by Emma Dean
Grabbing the banchan, Mika hid her smile as she ate. Lucien rolled his eyes, but he kissed his mom on the cheek when she came to get another platter while he stirred whatever delicious meal was in the pot.
“Thank you for letting us stay here,” Mika said, reaching for more. “The last few days have been amazing.”
Mrs. Park flapped her hands, cheeks flushed as she pretended it was no big deal. “Don’t be strangers, the lot of you. I’ll be mad if I don’t see you again.”
“Of course not, Mrs. Park. I’m sure you’ll wish you hadn’t offered at some point,” Ethan told her, getting up to give her a kiss on her other cheek.
Mika almost wanted to say screw it all to hell and stay here forever, but the challenge was old magic and she’d signed in blood. There was no way out of it now.
“I’d offer to let you stay with me some time,” Mika said with a small shrug. “But I don’t know if I can make that offer yet.”
Selene patted Mika’s hand. “It’ll all work out the way it’s supposed to.”
The other witch had a faith in the Fates that Mika had never understood, but today it was comforting.
Mika’s phone chimed and she pulled it out of her pocket. How they had cell reception this far in the middle of nowhere surprised her.
“We have our own cell tower,” Lucien told her with a smirk. “We’re not wild animals.”
“That’s still up for debate,” Soo Min said, whacking Lucien with her spoon so he’d move. “Help me put these in the serving dishes already.”
“It’s from Claire,” Mika murmured, unlocking her phone.
She read the text message, and then read it again.
All the sound in the room disappeared and devolved into a muffled ringing that put pressure on her ear drums, promising a headache later. Mika opened the attachment and her stomach dropped. She almost vomited right then and there.
“Mika!” Corbin shouted, shaking her slightly. “Tell me what’s wrong before every shifter in a twenty-mile radius goes looking for something to kill.”
She looked up to see Mrs. Park, Lucien, and his two younger siblings staring at her with glowing eyes, sharp teeth bared and snarling.
“What’s wrong?” Lucien demanded.
She didn’t have the time to take in the fact that Lucien’s entire family would fight for her. Mika simply handed Corbin her phone and let Ethan sit beside her, running his hand up and down her back soothingly.
“Is this for real?” Corbin demanded, eyes bursting into that fiery red.
Audrey snatched the phone from the raven, ballsy considering he was on edge and an assassin. The human witch frowned, clearly not understanding, so she handed it over to Selene.
Selene’s face went chalk white. “Yeah, this is for real. Claire can legally do this as matriarch.”
“Read it,” Mrs. Park demanded with an echoing growl.
Selene didn’t need to be told twice.
“The text message contains a link to a contract that is signed by Claire Marshall and Georgina Magnus that agrees to the betrothal and monogamous marriage of Mika Marshall to Matthew Magnus. It requires a child from the union within a year of the marriage. There are other clauses like dropping out of the University of Morgana, Matthew joining the Marshall clan and taking Mika’s name, as well as requiring that Mika take care of the Marshall greenhouse. None of it is legal or binding until Claire is sworn in as matriarch though.”
“It’s a threat,” Mika murmured, hands oddly numb. She looked down at them and wondered if Matthew was consulted on this or not. “She won’t cast me out if I lose. Just enslave me.”
For what it was worth, Mika understood. Claire couldn’t afford to lose any more child-bearing Marshall females. Their clan was dying, and this contract would help ensure it did not.
Mika supposed the contract could be worse. At least she loved Matthew even if it wasn’t in that way anymore. Claire could have chosen someone much worse for her to marry.
It also presented an interesting predicament.
Would Mika yield? Would she give in to the life she knew was waiting for her if she lost?
Corbin stood abruptly. “Don’t even think about it,” he snapped.
“You’re not going to yield,” Lucien told her. “You’ll win.” Ever the optimist. “If you lose…I’ll just kill her. Problem solved.”
Ethan was suspiciously quiet.
“No promises or reprimands?” she whispered, unable to look anywhere but at her hands while everyone she cared about watched everything she’d built crumble around her thanks to a few laws Cassandra had petitioned and passed through the Council a few hundred years ago.
“From what Corbin has told me, Matthew is a good guy,” Ethan said. He sighed and looked from the raven to the fox. “I would rather you marry him than choose death in the challenge.”
Mika nodded as though she agreed.
She understood why he would say such a thing.
But Mika couldn’t help thinking of Elizabeth and how her memory had been wiped – how she hadn’t remembered James at all. The fox had been broken over it, dedicating his entire life to her work. He’d been blood bonded to her…
And she remembered none of it.
What would Elizabeth have chosen, if given the opportunity? Would she have chosen to marry the witch knowing James was out there, or would she have chosen to fight even if it meant her death?
Eleanor had chosen death for the continued existence of their kind. To save them all, she’d sacrificed herself.
Mika took the phone back and kissed Mrs. Park on her way to Lucien’s room. She started packing, folding each item away precisely as her mind and thoughts folded in on themselves just like the clothes.
Would she yield or die?
27
The location for the challenge wasn’t in the coven to Mika’s surprise.
On the top of Strawberry Hill in the Golden Gate Park were the ruins of the Sweeney Observatory – a place destroyed by the earthquake in 1906…only twenty years after everything had changed in the witch world.
Mika looked up at the moonless sky and breathed deeply.
The last twenty-four hours had been hard.
Mika had demanded Eisheth take her to L.A. to ask Jess for a few pointers, or even hell so she could ask Lucifer for help. The devil was many things, but he would help her if she asked. There had to be a spell he knew she could use to win.
But Selene had run after her, reminding her she had to win this as a normal witch or undo everything Eleanor had done. Cassandra was still alive and well. She couldn’t know blood witches still existed or they’d all be exterminated, and the Council would no doubt turn a blind eye just like they had the last time.
Mika studied the trees, gnarled and wrapped around rocks and ruins.
Humans said this place was haunted.
It was one of Mika’s favorite places in San Francisco. The lake and the man-made falls were breathtaking and secluded despite being in the center of a busy park in a packed city.
Takahashi walked by, setting the circle with Selene and a few other matriarchs.
The area had been spelled to repel humans despite the time and location. There could be no accidents.
But what Mika hadn’t expected was the number of people who showed up.
All of Bay Coven’s witches, more than a few council members, the dean of the University of Morgana, even shifters. There was Samuel and the West Coast Pride, as well as others including the Klamath Mountain Pride.
Mika watched a dark-haired beauty stand with her three mates, Piper if she remembered correctly. She was one of Eisheth’s as well apparently.
The chaos was there, as were Kenzie and her grandmother Edith. Lucien and Ethan, Corbin and a man she didn’t recognize but assumed was Armad.
The two ravens made her shiver despite the balmy night air. Would they step in despite her insistence to back off? The silver-haired raven’s eyes were sharp and calculating as Corbin whispered to him.
/>
Claire walked up with her fiancé, Jack Pine, and the three friends she’d invited to the full moon dinner party.
Mika’s heart skipped a beat as she inspected her sister.
Her sister was one of those girls who were considered wild and reckless, who cared more about what high society witches thought than what she wanted, or what she knew to be right.
Claire had partied hard in high school and university, but she wasn’t some flaky weak little princess and never had been. Claire was a Marshall witch with the same hunter training Mika had in high school, and with the same Marshall power at her disposal.
The tight outfit Claire had on reminded Mika of the uniform the Morgana Marauders wore. All leather, protective, and built to keep her flexible and mobile. With her white-blonde hair tied back Claire was a fearsome opponent.
“Mika,” Ethan murmured, turning her toward him. “Don’t overthink.”
“Not like I can change my mind,” she muttered, staring at his chest – refusing to look up into his face.
Ethan pulled something out of his bag and tipped her chin up. “May I?”
Nodding, she wondered what he had in mind.
When he started drawing on her face with what looked like the eyeliner from her vanity, Mika almost broke down then and there. She didn’t know what she would do without him.
“Remember what I told you when I woke up in the infirmary?” Ethan asked, marking her face with the Morrigan’s warpaint.
“Remind me anyways.” She blinked back tears, overwhelmed by the support despite how stupid this challenge was starting to feel.
Did she really have to challenge Claire? Was she overreacting? Was all this necessary?
She’d made the choice already and she couldn’t go back now, but Mika was starting to wonder if she was imagining everything Claire had said and done.
But then Mika remembered what Claire had said to Audrey, and the contract waiting for the moment Claire was crowned matriarch.
“Blood magic doesn’t make you evil,” Ethan told her, concentrating as he drew the horned moon between her brows. “You are the Morrigan’s daughter. You are a warrior, but you can still be that daughter of love and war. Nothing says you have to be one or the other.”
Many females in mythology were both light and dark – a queen of the underworld and princess of spring.
The Morrigan was the mother, the maiden, and the crone all in one.
Mika didn’t have to be just a blood-witch warrior. She could be that and whatever else she wanted to be too.
The biggest issue was the obstacles in her way – preventing her from being who she really was.
Looking at Claire, Mika knew that for whatever reason her sister was committed to this world, this society where the high born benefited and the low born suffered, where the shifters were shunned and disliked despite witch ‘neutrality.’
Witches had never been and never would be truly neutral.
It was a lie told to the paranormal world so they didn’t have to deal with the other paranormal races, so they could benefit from their magic without having to pay the price.
And the willingness to look the other way, to ignore what was really going on, had allowed a sickness to take root and spread. Two hundred years ago female witches were enslaved, and no one had noticed.
And fifteen hundred years before that there’d been a purge and Morgana Le Fay had fallen along with the Morrigan. History had been rewritten. Foxes were shunned, ravens withdrew, and the rest of the shifters slowly pulled back until things were as they were now.
The truth infuriated Mika, it sparked a rage she’d only felt a few times in her life.
Claire may not be the real problem, but she was perpetuating everything that was wrong with their society. The contract currently sitting on her phone had essentially sold Mika Marshall to Matthew Magnus and had been signed without her consent by Claire and Matthew’s mother, Georgina. It was all completely legal and binding despite both of them being adults.
The second she’d returned home Matthew had appeared, as if he was waiting for her. His face was haggard and all he’d said was, “I didn’t agree to this.”
And Mika believed him. Matthew would never lie to her.
He was currently standing apart from everyone else, brows furrowed with his constant glare, arms crossed over his chest. Mika gave him a nod and the lines on his face eased slightly but didn’t disappear. His future was at stake too.
Matthew had to accept – he was a male and his Matriarch had decided.
If Claire became Matriarch that contract would be put into effect and considering the clause requiring complete monogamy and a pregnancy within the year to further their clan…
Mika would lose everything, but she wasn’t just fighting for herself. She was fighting for Matthew’s freedom, for Ethan and Audrey, Lucien and Corbin. They all stood to lose something if she didn’t win.
“There,” Ethan told her. “Perfection.” He tucked away the eyeliner pen and pulled out his phone. “See?”
Her eyes were rimmed in black liner she’d done herself, making the ice blue of her eyes seem severe even in the dark. The floating witchlights made her skin glow with purple and white light, highlighting the stark, brutal marks that Ethan had made on her face and yet they still looked extremely feminine.
It was like she was a whole different person – a true daughter of the Morrigan with Corbin’s feathers braided into her hair.
She was a warrior, she reminded herself. This was her true birthright, not that contract sitting on her phone – not the chattel they’d turned them into starting with Elizabeth Marshall and her entire generation.
Mika was still learning, she was still figuring out what being a morrigan really meant, but she was finally on the right path and she had people to help her.
“Mika?” Audrey asked carefully as she approached. “Someone came to wish you luck.”
Ethan smiled when he saw who it was and hugged Malachi hard.
Malachi looked different, harder and meaner, but he hugged Ethan back before turning to Mika.
Her heart leapt, the beat skittering as she took in the fact that the bags under Malachi’s eyes were gone and somehow, he looked bigger than he had before. He had to have been working out over the summer and it showed.
“Sorry I didn’t call,” Malachi said, voice gruff but not unkind. “It’s been…some work.”
Malachi hadn’t known who his father was, but betrayal from your own flesh and blood still hurt like hell.
“I get it,” she said, glancing at Audrey and silently thanking her. “What are you doing here?”
Malachi shrugged and slipped his hands in his pockets, eyes glittering with the purple witchlight. “I know I’ve been absent, but my feelings haven’t changed. I just needed time.”
Ethan said something to Audrey, and they walked over to Lucien, Kenzie, and the chaos to give her and Malachi some privacy.
“There wasn’t a deadline,” Mika told him, shrugging one shoulder. “But my life is even more complicated than before and I highly doubt that’s going to change. If anything, it’s going to get worse.”
Malachi glanced over at Lucien and Ethan, eyeing the others and then he studied the two ravens. “I gathered that, but I wanted to come support you regardless.” He looked back at her and Mika felt her heart skip a beat even though she didn’t know why. “We have time to figure things out, but no matter what happens I will always be a friend. Someone who will support you, who you can rely on. Don’t ever hesitate to ask me for anything, Mika.”
It was more than she could ever ask for. “Friends, no matter what,” she agreed.
His smile was sharp somehow and reminded her of Hunter a bit. “I trained you over the spring. Don’t let me down.”
Before she could say anything, Malachi turned and walked over to Ethan, standing shoulder to shoulder with him like the storm witch was a lifeline in this madness. Even the way he walked was different. He was less Captai
n America now and more…Bucky Barnes.
Fates help her, that shouldn’t make her like him more.
Lucien smirked at her and Mika turned back to the massive circle being finished on top of the observatory ruins. He would never let her forget that he’d predicted this.
Mika took another deep breath. Malachi was right. She’d trained for this in more ways than one. She’d been trained by an assassin and a mercenary. Mika had more hunter training than most high society witches. She would never be as good as Kenzie, maybe one day with Corbin’s help.
But she was no weak witch either.
Selene, Ethan, and Audrey had spent hours with her as well, practicing battle magic.
This was it. She was as ready as she could ever be.
Pop, pop, pop.
Mika turned when she heard the gasps.
Eisheth had shown up after all, kissing Piper on the cheek in greeting. Jessica gave her a wink in encouragement, but that wasn’t who had everyone’s attention. Lucifer gave Mika a nod and then deliberately walked over to Kenzie and her foxes.
“Hunter.”
Mika couldn’t look away from this confrontation even if she wanted to.
The alpha fox looked the prince of hell up and down, unimpressed. “Lucifer.”
“I forgive you for stealing from me.”
Hunter narrowed his eyes, clearly ready to argue about the exact definition of ‘steal’ until Kenzie elbowed him hard enough even Mika could hear his grunt of pain.
“You have to forgive us.” Finnick smirked as Hunter shook the devil’s hand. “We’re technically family.”
The look on Lucifer’s face had Mika choking back her laugh despite the severity of her current situation.
Eisheth appeared at her shoulder as Takahashi and Selene finished the circle with the others’ help. “She looks furious.”
Mika studied her sister’s face, scrunched up as she glared at the prince of hell. “Claire doesn’t like being shown up,” Mika said quietly. “And she’s jealous in a way. She knows Lucifer holds no weight on this plane or with the Council, not really. But he’s the prince of hell.”