.”
Tavlor... he is the half breed you are... involved with.
I swallowed. I hadn’t told my mother much of Tavlor yet, but she knew me better than anyone and had probably read between the lines. “Yes, I’m in love with him.”
My mother sighed. The Council won’t like that.
“Because he’s a half breed?”
And because they don’t want you to make your own choices. They will have had the next High Warlock and his wife lined up for the past twenty years.
“And yet, Charity couldn’t have a child, so she stuffed them up, didn’t she?”
We both laughed and I relaxed even more, shutting my eyes and enjoying the sound of my mother’s voice in my head. I thought it would be more difficult to have this conversation with her, but it wasn’t. She was more open than I gave her credit for.
So, you have been acquitted of all treason claims?
I nodded. “Yes.”
So, are they going to make you High Warlock after your father?
Her voice sounded hopeful, but thin. As though she was afraid of the answer to her question.
I bit my lip, thinking about the best way to explain where we were at. “Well, that’s the sticking point,” I said. “They’ve told me they will allow me to be my father’s heir, and inherit his title after he relinquishes it... but...”
But what? What do they want in return?
“They want me to marry someone of their choosing. A warlock I’ve never met before. Probably someone they can manipulate since they know they won’t be able to manipulate me.”
Mother hissed. Those bastards.
I sighed. Yep. Totally agree. “They still want to control me and since they can’t actually control me, this is their next best thing.”
And if you don’t say yes to their demands, what then?
“They say I can have a normal life, and they will appoint the new High Warlock, which I know will be the same guy they want me to marry. It’s obvious he’ll get into the position, no matter what. Which would be fine except, again, he’s just a puppet. And I’m worried that even if they say I can have a normal life, I don’t actually trust them to give me one. What about Bella and Courtney? Would the Council find out about them? And if they do, what then? Maybe I might be entitled to a normal life, but would they?”
And I was pretty sure the warlock they’d chosen would not be some amazing, powerful, awe-inspiring man.
My mother was silent for far too long. To the point I started to worry that she’d ‘hung up’ on me.
“Mother? You
still there?”
Yes, Ava. Just processing everything. So, to summarize, the Council has agreed to accept you as the next High Warlock, which is an incredible achievement and one I never thought to expect.
“Yes...”
But they want to run your life and control you the same way they’ve always controlled your father? And we don’t know how any of this is going to affect your sisters?
“Pretty much.”
Those... bastards.
I snorted. “Mother, what do I do? If I hadn’t met Tavlor, and fallen in love with him, an arranged marriage would still not be my choice... but it would be more palatable to me. But now? I can’t do it. I just can’t. And once I sign that contract, they’ll want full autonomy over me. Not just who I marry, but what I do, say, how many children I have...”
Oh, you’ll have a single son. It’s in the contract.
I rolled my eyes. “No way.”
“Yes, way.”
I shook my head. “Oh, mother, what am I going to do?”
Chapter 14.
I THINK, THE QUESTION is Ava, what do you want to do? Do you want the role of High Warlock? Do you want the responsibility that comes with it?
I frowned. “I still don’t know enough about it to truly make that choice, Mother,” I said. “Every time I think I know what I want, I see Tavlor and that stops me. Then, my father tells me about another place that’s been marginalized due to ridiculous prejudice on the Council’s behalf, and I reconsider. That’s the hardest part. I haven’t grown up in this world. I don’t know anything about what my father does. What the responsibilities are. What I would have to sacrifice and if that sacrifice is even worth it at all.”
You can find out about that, Ava. That’s not the hard part.
I rolled my eyes. Of course, I’d gotten that wrong. “Then tell me, Mother, what is the hard part?”
I wasn’t trying to be caustic about it, but I bristled every time my mother tried to tell me how to feel.
Deciding if this is the life you want. To make decisions for others. To be held accountable for wars, and other worlds. It’s a big role with lots of responsibility.
“You don’t think I can do it?” I snapped. I could always count on my mother to rile me up and get me defensive.
She laughed.
“Mother.”
I’m not laughing in a bad way, Ava. You, my girl, are an amazing witch.
I swallowed hard and sat up, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. She’d rarely said things like that, especially when she was alive. “Do you really mean that?”
Of course. Why do you think I pushed you so hard?
“What do you mean?” I asked slowly. She couldn’t possibly be insinuating... “Did you know that this might happen?”
Of course, I did. From the moment you were born, I knew that there was a possibility that one day you would need to... be with your father. Goodness, you always threatened to run away, or did you forget about that? And with that fierce determination, there would come problems. Responsibilities. A needed for you to be strong in your power. Why do you think I pushed you so hard? Taught you so much more than I needed to?
I chuckled. “I don’t know what you taught me, or how much you taught me. I never had any comparison.”
That’s true... So tell me, when it came to your trial, how well did you do? How well do you compare to similar witches of your age?
My mother’s tone was smug and I couldn’t help but smile. She knew the answer to the question.
“I... kicked their ass. Too much, actually.” That’s what had alerted everyone, my impossible strength signaling a non-human father.
Of course, you did. I trained you as such.
Although I wanted to enjoy her triumph, her happiness in what we’d achieved, I couldn’t.
“Then why not teach me more about the realms, Mother?” I asked. “I’m not ungrateful for what you prepared me for. Trust me, I am. But my role as High Warlock wouldn’t just be about being strong. I need knowledge and comprehension of the world around me, things I know nothing about. I need to know the politics of the magic realm and to understand why it is the way it is. But you haven’t taught me any of that. It’s something I need to learn on my own.”
I inhaled sharply, my breath shaking in my throat. I wasn’t trying to be difficult, and I appreciated the fact that she was smug, because she deserved to know I achieved power under her tutelage. But there was more to this role than just that.
I rubbed my lips together, fingering the necklace. I needed to ask my mother a question. A question that would change my mental state, push me forward. Change my entire existence, in fact.
I stood up and began to pace the length of my bedroom, unable to stand still.
“Mother, I need to ask you something,” I finally said.
Ask me anything.
“Do you think I can do it?”
The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. Perhaps I should have waited to ask such a thing after we visited the shifter realm. Perhaps I shouldn’t have asked her at all. Regardless of what she thought, I was still going to make my choice and we would both have to deal with it.
And yet, I couldn’t help but need my mother’s approval, her encouragement. She rarely gave it when she was alive. I needed it now—if it was something she could give me in the first place.
Do what, Ava? Be specific.
“Be the High Warlock,” I said. “You know what the role entails. You grew up in this world. I didn’t. You know what’s expected. You know the sort of person who could handle it. I want to know if I’m that sort of person.”
There was a long beat of silence, and my ribs tightened around my chest. Oh, my god... if she thought I couldn’t do it, then I definitely couldn’t.
All my ambitions curdled into a pile of goo.
How could I have been so stupid? How could I have thought I would actually be successful at something like this?
I gasped between tight breaths. “Mother...”
Ava. You can do anything you put your mind to. You know that.
Disappointment pulsed through me at the old rhetoric. Of course she would say that. Of course.
“Mother, that is a weak-ass thing to say,” I said through gritted teeth, curling my fingers into tight fists so my nails punctured my skin. “And you know it. If you’re not going to be honest with me...”
I grabbed the locket in my hand, tightly, so that I could yank it off my neck.
I didn’t need her pussy footing around. My mother had always been honest with me. Too honest. Brutal, at times. If she was being a coward now, I wanted to know why.
Stop, Ava. Don’t... put me down. I can’t cope with being put in the dark again.
I put my hands on my hips, angry now, though she couldn’t see me. “Then tell me the truth, Mother. Or else I’ll shove this locket into a drawer that will soon be gathering dust. I don’t want to hear a token response. I want—no, I need—to hear the truth.”
Ava. You are a better woman that me. You are a better witch than me. And I pushed you from the moment you could walk, just in case this ever happened.
“In case what happened?”
Specifically!
In case you needed to become your father’s heir. I never assumed that his wife would be barren, of course. But you would always be his first-born child, so when you showed so much promise... so much early power, I trained you as though you were going to be the next High Warlock of the magical realm.
I think part of me wanted that to happen, if I’m being honest. I think I wanted Matlock to realize just what a union between us produced. And you were always exceeding my expectations...
I swallowed hard. “So, to answer my question...”
Yes, Ava! Yes! I think you could be an incredible High Warlock. The best the Council has known for centuries.
The tears welled in my eyes and slipped down my cheeks. I sucked in a breath and sat down on the edge of my bed. I’d wanted to
hear that, and now that I had, emotion spilled out of me like water from a broken sprinkler.
“Mother,” I managed to say. “You should see how bad some things have gotten. The bigotry, the prejudice, the way they use their power to punish people who don’t deserve it!” I dashed away the tears, thinking about those poor people in King Ankor’s kingdom. “There has to be something that I can do. Some ancient law I could cite, something to help them.”
Then I remembered the book my sister had found.
“Did you know that the Council was once made up of all type of people, Mother?” I asked. “Shifters, Fae, Witches, and Warlocks? And now... they’re all just a bunch of scheming... backstabbing...”
How did you know that?
“Ah...” Damn, I’d forgotten the information had actually come from one of my mother’s books. “Bella went through your stash of private books and had some on her the day you... disappeared. Luckily for us, or I would not have gotten out of my last trial alive.”
And neither would my father, more than likely.
My mother began to chuckle. That cheeky girl. I didn’t know she had it in her to go behind my back like that, even if I was dead.
I grinned. “Yeah, me neither. But you know Bella. Anything for more knowledge.” I shrugged, ignoring the way my chest twinged at the thought of Bella, at how much I missed her—missed both of my sisters.
Yes. That’s my Bella.
I sighed, tired from the roller coaster of emotions that I’d been on today. I wanted to sleep, but I felt like I shouldn’t.
“Mother, I... wouldn’t even know where to start to fix the damage the Council has done,” I admitted, laying on my back and staring up at the ceiling as though, somehow, the answers would be up there.
You don’t have to have a plan now, she pointed out. You will have help, and support from your father and Tavlor. And if I know you... you will inspire others to be on your side. The Shifters and the Fae have been neglected for so long, if you show them that you can provide a better future... they may side with you.
“Side with me?” I furrowed my brow. “Against who? The Council?”
Would that be possible? To mount an army against the Council to win my argument? And was it worth it, over a marriage? After everything they’d lost? Did my feelings really compare to the pain and suffering they had to deal with for centuries?