Destiny of the Witch (The Other Witch #4)

59. Chapter 59

Chapter 59

Bastion and I settled our guests. He took obvious delight in picking individual mugs for each one, trying to get a grin with his selection.

Benji gasped when he saw the wall of mugs in the kitchen. ‘Now that is a work of art,’ he grinned. ‘I need to expand my own mug collection before I can rival that. Maybe I can put a shelf in my room.’

‘Whatever you want to do,’ Bastion said easily. ‘The room is yours.’ In reality, he hadn’t just given Benji a room but a whole floor, including a bedroom and bathroom, a guest room and a reception room all of his own. The kitchen and dining room would have to be shared, but apart from that we had plenty of space from each other – not that I thought we’d need it.

‘You’ve only just started your collection,’ Bastion continued. ‘I’m sure you’ll have an extensive array of mugs before you know it. Birthdays and Christmases will soon build it up.’

Benji shrugged. ‘I’m not sure exactly when my birthday is. July sometime.’

Anger flared. The Council hadn’t cared enough to tell Benji when he had been made. ‘I’ll find out,’ I promised. ‘And then we’ll hold a huge birthday party to make up for all the ones that we’ve missed.’

Shirdal raised his mug in salute. ‘We’ll make it the best damned party in the last century!’

Benji smiled wistfully. ‘I’d like that.’

Benji grinned as Benjamin spoke. ‘Why I declare, I would also love to experience a birthday party!’ At the familiar sound of Grimmy’s voice, Mum’s head whipped around, searching for the grimoire.

‘Ah, Benjamin? Why don’t you go ahead and introduce yourself to my mother?’ I suggested.

‘I’m sure she’ll recognise me, no matter my current physicality. Isn’t that right, Miss Luna?’

She gaped. ‘Grimmy? What happened? What the heck did I miss?’

‘A lot, but this one is easily explained. Grimmy saved Benji’s life, and there are two of them living in the golem now,’ I explained briefly.

Mum slid a suspicious glance at him. ‘I’ve never known you to be altruistic.’

‘And I’m still not, Miss Luna,’ Benjamin admitted. ‘Whilst I reside in our dear friend Benji here, I get to see, to feel, to touch. It’s fair to say I gained quite a lot out of saving Benji’s life.’

Benji snorted. ‘You did it because you liked me.’

‘I do like you, young sir, that’s the truth of it. And I’m heartily glad that we met when we did and the manner in which we did. You did Amber a great service by hiding me and keeping me safe. Now it is my honour to do the same for you.’

‘Well,’ Mum said. ‘Well now. Isn’t that something?’

The doorbell chimed again and my eyebrows shot up. ‘More guests?’

Bastion smirked. ‘I said I’d invited our friends.’

‘Yes, but isn’t this them?’ I asked in genuine surprise.

He laughed. ‘Come and see.’

We went to the front door together. I opened it to see a very tanned looking Jinx and Emory, with Reynard in tow. Reynard was shirtless as always these days, his black-feathered wings held neatly behind him like an avenging angel. ‘Is the fucking love of my life here?’ he asked eagerly.

‘Shirdal?’ I clarified.

‘The one and only.’

‘Yep, he’s here.’

Reynard beamed.

‘You look like you had an amazing honeymoon!’ I said to the tanned couple. They exchanged a rueful glance. ‘It was certainly something,’ Emory muttered.

Jinx laughed and elbowed him in the ribs. ‘No honeymoon talk today. We are here to celebrate Amber and Bastion.’

‘What exactly are we celebrating about them?’ Emory asked, just as Jinx saw the ring on my finger and gave a shriek of excitement. She bundled into me. ‘Amber! Congratulations!’

I hugged her back stiffly, still unused to such affectionate exuberance, though I was certainly getting there. ‘Thank you.’

She released me but she was still beaming. Emory’s eyes zeroed in on my fingers and he grinned. ‘Well, well! Bastion you old dog.’ He clapped him on the shoulder, ‘Congratulations!’

‘You’ll have to tell us all about the proposal,’ Jinx said eagerly.

I looked at Bastion. ‘It was perfect.’

‘Awww,’ Jinx smiled. ‘You go all mushy when you look at him!’

I straightened. ‘I do not!’

‘Don’t tell her,’ Bastion murmured to Jinx as he gave her a welcoming kiss on the cheek. I felt a swell of familial affection from him towards her; he loved her like a niece.

I was going to suggest going inside the house when a movement down the garden caught my eye. Walking down the garden path towards us was Kass. ‘ Now everyone has arrived,’ Bastion said with satisfaction. ‘Lucy and Manners can’t make it but they send their love.’

I grimaced; I should really have touched base with Lucy now that I wasn’t battling with evil witches and worried about the harkan. Although I guessed battling with evil witches was always going to be an ongoing thing.

Kass smiled. ‘Hello. Am I the last to arrive?’

‘But no less welcome,’ I hastened to assure her. ‘Come in, all of you.’ I stepped back inside the house.

As Emory came in, he gave a low bow to me. ‘Crone,’ he greeted me formally.

‘Prime Elite,’ I responded in kind, with my own bow of respect.

Jinx mock glared at us. ‘I sense politics. Bastion was very clear that no politics are allowed!’

I huffed a little. ‘Well, what shall we discuss? Pop music?’

Jinx snickered at my open horror. ‘Something like that. Or maybe wedding plans?’

‘No one else has noticed the ring yet,’ I noted. ‘Not everyone is an observant PI.’

Emory sent me a wink. ‘Amber, you look beautiful. Happiness suits you.’

I smiled at him. ‘As it does you, Emory, as it does you.’

Kass tugged on my hand and I let her pull me back as the others preceded us into the kitchen. ‘What’s up?’ I asked. ‘Are you feeling okay?’ I checked her over hastily. She looked good, with no sign of the heavy bags which sometimes plagued her eyes.

‘I’m fine,’ she assured me. ‘I just wanted to talk to you privately for a moment. I assume your Mum’s in there?’ I nodded. ‘Well, she’s applied for a position on the Coven Council. We wanted to check how you feel about it before we do anything with her application.’

‘We?’

‘The Coven Council. We can bury her application if you think it will be awkward to work with your mum.’

I considered it for all of a heartbeat. Would it be awkward? At times, no doubt. Would she be an exemplary leader for the witches? Absolutely.

‘Just let her pass or fail on her own merit,’ I replied firmly. ‘I think she’ll be an asset, but don’t do anything to her application on my account. Nepotism and bribes have already ruined the Council. If we want to build it again from the ground up, we need to do it right. No one buys their way in, no one bribes their way in, and if anyone approaches anyone about doing either of those things, they are to report it to me. Clear?’ And then I’d sic Bastion on them.

Kass grinned, ‘Clear. I knew you’d say that but the others made me ask. I’ll feed it back. Now, why are we all being gathered here? It feels like a murder mystery. If Bastion starts killing us, I’ll shove Shirdal in front of me and run.’

I laughed. ‘You’re safe. Come on. Follow me to the kitchen where the others are.’