by Eva Chase
No, I guessed they couldn’t have. “We’re working as hard as we can,” I said, less brusquely. “As soon as it’s ready, you’ll hear about it.”
“Good.” He nodded briskly and strode off to survey the rest of the lot’s activity. My jaw clenched as I turned back to the wall.
Maybe I could finish this tonight. If it made the difference between a few more people dying…
I grabbed the next copper piece and my welding torch. My fingers clamped around the warm metal. Fix it into place with the solder. Meld and bend it with the heat. Just like that. Just a little—
I caught my hand a split-second before I twisted the piece too far. I’d nearly damaged the glyph already in place above it. Lowering the torch, I took a deep breath in and out.
There’s no place for panic on the site. My dad used to say that when he was teaching me the ropes of the reno and construction business. It applied here too, maybe even more than there.
I reached out with steadier hands and picked up the next piece at my usual pace. Steady and careful had always gotten me where I needed to be in the past. I had to trust it would again.
Chapter Twelve
Rose
The fabric of the new T-shirt and sweats hung a little stiffly on my body. I supposed they’d need a few washes to break in, but I didn’t have time for that. I was supposed to be joining the enforcers in our second effort to send the demon back to whence it came in a little more than an hour. If sweats worked for the closest thing the Assembly had to an army, then I’d figured I might as well give them a try. Maximum flexibility of movement couldn’t be a bad thing when casting the most important spells of my life.
I tugged at the light cotton as I came back into the hotel suite’s living room. All the guys except for Kyler had come with Seth and me to help with the final physical testing of Seth’s cage, and I’d returned a little early to prepare for my next part in that plan. Ky, for once in the last few days, was away from his computer and the desk, fishing a couple slices of pizza out of the delivery box from last night’s hasty dinner.
A wave of fondness washed over me as I ambled over to him in the kitchenette. When he’d closed the fridge, I nudged him with my elbow. “I was starting to think you’d permanently bonded with that laptop. Are you going to give yourself more than a five-second break, or are you taking your lunch back to work?”
Ky grinned at me, but his expression looked a little weary. I wasn’t sure how much sleep he’d been letting himself get. “Pizza makes an excellent side dish to data-diving.”
A sharper emotion pierced through my heart. I caught his hand before he could pick up the plate, peering into his normally cheerful eyes. Even their usual light had dimmed a bit.
“Since we moved to the hotel, you’ve been poring over those records even more than before,” I said. “I know, we’ve all been busy, but…” But I’d still had moments of closeness with all my other consorts since then. I swallowed hard. “If it bothers you—what we found out about what I am, what’s influencing my magic—and you need some space from that, I’d get it. I just want to know.”
Kyler’s eyebrows jumped up. He didn’t speak but simply cupped my face with both hands and pulled my mouth to his. His kiss was so tender and yet determined that my worries melted away.
When he eased back, he kept his head bowed close enough that I felt his breath on my cheek. “It’s not that, Rose. It’s nothing like that at all, and I’m sorry if I gave you that impression. Finding that out, seeing how finding it out upset you, I wanted to dig up any answers that could help you as quickly as I can. Between that and what we’ve heard about the demon’s behavior… I guess I haven’t given myself room to think about anything else.”
A different sort of lump filled my throat. I kissed him again, quick but hard. “I’m sorry for fretting. I shouldn’t have even thought—I must be letting the shock get to me too much.”
“Learning something like that has got to be a lot to take in,” Ky said. “And you haven’t exactly had much downtime to make your peace with the idea.” He stroked his fingers down my cheek, gazing at me intently. “If you need me here, with you, not on the computer, you just need to say so. Is something else bothering you?”
“Other than the usual?” I said with a short laugh. But maybe there was something. I rubbed my mouth. “I’m doing another circle with the faction’s witches before I leave. Or at least that’s what we had planned. If I’m going to help them with their recovery, I think they need to know the whole truth about who they’re dealing with.”
“You had nothing to do with the Frankfords,” Ky said. “You never purposefully had anything to do with the demons.”
I gave him a crooked smile. “They’re traumatized, for good reason. If anything about me reminds them of the horrible experiences they went through—or could remind them—I wouldn’t blame them for wanting to avoid me. They should get to make that choice. Their consorts and families took enough other choices away from them already.”
“Fair enough.” He waggled a slice of pizza. “Pepperoni and olives to fortify you for the day?”
“I had something in the car on the way back,” I said. A roast beef sandwich that was now sitting heavy in the bottom of my stomach. “You need your fortifications too.”
“Not half as much as you do.” His hand slid to my waist as I started to move away. He held me there for a second longer. “You’re heading out for the big mission right after your ‘circle,’ right?”
I nodded. “They were just putting the last touches on the cage when I left.”
Ky’s face turned serious again. “Look after yourself, all right? I know everyone’s got all these expectations, but it isn’t all on you to fix this.”
“I know.” I touched his face. “I promise, there’s nothing I want more than to be back here with you as soon as humanly possible.”
He leaned in to kiss me again, and I wished I could just lose myself in the heat of his mouth, the strength of his lanky body. But I had people waiting for me.
When I made it down to the lobby, Naomi was waiting for me. “Ready?” she asked.
“Yes. Thanks for doing this.”
“Of course,” my cousin said as we set off down the street for the Assembly building. “Being here, helping somehow, is a hell of a lot better than wandering around your manor pretending I’m not freaking out about what might be happening. I’m ready to dive in if that’s what they need.”
Thalia was waiting for us in the Assembly building’s front hall. I’d already talked to her about my father’s recent revelations. Was her gaze a little more wary than before as she looked us over? Her smile didn’t look any less warm.
“They’re all gathering in the usual room,” she said. “I told them you had something to discuss with them before we got started.”
“Okay.” I dragged in a breath. “Let’s go.”
This was only the third time I’d come to do our healing ritual with the recovering witches, but I could already sense a difference as I walked into the room. Most of the women stood straighter, their posture more confident than when I’d first seen them. The smiles aimed my way as we came in looked more relaxed than tight, although some of them faltered when they noticed the unfamiliar figure who’d joined us.
It’d be a while before they got their trust back completely, but they were on their way. I’d helped with that. I could take some pride in that fact even if I wasn’t sure I’d get to continue those efforts.
“Thalia said there was something you needed to talk about with us?” Eloise said, her unnaturally aged face creasing even more with worry.
“It’s nothing that will necessarily affect you at all,” I said to her quickly. “I— Well, I suppose we’d better get everyone gathered around so I can explain the whole thing at once.”
The other witches clustered around me. They stood close to each other more easily than before too, with less cringing at sharing their personal space. Another bit of progress.
<
br /> I looked down at my hands, clasped tight in front of me, and then back up at the women watching me. Crystal bobbed lightly on her heels with obvious impatience. Selena, her expression placid as ever, dipped her ivory-white head to me.
“It’s meant a lot to me to be able to help you come back to your magic and your sense of security,” I said. “I’d like to keep being here for you if I can. But I’ve recently found something out that might change the way you feel about me, and I didn’t think it was right to keep it from you.”
“Are you all right?” Crystal asked, frowning with concern.
“I think so,” I said with a pang that she’d thought first of how I was doing. “I’m still me. It’s just changed how I have to perceive certain aspects of myself.” There was no beating around the bush. I squared my shoulders and barreled onward. “The power those witching men gained from the demons—my father took some into himself at times. And he used it to help bring me into being when he and my mother were trying to conceive. He brought more to me as I was growing inside her to encourage the growth of my potential spark…”
All around me, faces had gone rigid with horror. My chest constricted, but I forced myself to keep going.
“My spark, my magic, has been partly shaped by that power. Now that I know to look for it, I can feel hints of it within that energy, the way I draw on it, the way it moves through me.” I swallowed thickly. “I thought I was a powerful witch because of my heritage. I had no idea that anything monstrous played a role. Now that I do know… After what you’ve all been through, I’d understand if you were uncomfortable letting your magic mingle with mine, being touched by any of that energy. I don’t want to cause anyone here any more distress.”
Thalia squeezed my arm steadyingly. I bobbed my head to her in thanks and motioned Naomi forward.
“This is my cousin Naomi. She hasn’t experienced everything I have, but she’s seen some of the chaos from the last several weeks. She’ll stand by you as much as I have, if that’s what you decide works best for you.”
“I’d be happy to take up the role Rose has been filling in your circle,” Naomi put in. “Neither of us wants you to feel you have no choice in whether to continue at all or in who you move forward with.”
A murmur passed between the witches. They drew back a step, pulling closer to each other as they exchanged anxious glances. I held my hands motionless in front of me, fighting the urge to fidget.
Then Crystal moved forward. She didn’t hesitate, but touched my wrist, looking me straight in the eyes. Her chin lifted.
“I’ve never felt anything evil in you. Nothing like those fiends. I don’t feel anything evil in you now. We’ve all been affected by our time with the demons, but that doesn’t make any of us a threat. It shouldn’t make you one either.”
I blinked hard. “Thank you,” I said.
“Thank you,” she said. “You trusted us to make our own decision. That’s all I need to know about it.”
Eloise eased forward too, and then Selena, brushing their fingers over my hands in turn like a ritual in itself. The tension in the group started to dissipate, the murmurs giving way to insistent voices. “Nothing about her magic hurt us before.” “It isn’t her fault.”
Selena came right up beside me and patted my shoulder, her lips curved in a sad smile. “You really are one of us,” she said in her soft dry voice. “Controlled and used by people you should have been able to count on in ways you couldn’t understand. That only confirms that you belong here.”
It hadn’t entirely been a surprise that my consorts had accepted this new information about what was in me, and my family hadn’t even seen the demons to fully comprehend the implications. To be embraced by these women who had so many reasons to fear me…
My heart swelled with gratitude. For the first time since Lady Northcott had delivered her announcement, I was sure that I wasn’t any more broken than the unfaltering witches around me.
“Shall we go ahead with the healing circle as planned, then?” Thalia asked, and was answered by a barrage of voices insisting that we did.
I found myself in that ring of shared power again, Thalia at my right and Crystal at my left, the warmth of my spark tickling through my limbs. I took one last look around the circle before I closed my eyes to fully concentrate on the magicking. There was so much strength in this group of witches that no demon had been able to drain out of them.
I couldn’t help wishing that somehow they could both have been ready to help us challenge the demon tomorrow and also never have to face one of those creatures ever again.
Chapter Thirteen
Rose
Our first drive out to challenge the demon hadn’t exactly been fun and games, but the atmosphere in the jeep this afternoon felt even more somber. Naomi, Lesley, Caroline, and my aunts were all coming out to the site of the trap too, but I’d been stuck in a vehicle surrounded by enforcers. From their solemn silence and the twitchy glances they shot my way, I got the impression they thought they might have to protect themselves from me.
My skin itched with nervous anticipation. I rubbed my arms and tried to relax into the seat. Not much chance of that happening. Too much was riding on this effort. The safety of everyone the demon might hurt, the Assembly’s trust in me and my consorts… My own faith in myself.
“We’re pulling off up here,” the enforcer in the front said to the driver. A minute later we eased onto the grassy shoulder of the isolated road. The demon had roamed into the rolling forested land here, weaving this way and that, but keeping enough to a predictable path that the Assembly officials had been able to estimate where it would head in the next hour or so.
The enforcers stuck close by my sides as we tramped through the brush. Tangy cypress scent washed over me on the hot summer breeze. About a five-minute walk from the road, the trees opened up to a clearing of scruffy grass and wildflowers. A dilapidated cabin stood off to the side, next to an overgrown lane that was still functional enough that we’d be able to drive the truck along it to drop off the cage. Hopefully soon we’d be driving it back to collect its cargo.
The panels of the cage itself were sprawled across the floor of the clearing, one wall leaning against a couple of tree trunks where there hadn’t been quite enough room to spread it out completely flat. Seth was already there, stalking around the perimeter, stopping to prod one joint and another.
My pulse hiccupped when I saw him. He must have come straight from the construction lot when they’d brought the cage out here. I’d thought he’d finish his work back there.
It was hard not to notice that a couple of the enforcers trailed behind me as I went over to him. At least they kept a bit of distance rather than lurking right at my back. I wondered which of the officials had instructed them not to let me get too far from their reach.
What had they been instructed to watch for, and what were they supposed to do to me if they saw that?
The sunlight in the clearing lit Seth’s tawny hair with a warm glow. Despite the tension in his face, he managed to bring a lot of warmth to his smile too when he saw me approaching.
“It all looks good to go,” he said. “Everything should move and latch together the way we discussed.”
“We didn’t discuss you being here,” I said. “Seth, if this plan doesn’t work, or even if the demon puts up a real fight, which it probably will…”
“I know,” he said, before I had to point out that he couldn’t protect himself even as well as the average witch here could. “I remembered what you said to Damon before about distractions. A few of the witching men who’ve been helping with the construction work came along to set things up, but they’re driving back to the city in a few minutes.”
Relief washed away a little of my nerves. “Good. I want you heading back with them. You’ve already done more than your part here.”
“You know if I thought it’d help you more than distract you, I’d stay,” he said.
“I do. You don’t
have to worry about me doubting your commitment.” I poked his chest. “What I want is you as far away from that thing as possible.”
With all the enforcers milling around, it didn’t feel like the right time or place for much of a PDA. Seth grasped my arm and pressed a quick kiss to my forehead, and that would have to be enough.
“I’ll be waiting for you back home,” he said.
“I’ll see you there,” I replied, willing those words to be a promise.
Someone shouted for Seth over by the lane. I gave him a little shove, and he brushed his hand over my cheek before he loped over to join the other men. My heart ached, watching him go.
This would not be the last time I saw him. I wouldn’t let it be.
“Let’s go,” one of the enforcers near me said. “The observers say the demon should be in range in about fifteen minutes. We need to get into position. It’s a few degrees off course.”
I nodded and followed her and the primary squads deeper into the woods. We had two tasks to accomplish: pushing the demon onto the right path to bring it to the clearing, and then propelling it all the way onto the cage’s base so that we could close those walls around it. The first part, at least, we could be subtle about. We didn’t want the fiend to know it was under assault until as late as possible.
The same sergeant who’d led our previous effort was calling out names and pointing every squad into position. I took my place on the twig-scattered ground behind the main mass of enforcers, in about the middle of the formation. I was supposed to be lending power to all of them, as much as I could. Although from the looks some of them shot over their shoulders at me, maybe they were worried I’d end up using that power on them.
A fresh prickle crept down my back. I shook it off. When we were finished here today, they’d know they could count on me.