Kevin glared at her. “You could have been killed.” His bear was angry, the red haze not leaving his vision. It wanted to destroy something. He had ben this close to losing his mate. She had been on her knees, trying to break free, and he had seen her hand move to her chest.
“What were you going to do?”
Nina blinked at him and he cursed. “Your hand. You were about to do something just before I showed up.”
Using her voice was a struggle, and her vocal cords were badly damaged. “I could not let them take me alive.”
Kevin froze, and he watched her, unmoving.
Then, with his voice dangerously low, he said, “Were you going to turn your magic on yourself, Nina?”
The witch did not look repentant or even guilty. Her answer was straightforward. “Yes.”
Kevin moved so fast that when Nina blinked in the next second he was in her face. “Do not ever even think of doing that again!”
Nina swallowed at the wild expression that he wore. “I did not have a choice.”
“You always have a choice!” Kevin shouted at her, making her wince. However, as Nina had learned, she, too, had a temper, and she whispered hoarsely at him, “No, I do not! If they get their hands on me, people will die!”
Kevin stilled. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Nina shook her head. “You were right. I let my prophecies guide me. I saw you in them. But I never looked for you. I had no intention of coming here.” Her voice was starting to feel better, and she suspected it had something to do with the life essence that this shifter had shared with her. Even the scrapes on her hands were starting to look nonexistent.
“I trained directly under the High Priestess, Morrigan. I was just a child when I was recruited into her inner circle, which is the highest rank amongst witches. Even she did not know that I bore the gift of prophecy. Those glimpses of the future ended up saving my life more than once. During the last few months, I started noticing a pattern in Mother’s activities and stumbled upon her in the midst of a ritual. She did not say anything, and they escorted me back to my room. But just as Mother started keeping a closer eye on me, I started observing the activities at the compound. Two months ago, I had a prophecy which helped me escape from the compound in the nick of time.”
Nina ran a frustrated hand through her cropped hair. “Mother is planning on subduing or destroying all other species there are. I have been looking for the Council ever since I ran away. I met one of them, the fairy king, and he told me to look for a shifter who had gained access to his domain last year.” She did not notice the way Kevin had switched into lieutenant mode, and she continued, “I tried asking Heather, but she clammed up.”
When she saw that Kevin had nothing to offer, she swallowed the bitter pill, and told him, “Totters and I are going to leave. Tonight. We’re going to look for other ways to find the Council.”
“What happens if you do not find the Council?”
The lieutenant in him was taken aback to see the fierce look in the witch’s eyes. “Then we’ll play our hand.”
“Which is?”
Nina closed her mouth and refused to speak. With a firm hand on her chin, he forced her to look into his brown eyes, which flashed dangerously as he asked softly, “What is ‘your hand,’ Nina?”
She swallowed and told herself that it did not matter if he did not like the answer she was about to give him. “We’ll destroy the last component to their plan.”
Kevin did not move. “Which is what exactly?”
“Me.”
Chapter 9
“It’s three in the morning. This had better be important,” Heather said as she shuffled into the common room. When she saw Samuel, Abigail, and Luke all standing there, she blinked. “So, I assume this is important.” Then, her eyes fell on Cassie, and she scowled. Taking off her shawl, she wrapped it around the heavily pregnant woman. “You should have the sense to be in bed right now. Rest is what you need, not walloping around in your state.”
“The baby is fine, Heather. I just could not sleep myself.”
“That bird woke me up,” Luke spoke. “I was just on my way to check it out when Kevin showed up and told me to call a meeting.”
“Beastly timing for a meeting.”
“Why don’t I make a cup of tea for you, Heather?”
Grumbling, Heather sat at the island counter and watched Abigail bustle about. Her eyes slid toward Samuel, and she said bluntly, “You two seem rather tense. Have been for the past few days. What’s wrong?”
Samuel sat down heavily across from her. “Something in the air. A panther pack just decimated itself three days ago. No survivors.”
Heather seemed startled. “A panther pack?”
“It’s not just them,” Abigail said, as she stirred some chocolate into a big mug for Cassie. “Whatever this disease is, it is spreading wildly among shifter packs. Samuel is trying to look up ways of trying to control it, or at least protect us, but we haven’t come up with anything.”
“Because it’s not a disease.” Came the voice from behind them.
Everyone turned around to see Nina standing there with a bruise around her neck.
Kevin stepped into the room behind her, looking grim. His eyes were furious, and Luke raised a brow in welcome.
“Maybe you would care to explain?” Luke said.
Samuel pursed his lips and waited.
Nina moved slowly around the room and seated herself with care in one of the arm chairs. Her body was hurting. Although the physical wounds had vanished, the use of so much energy could drain a witch’s stamina. She felt tired and wanted to rest. However, Kevin had been so angry with her that she had not protested all that much when he told her that he was going to call an emergency meeting.
She could not understand why he cared so much. He barely knew her. He was a puzzle to her.
She looked at the elderly man who seemed familiar, but from where she had no idea. Looking toward Kevin, she waited for him to start. He leaned against her seat almost protectively. “Nina is looking for the Council.”
Everybody, aside from Heather, showed visible surprise at that declaration. Samuel blinked. “Why would you look for the Council here?”
Nina ran a tired hand over her eyes and spoke wearily. “Because Kalen said that a bear shifter was allowed refuge in his domain. Because Heather did not like me asking about the Council. And I did not come here looking for the Council, I was brought here. But then again, nothing in this world is a coincidence. Everything is tied by a thread of fate.”
Samuel looked troubled at her words. “That is a very wise saying. Where did you hear that from?”
“My great grandmother used to tell me that.”
“Rowena?”
Nina looked surprised at hearing that name. “You knew her?”
Samuel wore a wistful smile on his face. “We were close once, a very long time ago.”
“But Grandma Rowena was a hundred and seventy when she passed away. You could not…” A sharp intake of breath. “You’re part of the Council!”
Abigail interrupted her, looking incredulous. “You met Kalen and survived?”
Nina winced at the memory of the encounter. “He’s a very eccentric personality.”
“He is. But for him to believe you just like–”
“It was not without a price,” Nina said, quietly. “But then again, nothing ever is. He ripped my mind open to see if I was telling the truth.”
Kevin bared his teeth, not having been privy to that particular tidbit. The two Council members paled at that. “How are you alive?”
Nina’s hand trembled as she recalled that vicious pain. “He said that my shields were already very strong, but there was another barrier around my mind. Someone is apparently protecting my mind.”
Samuel exchanged a look with Abigail, but they kept their silence and instead said, “Show us what you showed him.”
The blood drained out of the young witch’s face, and s
he shook her head, pleading, “No, please! That pain was beyond anything I could–”
Kevin snarled at the fear emitting from her. “Nobody is going to hurt you.”
The bear was in his eyes when he looked at the people in the room. “Do not touch her.”
Samuel raised his hands pacifically. “I do not plan on breaking into your mind. I would prefer you tell us why you are looking for us, and what you meant by that last statement of yours.”
Cassie walked over to hand a mug of hot chocolate to the witch who looked like she needed it then more than ever. Nina accepted it gratefully before beginning. “I was in the inner circle of our High Priestess, Morrigan. I was the youngest witch there, and since Morrigan oversaw my training herself, you can guess that I was not very well liked by my peers.” She looked up at the inhabitants of the room one by one before she slowly disclosed, “I have the gift of prophecy, which helped me survive in that world.”
Cassie and Luke looked intrigued while Samuel turned pale and got up, going to stand with Abigail behind the counter. “That is a very serious proclamation. Does Morrigan know?”
Nina shook her head. “Grandma Rowena–”
“Rowena had the same gift, I know,” Samuel nodded, lines on his face now. “She told me that her kin would seek me out one day, but that was years ago.” He looked a little sad. “I warned her to hide her gift, because the potential of this gift to be misused is great. I assume you did so.”
Nina nodded. “Only Totters knew. Not even my parents ever found out during that short period of time that they had me.”
Samuel nodded and sipped the tea that Abigail placed in front of him. “Go on.”
“The dark arts have been banned for a millennium. Any witch that uses them is immediately executed, no questions asked. From what I learned, once a witch starts practicing the dark arts, the orb which contains her soul turns dark.” Nina paused to take a breath. “These executions were always public. The witch’s orb was removed from her body and crushed. By the time I was born, these executions became privately conducted, or so everyone was told.
I was a prodigy. That is what Mother – that’s what we were to call her – said about me. I never had contact with my family again once I was taken away. I do not even know if they are still alive.” She shook the despair off and felt Kevin’s hand on her shoulder. Whether it was to keep her there or to offer comfort, she did not know, but it gave her the strength to continue. “In the compound, every time there was a rumor of a witch that was practicing the dark arts, a few days later, she would disappear. A few months ago, Mother rescheduled one of my lessons with her since she had to leave the compound. I had never been in her private library, and since no one would have questioned my presence in her wing since I usually took my lessons during that time, I slipped in and started looking for the library. It was not that hard to find. But it was not empty.”
Nina’s hands were trembling, and she took a sip from the mug that was in her hands. “Mother was there with another witch and two male enforcers. The witch was held to the wall with restraints and Mother walked up to her and touched her chest. The witch’s orb floated out through her mouth. It was pitch black. At first,” Nina blinked, “I thought it was an execution. I did not want to get in trouble, so I was about to leave, but then I saw Mother swallow the orb.” Her color changed, and Kevin gripped her by the chin. His voice was gentle. “You do not have to go into unnecessary details.”
Nina pulled her face away, an act noted by everyone there. So, the little witch was not happy with her shifter.
“The enforcer killed the witch, and I must have made a sound because Mother turned around and saw me. Now, you need to understand something,” Nina looked a little uneasy. “Mother was very cold to everyone, but with me she was kind. But I do not know, the warmer she was toward me, the more I tended not to trust her. At times, I felt that my attitude hurt her. I never understood that. Even when she saw me, she came toward me and took me to my room, and then she told me never to tell anyone what I saw. She was not harsh at all.”
“Grooming,” Abigail said.
“What?” Aside from Samuel who already seemed to know what she was talking about, everybody looked at the elder in confusion.
“She was probably grooming you to take her place. Either that, or she wanted your loyalty completely. And what better way than to show someone you trust them than to be preferential with them. What she had not accounted for, perhaps, was your sensitivity.”
“My sensitivity?” Nina blinked owlishly.
Abigail raised her brow. “You carry the sweetness of a child. It is not very commonplace. It means that your heart is pure, and it is very difficult to taint such a heart.”
“Rowena had that,” Samuel smiled. “It’s what attracted me to her in the first place. But she was very sensitive to malice, to any negative emotion, in fact.”
Nina coughed, wanting to get her part over with. Her exhaustion was getting to her now. “I was curious about why Mother would swallow the orb. I had never seen an execution being carried out, so I had no idea what took place. There were no books, which carried information about such an act in the main library. I waited for Mother to actually leave the compound one night and snuck into her library again.”
She shuddered. “Her collection of books was so dark. However, I found more information than I had been looking for. Consuming an orb that is consumed with darkness increases the magical ability of a witch tenfold. Only a witch with the darkest of hearts can take in such an orb. There was a book there, a diary of sorts.” Nina recalled. “It held names and dates. I did not understand it at first, but as I scrolled through it, I found that some of the names were of witches, who were rumored to be practicing the dark arts. It was a book of the orbs she had consumed.”
Luke looked grim. “What does she plan to do with so much power?”
Nina set the unfinished hot chocolate aside, and her voice was quiet. “I had a prophecy that night. The rivers were bleeding, the trees were rotting, and there was no sun. I saw Mother standing next to a tree, and the leaders of the others stood there. One by one, they kneeled before her. I saw her wave a hand, and the King of fairies was slain where he kneeled. His people fell one by one until the land that he called his own lay shrouded in darkness. I saw seven bright lights diminish until only one stood strong, and that was of Morrigan.”
The deathly silence that penetrated the room allowed Nina to recollect her thoughts. “The prophecy terrified me. It was the first time that a prophecy had been so clear. Usually, it’s a blur of images burned into each other. I did not know what to do, and maybe it was because of the desperation or maybe the time was right, but I fell asleep in the garden outside of my room around noon, I think. I had another prophecy there, and Totters shielded me from all prying eyes.”
“I saw my life tree and a great power that stood next to it. I saw seven powers gather around me, and the prophecy that I had seen before merged with this one. However, I saw everything going in reverse motion. The trees bloomed back to life, the water flew backwards as the blood vanished as if it had never been there, and the tree where Mother had stood was no more. And…” Nina hesitated, threw a quick glance toward Kevin, and shook her head. “That’s it.”
Everybody smelled the lie, and Kevin looked at her. “You’re not telling us everything.”
Nina’s face turned red. “It’s got nothing to do with any of you. It’s private.”
When Luke growled, Cassie put a hand on her mate’s arm and said gently. “It may seem that way to you, Nina, but it could have some sort of relevance that you might not have figured out. I think it’s better if you share it.”
Nina studied her hands, determined not to look at anyone. “Kevin. I saw Kevin. He was putting water in a bottle from a stream and there was a scar on his right cheek. He was smiling at me.”
Kevin started, and when he tried to touch her, Nina shrugged off his hand.
Everybody pretended not to see,
but it was obvious that there was a little trouble in paradise. Heather wore a strange look on her face. “There’s still more left, isn’t there?”
Nina nodded. “I realized that the seven powers I saw were the Council. Of course, then, I had not known that Mother was a part of the Council.”
“Wait, how did you know they were the Council,” Luke interrupted.
The witch shrugged. “I just knew. I do not know the identities of the people that were there. I did not see their faces. But I knew they were the Council.”
Abigail looked troubled. “Even if you forget about the fact that Morrigan won’t be there, we are still short one more person.” She looked at Nina. “Are you absolutely certain?”
“Yes. I must have started looking into the Council and the dark arts a little too much, because Mother took notice. She started keeping a closer eye on me, and everywhere I went I could feel myself being watched. A few weeks ago, I saw five people enter my room. I saw them hurt my familiar, and then take me. I saw Mother say that, without me, they could not complete the ritual, and I saw a room and a stone table, which overflowed with blood. When I woke up, it had barely been an hour from when I had gone to bed. People were still moving about. I knew that I did not have enough time, so I took Totters and, shielding ourselves, we ran.”
Nina stared blankly at the floor. “We had not gotten far when we heard the alarm go off. It is a silent alarm, with a frequency low enough that our kind can understand there is trouble. Some prophecies can be altered, and some futures are set in stone. Every time I saw Kevin, I knew this was going to happen, no matter what. I saw him a few other times, but I did not know what it meant. Whether he was to be a passing visitor in my journey who became a catalyst, or whether he played a more important role, I was not sure.”
She looked around at everyone and then spoke. “There is one last thing. I do not know how important this is, but in Mother’s library, there was a book. It was very old and had some strange markings on it. The language was not something I had ever seen before. I tried to touch it, but there were too many strong enchantments on it. They would have alerted her immediately if somebody tampered with the book. I mentioned it, because I kept seeing it in the prophecies.” She rubbed a hand over her face. “The recent mass slaughters of shifters – I saw that. Shifters turning upon shifters while Mother watched.”
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