Unease skittered across my skin at the knowing glint in the Elder's eye. There was no way in hell she would know what I was. No one did, save a few people closest to me. And not a single one of them would have said a word. Okay, so some of the Daywalkers had figured it out as well, but I had a hard time believing they spent their time acting as spies for the Sun Coven.
“The daughter of Hank and Lily Bennett, both powerful mages in their own rights. Both fiercely loyal members of the Bone Coven. Your grandmother is also a member of the Bone Coven and a very strong and powerful witch. There are some odd gaps in her history, though. And her power has been reported as being a bit fidgety, if I remember. Much like yours.”
Swallowing hard, I turned toward Dorian. He stood motionless, expressionless. Just like a rock that was being blasted by a bitter wind, he showed no sign that the Elder’s words were getting to him.
“The thing is,” the Elder said, standing slowly before making her way across the room to stand just in front of me. “The blade is powerless in my hands. It’s also powerless in your coven’s hands and will do absolutely nothing to stop the demons.”
“But you just said—”
“That it can be used as a weapon against them,” she said with a nod. “And it can. But it can only be used by a shadow mage. If your coven is so desperate to get their hands on the blade, then there’s only one conclusion to make of that. One of them is a shadow witch, and I think it’s more than clear who that is.”
Chapter 27
Words failed me. Not only had the Elders figured out what kind of mage I truly was, but they’d dropped a bombshell the size of Texas on top of my head. Could this be true? Could the blade really only be used by a shadow mage? If so, it didn’t explain why my coven could possibly want it. Unless…
A lightbulb went off over my head. A very painful bulb that brought on a fresh wave of panic and fear.
“They know what I am, Dorian,” I said in a whisper. “And they’ve known since that night I confronted the Blood Hunter Coven.”
“Zoe.” Dorian’s voice held a warning. Clearly, he didn’t want me discussing this in front of the Elders, but I was pretty sure it was far too late for that.
“They already know. No sense in pretending they aren’t right.”
“They didn’t know until you confirmed it for them,” he said. “Now, there’s no telling how they’ll use that information.”
“We had our suspicions before today. And even if Zoe hadn’t confirmed it, it would have been obvious regardless. In order to get the blade, they would have needed to send a shadow mage. It does not like being handled by any other type of witch.”
“Still, we can’t be certain the Bone Coven knows,” Dorian said. “This entire trip was our idea in the first place.”
“No, they definitely know,” I said, beginning to pace across the floor. “Ben must have told them. It would explain why they pulled me from the field almost immediately and why they’ve gone out of their way to keep a protective duty around me at all times. Remember what the Magister said before we came here. They didn’t want to waste me in a skirmish against some Daywalkers. They’ve known all this time, Dorian. And they want to use me as some kind of walking weapon.”
As the shock of my discovery settled in, most of the Elders retreated to a back room to discuss the pros and cons of agreeing to the truce. Arthur stayed out in the front room with us, though I was pretty sure he was guarding us more than keeping us company. But the wait was painful, especially when my mind began to whir over all the possible scenarios. I needed something to do.
“Where’s the Blade Room?” I asked, looking up to meet the older mage’s eyes. “I want to see it.”
The Elder furrowed his brows and fell silent as if deep in thought. After a moment, he nodded and led me down the hallway and a long flight of stairs before we stopped at a thick metal door, only a small window displaying what was kept inside.
“This is where we keep it,” he said. “It’s behind several wards as well as a thick binding spell that cannot be undone. We made sure of that.”
I peered inside. The blade had been erected to stand tall on a stone pedestal, the light from the sun shining down on it from skylights. It looked just like any normal dagger. There was nothing special about it other than the light, but something about it called to me, something deep inside my gut.
“The light helps dim its power,” the Elder said. “As a shadow weapon, it works best in the darkness, though it does emit its own glow.”
Remembering the blank letter I’d found in Wagner’s belongings, I searched through my bag until I had it in my hands. “This is one of those parchments with the ink that can only been read by the light of the blade. Do you have any idea what it could mean?”
“I’m afraid not,” he said with a quick shake of his head. “That is a document that was likely created in the Shadow Coven. They used to use this kind of letters to keep the contents hidden from prying eyes. And by prying eyes, I mean other mages. The shadows have always firmly believed in secrecy and in deceit, and they found their own ways of dealing with that.”
“Not all shadows,” I said, feeling the intense need to prove to this man that I wasn’t the stereotypical image that most held of my kind of witch.
He raised his eyebrows. “No? If you are so different than your kin, why have you forged your mark? Why have you kept your identity secret? And why did you turn to deception when there were a hundred other jobs you could have taken?”
I opened my mouth to respond but couldn’t find the words. Because looking at it from that point of view, he was right. I’d long relied on deception and secrecy, and just because I had done it to save my skin and help my Grams, it didn’t change the fact that was exactly what I had done. Maybe I was more like them than I wanted to believe.
“It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, Zoe,” he said. “We automatically equate darkness and shadows with evil, but it’s all in how you choose to use your power. Yes, the magic can twist and tempt the soul, but there are plenty who don’t turn down that path. They aren’t talked about because it doesn’t fit the Bone Coven’s narrative. But good shadow mages definitely do exist.”
“I can’t believe you of all people are saying that,” I said with a laugh. “Your magic comes from the exact opposite source. You’re full of day. I’m full of night.”
“In order for the world to exist as it does, we need both day and night. We need the moon as well as the sun. Nature works in harmony. Without one, we cannot have the other. Besides, from where I’m standing, it isn’t shadow mages who are doing these terrible deeds. It’s blood and bone.”
“I’m truly sorry,” I said. “If I’d realized what was happening here, I don’t know if I’d been so quick to come and try to talk you into giving up the weapon. They’ve been using me the same way they want to use you.”
“And yet, it is easy to understand why,” the Elder said. “In the end, the Magister merely wants to save the world from the demons, and he’ll do whatever it takes to do so, even if you and I might not like it.”
“You’re taking his side? After everything they’ve done to you.”
“Not taking his side. Just understanding it. I’ve always said that the key to beating your enemies is to put yourself inside their mind. To understand his motives and his goals is to understand the best way to win.”
“And what is the best way?” I had to ask, because from where I was sitting, there didn’t seem to be a solution at all.
“Compromise. We will give you the blade, but only you are to have access to it,” he said. “Use it against the demons. Win the war. But when it’s all over, you must convince them to return the blade to us where we can put it back in its rightful place under our protection. Because all it takes is one corrupt soul to bring all those demons straight back through the veil again.”
With a nod, I gave him a smile. The Bone Coven would have to agree to this. They would get what they wanted, and the weapon woul
d be safe once we’d won. Everyone would be happy with this arrangement, except maybe the Blood Coven, but they’d have to accept this deal. They might not get their army out of it, but they’d get something much better. A surefire way to beat our enemies. I just hoped I could live up to the task.
Chapter 28
“It’s almost been twenty-four hours,” I said, glancing at the timer on my watch. “We have about half an hour before the coven launches an offensive through the siege wall. I’m not exactly sure what they have planned, but I don’t think any one of us wants to find out.”
One of the Elders shook his head and scoffed. “Knowing they planned to attack us does little to convince me to agree to this truce. If they want fire, then perhaps we should meet them with fire.”
A couple of the Elders murmured in agreement, frowning out at the dusty expanse around us. The coven would have a difficult time with the element of surprise—we’d see them a long way off—but they were still double the army here. Two covens were stronger than one, and many of these Elders were on the far side of eighty. They weren’t as strong as the younger Enforcers, and unless they upped their numbers fast, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
“They don’t want fire,” I said. “They want peace. If they were desperate for a fight, they wouldn’t have sent me to talk to you.”
“We’ll agree to talk to them,” Elder Sarah said. “But we can’t promise anything more than that.”
“Hello, Magister,” I said through the barrier when the twenty-four hours ran out. He and a team of Enforcers had appeared almost immediately at the edges of the Sun Coven property, ready to call the truce.
“Zoe,” he said with a nod before turning to the Elder at my elbow. “Summoner Arthur. How lovely to see you again.”
Summoner? That was interesting. In our world, the Magister was the head honcho of the entire coven operation with the Summoner acting as his second-in-command. A vice-president of the coven in some respects. The rest of the council acted as a sort of Congress, voting on issues relevant to the inner workings of the coven. The sun mages had abandoned that structure, but they clearly still relied on their old leaders even in this new iteration.
“I’d say the same back to you, Salvatore, but I can’t say this is lovely in any way, shape, or form. This entire thing is practically harassment, if I’m honest, and if I weren’t a man of peace, I’d be declaring war.”
Frowning, I glanced back at the Elder. These were much more confrontational words than I’d expected him to say. Hell, if I’d known he was going to be like this, I would have approached the Magister on my own. I couldn’t let anything happen to ruin this. We were only moments away from ending this entire thing, and I couldn’t let a few bitter words screw that up.
“Don’t worry, Zoe,” Magister Salvatore said. “If you got what you came here for, then I don’t care what an old, cranky warlock says to me. He can ramble for an hour if that makes him feel better about how terribly his coven lost to ours.”
“Lost?” Elder Sarah barked out a laugh. “In what world did we lose when you had to send a shadow mage to negotiate a truce for you?”
The Magister frowned and flicked his gaze to me, but the look in his eyes wasn’t one of shock or alarm. The Sun Coven had been right. Magister Salvatore knew exactly what I was, and it was why he’d sent me here in the first place.
“Zoe, that was probably a piece of information you shouldn’t have shared with our enemies,” he said in a patronizing tone, “but I understand how it could have helped in the negotiations.”
“Enemies?” one of the Elders asked. “You mean your prisoners.”
“Alright,” I said, holding up my hands. “Obviously, there are a lot of issues that we need to work through. On both sides. But, right now, we’ve come to discuss the end of the siege, which I think we can all agree is something everyone wants.”
“It’s no skin off their backs,” one of the Elder’s grumbled. “Hell, they probably enjoy watching us suffer.”
“We don’t want to see any mage on this earth suffer,” the Magister said with a smile. “Except perhaps those members of the Shadow Coven, of which Zoe here is not a member of. In fact, I think she’s an excellent example of how we can all work together, expand our trust and loyalties past the coven identified to us by our marks.”
“Forcing us to join your battle isn’t going to happen, Salvatore,” Elder Arthur said. “We choose when we fight, and we decide what methods we’ll use. Before we agree to anything, we want to make that much clear.”
The Magister’s lips quirked, but he smiled. “Very well. If you prefer not to fight, then by all means, don’t fight. But just remember that the fate of the world stands on all our shoulders, and if you sit on the sidelines, that’s just as bad as joining the opposite team.”
“Zoe, I thought you said this man was a reasonable warlock,” Elder Sarah said. “I thought the agreement involved no more forced servitude.”
“And it does,” I said quickly, staring at the Magister. “Right, Magister Salvatore? They agree to give over the blade, and you agree to end the siege, which includes no longer trying to force them to become the newest members of your army.”
“Of course,” the Magister said with an icy smile. “We just wanted to make one last plea. We are all mages, are we not? Mages who don’t want to see the demons win.”
“And we have our own way of dealing with that.” The Elder nodded to the man by his side, who produced a replica of the witch’s blade. “This weapon can be used to fight against the demons, as you’re aware. You’ll also be aware that the weapon can only be used by a mage with shadow blood running through her veins. We’ll agree to hand this over as a display of our newfound peace. On one condition.”
The Magister clucked his tongue and turned his narrowed eyes my way. “I thought you said they were going to confirm the agreement. No more terms and conditions. It’s hand the blade over and end this war. Or keep the damn thing.”
“We will take the fighting and the siege and the threats if that’s what you’d prefer, Magister Salvatore,” the Elder said. “Because I’d rather die than give you unlimited power over this weapon. I swore an oath to protect this blade until the day I die. If today is that day, then so be it.”
Silence crashed around us as the two leaders met eyes. Tension flashed between them, but neither was the first to raise their hand. After several moments, I cleared my throat, realizing that they could stand here like this for days if someone didn’t do something to move things along.
“Elder Arthur, why don’t you share your condition,” I said, raising a hand when the Magister opened his mouth to argue. “Just hear him out.”
“We will lend you this weapon to destroy Wagner’s demons, but when it’s done, the blade must be returned back to us.” The Elder flicked his eyes at me. “And it must remain in Zoe’s possession during the entire duration of this mission. It cannot be stored within your headquarters. It cannot be tossed around between your Enforcers. And it certainly can’t be handed off to some other shadow mage that we haven’t been able to vouch. We will release it to Zoe, and then it must come back to us.”
The Magister frowned. “Why all the gymnastics? You can’t use it any more than we can, so what makes you think it belongs in your possession?”
“Because we have the blade room, where it’s kept protected from those who might use it for terrible things,” the Elder said, but he stopped short of sharing the rest of the information with the Magister. And I understood why. If Salvatore didn’t already know that the blade could be used to cut holes in the veil, Elder Arthur didn’t want to tell him about it. While I knew that was the last thing in the world he wanted, I understood that Elder Arthur couldn’t possibly have that much trust in his motives. The council had trapped him and threatened him. For all he knew, Magister Salvatore might just want demons to enter the world.
“Normally, I wouldn’t agree to demands from the party who is at a clear disadvantage in the con
versation, but luckily, in this case, we both want the same things.” The Magister smiled. “Give us the blade, with only Zoe as the wielder of the weapon, and we will end this siege today.”
Chapter 29
While the Elders discussed the decision amongst themselves, I pulled Dorian to the side to whisper into his ear. “That didn’t go exactly as I envisioned. It felt like they were going to break out into battle at any moment.”
“The Elders aren’t happy with the Bone Coven, and the Magister isn’t happy with the Sun Coven. It’s a recipe for tension, but like Magister Salvatore said, they really do both want the same things. At this point, it’s a matter of putting aside their pride to get there.”
“Well, I have a feeling that our leader isn’t all that great with putting aside his pride,” I mumbled.
“You’ve done great by the way,” Dorian said as a smile crept across his face. “I’m proud of you. Zoe Bennett, defender of the downtrodden, forsaker of coven chains. If it weren’t for you, then this conversation wouldn’t even be happening.”
I smiled back, feeling a little bit of hope that everything might turn out okay after all. “It’s not all on me. You can’t forget Dorian Kostas, the vampire with the mortal soul who kicks some serious ass.”
For a moment, the world fell away as I stared up at my partner. Memories flashed through my mind from the night before, images of his rippling body over mine. I’d never felt more full than in that moment, and I knew without a doubt it was only the first of many nights I would spend in his arms. Despite it all, we’d somehow found each other. And no matter what happened, no matter our differences, I never wanted to let go.
“We’ve come to our decision,” Elder Arthur said, breaking through the moment and yanking me back to the reality of the situation. He stepped up to the barrier, coming eye to eye with Magister Salvatore. For a moment, I thought he was going to turn the truce down, argue against the Magister’s motives. But instead, he gave a nod. “We’ll agree to give you the weapon in exchange for our freedom.”
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