CHAPTER 13
Zara
“ Y ou can’t want to actually stay with him,” Floria whispered, glaring toward where Rudgar was now standing—facing the door.
“I do,” I said with a small shrug. “They’ve been protecting me and I know it’ll be best for everyone if I stay with them. I’ll do the protection spell on their building and that way they won’t be able to get to me.” I looked around at them, my heart feeling full.
This coven had always been my mom’s. She hadn’t wanted me to be initiated into the coven since my powers were so unstable at the time and could call the warlocks to us.
But they’d still taken me under their wing, training me in the basics and while I wasn’t fully in the fold, they were the closest thing to a family that I’d had outside of my mom. Seeing them now, tears prickled at my eyes. Being in the home I’d grown up in, surrounded by the people who’d been there throughout my childhood was making nostalgia and sadness bubble inside me.
Tabitha—the defacto leader now that mom was gone—and Floria looked at each other, passing silent messages that confused me.
What could they be hiding?
“Fine,” Floria said with a sigh. “What did your mother tell you about us?” she asked, and I frowned.
“That you’re a group of powerful witches—” I was cut off by tittered laughter throughout the group. “You’re not ?” I asked, frowning.
“We’re a group of witches,” Floria agreed, shrugging, “but we’re not that powerful. In fact, the only thing that we all have in common is that we’re all on the run,” she said with a rueful smile. “Every single one of us is running from something, and we found each other. Your mother was protecting us,” she finished and my eyes went huge in my face.
“She was?” I gasped, reaching my hands out to hold Floria’s. “I didn’t know that.”
The entire group moved closer, huddling around me, wrapping their arms around each other and me. I remembered this. I always thought it was a way to combine their powers, but now I was realizing that this was a group hug. Surrounded by their arms and held tight in their combined strength, I felt my own power flare inside me.
“She might be gone, but I can still protect you,” I told them, gripping the hands of the females closest to me. “This is still her coven.”
“Zara,” Hanna said, her tone stern. “That’s not fair. You need to protect yourself.”
“What kind of legacy would I be to my mother if I couldn’t do this for her?” I asked, shaking my head. “I’ll find a way to protect you.”
There were five females here. Tasia with her daughter Gabbi, Floria, Hanna, and Tabitha. They’d all had a hand in raising me. I wasn’t going to abandon them when I could do something about it.
They were my family. And I wasn’t giving up my family.
“Don’t worry about a thing,” I told them, feeling the weight of responsibility sit heavily on my shoulders. These females were on the run and that meant that I had to protect them… while also running from my own enemies.
“You’re the bravest witch in the world, my Zara.” I remembered my mother’s words, the way she’d whisper them to me before bed time, holding my hand tight, imbuing me with her strength. “And your power is inside you. You’ll control it one day, and when you do… you’ll create wonders.”
I could create wonders. I was going to stop fucking around, get my powers in line and create a new haven for these females. One just like my mother had.
My legacy didn’t have to be the horrors of the warlocks. I had a better one. A line of females of strength who’d protected their daughters and sisters with everything they had. Stiffening my shoulders, I nodded.
“Give me some time, and I’ll find us a place. For now, I need my mom’s book. Do you know where it is?” I asked, smiling at the females I was surrounded by.
Tabitha nodded, her lustrous white hair reminding me of all the times she’d oiled and cared for mine when I was a child. “I have it. I’ve kept it for you. Along with all of her things,” she told me, her eyes soft and sweet.
She’d treated my mother like her daughter, and it had hurt her almost as much as it had me when my mom had died. The hardest in the group. Everyone had mourned, but we’d fallen into a black hole together that we’d had to fight our way out of.
I could tell, from the look in her eyes, that she still hadn’t recovered and it hurt my heart that I’d had a part to play. My capture must have been hardest on her. She’d tried to protect me, always reminding me of my mother’s warnings about performing magick outside of the guards, but I hadn’t listened.
Gabbi had fallen sick, and I’d needed the herbs that my mother picked for her healing potion. I’d been too damn reckless, going with Tasia to the grove near our home.
When I’d spotted the other car coming at us, I hadn’t thought about it. The power inside of me had activated on instinct and I’d raised my hands, stopping it from crashing into us.
I could still hear Tasia’s scream when the warlocks had appeared, opening a portal at once. They were constantly on the lookout for my magick outside of the protective barrier my mother had set up. They’d taken me, and I hadn’t been able to stop them.
I remembered the horror in her eyes, and I looked over at her now, seeing worry etched on her beautiful face. This was my family, damn it. And I wasn’t going to give them up.
Time to be less of a fuck-up, Zar.
I’d do it for them. I was going to become the kind of witch my mother had always wanted me to be. I went with Tabitha to my mother’s bedroom and she lowered herself to pull a case out from under the bed.
I looked around, noticing that they’d kept everything the same. Not a single thing had changed. I pressed my hand to my chest, feeling my mother’s presence here more than I did anywhere else. Her scent was still in the air. That lovely jasmine that she used in her hair oil and lotion. I’d never forget it.
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath.
“It’s like she’s still here with us, isn’t it?” Tabitha whispered and I opened my eyes to give her a sad smile, nodding.
“I wish she was,” I said, a tear leaking down my cheek, and she took me into her arms, squeezing me tight.
“She is,” she murmured, rubbing her hand up and down my back. “She’s in you. I see her in every inch of you.”
The tears came faster then and I buried my face against her, seeking the comfort I’d been denied since I’d been taken.
“I’m sorry,” I sobbed, shaking my head. “I was so careless—”
“No,” she gasped, pulling away and swiping at my tears with her fingers, cupping my cheeks, her expression serious. “ Never apologize for the actions of those heathens, little star.”
I smiled at the nickname that she’d given me when she’d joined the coven.
“Everything that has happened is according to the Goddess Mother’s plan. We might not like it at first,” she told me, her voice low and meaningful, “but it’s because we can’t see what’s coming. One day, you’ll look back and realize that it was all meant to be.”
My tears gathered again, and I shook my head. “I wish I wasn’t so dense that these were the lessons I needed to be taught,” I sighed.
She gave a watery laugh, shaking her head before hugging me again. “She gives the biggest hurdles to the ones who can cross them,” she sniffled, running her palm over my hair. “And I wish I could take this from you, but I also have no doubt that you can handle anything they throw at you.”
I absorbed the love she offered, parched for it after so long. “Thank you,” I murmured, giving her one final squeeze before pulling away and wiping my tears. “I’m going to make you proud, I promise.”
She scoffed, cupping my cheeks again and pressing her lips to my forehead. “You already do.”