Chapter 37
37
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A va’s eyes are wide as she gapes at my hand. All I can do is stare at it in wonder. It’s her. It’s always been her. With her shit talking and big heart. No one has ever made me laugh as much, made me feel so human and fucking vulnerable. I’ve never understood the phrase “wears their heart on their sleeve.” Now I do, because my heart is outside of my body, walking around and going about life completely unaware that she has changed everything in my world.
Ava lifts her hand up to meet mine and all the life seeps out of her. Her finger is bare. No bond mark claiming her as mine. Her eyes are glassy as she blinks up at me. I’ve never seen her look more beautiful. Like an actual goddess, and I physically feel her sadness like a punch to the gut.
“It’s not me.” Her voice trembles, and she takes an unsteady step away from me.
“No. Ava.” I pull her back into my arms. She doesn’t even resist. She’s limp, broken. Panic surges up in my chest at the dead look in her eyes. “There must be an explanation.” There has to be. Why would I get the mark and not her? How the fuck does this magic work?
“Good evening.” Selene fucking Nightshade’s voice booms across the ballroom at the worst time possible. “To my brothers and sisters of the Luminara coven, welcome.”
“Fuck,” I hiss. I don’t have time for the council's bullshit. I scan the crowd. Maybe we can get out of here. Find somewhere private to figure out what’s going on.
“Ava.” I brush a strand of hair back from her face. She peers up at me, her eyes blank.
“We should listen,” she murmurs and turns toward Selene. I keep her hand gripped in mine, afraid she’ll slip into the crowd and disappear.
“Tonight is an extraordinary night. We are finally united as one coven. Embracing our light and dark magic in the name of the Maiden and the Mother.”
“Always forgetting the Crone.” Ava laughs without humor. “I feel ya.”
“I know it hasn’t been easy, setting aside our differences, but we are not so dissimilar. We all want prosperity and peace. Do we not?” Selene spreads her arms like she’s inviting the coven to give her a hug. “And so tonight, I’ve asked the council to bestow a special blessing on us all. To ensure the strength and longevity of the Luminara coven for years to come.”
“Where’s Lucida?” I murmur. Most of the coven council steps onto the stage. My father, Peter Lexington, Philip Masters, Tucker Beaumont, Ivan Vandenberg, Francesca Delvaux. The leader of the former Tenebris coven is noticeably absent.
The crowd murmurs in disapproval when Francesca steps on stage. We knew she was back with the council after that half-baked inquiry they summoned us all to. Whispers of her misdeeds have reached the general public, and it appears they’re just as disgusted to see her back in a place of power as the rest of us.
Excluding the other council members, that is. They look just fine with her being back on the team.
“What are they doing?” Ava cranes her head to see over the crowd. Movement on both sides of us distracts me and I pull Ava closer. Except it’s not a threat. It’s Stellan and Odie, Josephine and Roman, and finally Ambrose and Piper pushing through the crowd to get to us.
“What’s going on?” Roman briefly takes in my protective stance around Ava, but his eyes quickly flicker back to the stage.
“Nothing good.”
Tucker Beaumont is searching the crowd. When his eyes land on Piper, a wide grin spreads over his face. He crooks a finger, then points to the stage in front of him. “Piper, come here.”
I doubt anyone in the crowd hears him, he’s spoken so quietly. Piper has, though. A small sob escapes, and she steps in his direction.
Ambrose grabs hold of her arm. “Where are you going?”
“I have to…” She fights to get out the words and pull herself free, but Ambrose is holding tight. Piper folds in half, her mouth open on a silent scream. She tilts her head up to look at him, pain written all over her face, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Please, let me go.” She barely gets the words out.
Ambrose lets go of her as if scalded, his mouth parted with shock. “I’m sorry. Go if you have to.”
Piper’s lip is trembling when she nods at him. She wipes her tears away and disappears into the crowd. Ambrose watches her for a moment and then slips away after her.
“As you know, a coven can really only exist if we are bound in truths. We cannot afford to have secrets between us.” Selene pauses and looks out over the crowd.
I don’t trust a single word out of her mouth. What is she playing at?
“We all know there are some in this coven who keep very dark facets of their magic to themselves. No longer. We will not hide their shame anymore. We must bring their secrets into the light.”
“What the fuck is she talking about?” Stellan glares at the woman on stage.
“Curses,” Selene responds as if she heard his question.
There’s a collective inhalation of air. We don’t talk about our curses in Mystic Hollows. The most powerful families are the ones who suffer. We’ve been taught to keep them a secret. It’s our burden to bear, even if there are plenty of witches in this town who know about them. A lot of the coven probably aren’t too fond of the sort of power our families have amassed and view the curses as a punishment we deserve.
“For centuries, there have been curses on some of the witches in this town. We’ve turned a blind eye.” She shrugs. “Pretending we didn’t notice. These curses are an infected wound that needs to be cut away.”
“What are they going to do?” Odie signs. I shake my head.
“What’s Piper doing?” Josephine gnaws on her lip, craning her neck to see over the crowd. Piper is climbing on the stage and comes to a stop next to her uncle. She looks like some Fae creature with her pale skin and red hair. A captured creature.
“Why is she just following orders?” Roman voices what we’re all thinking. None of us have answers, though.
“It’s time for us to excise this curse from our coven once and for all.” Selene searches the crowd, her mouth tipping up as her gaze lands on our little group in the midst of the rest of the coven.
“How?” Ava shakes her head, but I don’t have an answer for her. I’m just as confused.
“Together, with all of you, we can cure this coven and heal this town.” Selene raises her hands into the air, closes her eyes, and tips her head to the sky. Behind her, Francesca is holding a copper bowl. Tucker lifts a strand of Piper’s hair. The crowd gasps when he slices off a lock and tosses it into the bowl. She never moves.
“Fuck. We need to help her.” Ava moves forward, but before she takes another step, Selene begins chanting.
“By candle’s glow and blood of kin, take this token of the founders’ sin.”
Tucker pulls out a knife and slices it down Piper’s arm. She obediently holds still while her blood streams down her arm and drips into the copper vessel. I can’t see up front, but there’s shouting and a commotion within the crowd. People shift and runes on the floor begin to glow. What the fuck?
“No,” Josephine screams. She spins to look at us. “That’s the ritual. The one my mother tried to do to me.”
All hell breaks loose. Ava collapses, her body a dead weight as she goes down. I just barely keep her from cracking her head on the ground, falling down to my knees as I catch her. She’s writhing and shaking. Sweat pours down her face.
“Ava? Avalon? What’s happening?” I squeeze her to my body, panic making me hyper aware of every one of her quick breaths. The way her heart beats so fast, I can see it fluttering in her arched neck. The way her skin pales and she looks like death has touched her soul.
Odie goes down a second later, her back arching off the ground in a silent scream. She grabs Stellan’s hand and slaps it over her mouth.
“Don’t let her scream,” Roman barks out. Stellan’s head jerks over to him in confusion.
Selene takes the bowl from Francesca and lifts it high in the air. “Through generations gone before, let this curse plague them no more.”
On stage, Piper is being held in her uncle’s arms. He’s smirking while speaking into her ear. She’s frozen, not moving an inch, but her eyes are rolling back in pain.
“Ambrose and Piper are up there by themselves. We need to stop Selene.” Josephine darts into the crowd and Roman chases after her. There are others in the crowd crying out, but not many. There are only a few of the non-founding families who suffer the curse. Most of the coven is staring on in dumbfounded confusion.
Stellan looks over at his sister, his hand still firmly covering Odie’s mouth. “They’re all cursed. It’s only affecting those with curses.” His eyes drop, going wide as they land on the inky vines on my finger. “Why aren’t you down too?”
“What?” I can barely think enough to register what he’s saying.
On stage, Selene’s voice grows louder. “Transfer the curse from this age to the next. By rite of this magic…”
“No,” Josephine screams and launches herself at Selene’s legs, tackling her, and sending her body barreling into Francesca. She knocks them over like dominos. The bowl tumbles overhead, and clatters to the ground, spilling out the spell ingredients.
“You selfish assholes.” Josephine scrambles up Selene’s body and punches her.
It’s not pretty, but it’s effective, because Selene is knocked the fuck out. Philip Masters and my father lunge at Josephine, but Roman jumps up on stage to block them. He kicks out at Philip, who goes flying off stage and into the crowd. Roman rounds on our father, swinging his fist with so much force it might as well be Thor’s fucking hammer. Vincent Blackthorn crumbles into a pathetic heap.
“Are you going to let them do this to your coven leaders?” Francesca spits out.
The crowd is stunned, but as if Francesca’s words light a fuse, the rest of the coven loses their shit. Fights break out across the ballroom. Old Tenebris and Lumen coven members throw punches at each other. Magic zings by overhead as spells are cast, being launched at witches who were a few short months ago enemies. I guess they still are.
Josephine untangles her long dress from Selene and stalks over to her mother. “You are the biggest liar of them all.”
Francesca stumbles away, her hands held up in defense. Ice coats her fingers and water freezes in the air, making it glitter. She might have exceptional control over water, but all it would take is one simple touch from anyone and the old witch would be twitching with pain. The repercussion of her messing with the curse.
Roman rounds on Tucker. He takes Piper from her uncle, who only reluctantly releases her. Ava moans in my arms, snapping my attention back to her. She opens her eyes, tears clinging to her lashes.
“What happened?” Her voice is raspy.
I help her to stand, keeping her wrapped in my arms. Odie peels Stellan’s hand off her mouth and signs that she’s okay. The rest of our friends are not okay.
“We need to get upfront. Can you walk?” I look down at Ava. She rolls her shoulders and shakes out her arms. Well, as much as she can with me still holding her so tight.
“I’m fine.” With that, we take off toward the front of the ballroom, Odie and Stellan hot on our heels
“Traitors,” Ava‘s father snarls the second he lays eyes on her. He doesn’t even spare a glance at his son. He lifts his hand and points to her, like this is Salem and he’s accusing her of witchcraft. Which is ironic because, hello, we’re all witches.
“You, all of you.” His accusing finger sweeps over to Josephine and Roman, lingering on Piper and then coming back around to me and Ava. “You will be the ruination of this coven.”
“How? How are we ruining this coven? We aren’t the ones keeping secrets.” Ava’s voice rings out loud and clear. The crowd around is still fighting, brawling without giving attention to the council or us. I keep Ava’s body in front of me, protecting her back from the action behind us.
“You know how.”
“No, Dad. I really don’t.” Her voice drips with disdain. “Is it that the coven council has been lying to us for years? Or that the Briar Witch’s curse was never what you told us it was.”
“Liar,” Ivan screams down at us from the stage.
Ava tips her chin up, steely determination in her eyes. “No. You are the liars. Our curses could’ve ended with the first who were hexed. Generation after generation passed along this cruelty. Your love for yourself and for power was more important than keeping these terrible afflictions from your children. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.”
“As if they care.” Ivan waves his hand over the crowd. They’re lost to their own violence. “Your curses don’t affect them. All they want is a strong and powerful coven. And we own them.”
Those words get their attention. The fighting slows. Murmurs drift from the crowd. People are whispering behind their hands, heads close together as they watch the stage.
“You believe your place of authority will save you from the judgment of others. The fact that the council is corrupt has never been a secret. But it was one we never talked about. You just brought the betrayal into the light.” With each statement, Ava stands straighter.
“No one cares what you say,” Ivan snarls. “These people won’t even remember you in the morning. Even if you weren’t cursed, you’re forgettable. Barely enough power to hold the Vandenberg name.”
That’s it. I jump up on the stage and grab Ivan by his collar and toss him down below. He falls to his knees in front of Ava. I jump down after him and wrap my fist in his tie. His face is partially hidden behind his mask. I rip it off his face. The world needs to see what a piece of shit this man is.
He’s trying to push emotions onto me. Forcing me to feel fear and uncertainty. With Ava next to me, I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. I let my shadows unfurl, slinking out like tentacles to wrap around Ivan’s arms, his stomach, his throat. And I pull his magic from him. Sucking it down, like a vampire hungry for revenge.
“Ava is worth more than the entire coven council put together,” I roar, feeling like the words are shaking the very ground beneath me. I keep sucking Ivan’s magic as he claws at my shadows. “Somehow, in a true feat of magic, she managed to grow up into an incredible, caring, and beautiful individual. Despite the poison you spewed at her for years, she knows exactly who she is. You belittled her.” My eyes drift over to my father, who’s sitting up on the stage, shaking off Roman’s punch. He’s watching this all unfold with a look of disgust on his face. “You’re all so deep in this foul shit, that you can’t even smell how disgusting you are. This council believes they are so far above every other witch in this coven that they’re untouchable. You’ve controlled the narrative for so long that you thought your actions didn't have consequences. Congratulations. You fucked around and now it’s time to find out.”
Francesca saunters to the edge of the stage. “All of you are a disappointment to the founding families of Mystic Hollows. What have we done to produce such weak offspring.”
My shadows snap out and wrap around her. She cries out as her magic is sucked out of her like water down a drain.
“No,” she gasps, falling to her knees.
I turn to face the rest of the coven that’s watching the ruin of their council with various levels of surprise on their faces.
“These leaders just tried to do a ritual, which transfers the Briar Witch’s curses to the next generation. But that spell has already backfired once.” I point to Francesca, who’s struggling against my shadows. “They don’t give a damn about how this could have blown up. There’s a very real possibility they could have cursed everyone in this room.”
“What was that spell?” someone shouts from the crowd.
“What did you just try to do to us?” another person calls out. The crowd grows louder by the second. Magic sparks. The draped cloth over our heads sways ominously. The flowers on the vine shrivel, turning into ash before disintegrating and being swept up in the violent wind whipping around the room.
There are a lot of pissed-off witches in this ballroom. Selene is still passed out. Philip Masters and Peter Lexington are slinking off stage like a pair of cowards.
Ava lays a hand on my arm. “Let them go. It’s not your job to punish them.” Her father is on the ground, curled up and whimpering. Francesca is shaking, but her lips are pressed tightly together as though to hold back a scream.
I look down at Ava, understanding and determination shining in her eyes. “Only for you,” I murmur and release my shadows.
Others are moving around us. Ambrose rushes to Piper’s side, ripping off his coat and pressing it to the still bleeding wound on her arm. Roman steps to the edge of the stage, his face serious as he looks out at the crowd.
“I know we’re all pissed and there’s a lot of confusion.” The wind whips at his hair and the vines decorating the walls twist and slither like snakes. “But we can’t tear people to pieces, and we can’t destroy this ballroom in anger or frustration. I suggest we keep the council members under house arrest until we can determine, as a coven, what to do next.”
“Fuck that,” someone shouts, and all hell breaks loose again. Half the coven runs out of the ballroom screaming. A handful of concerned witches come up front to help with the council, and the rest go back to fighting each other.
I pull Ava back into my arms and away from the closest fight. “I don't know what the bar for a successful night was, but I’d say this qualifies.”
Ava huffs out annoyed laughter as she surveys the room. It’s a mess, people are still fighting, but nearly two-thirds of the coven has left. I cup her cheek and turn her head to look up at me. The ink on my finger stands out like a beacon against her skin. How the hell did I get this lucky? It doesn’t seem real. Ava rests her hand on my chest, her eyes dropping to her bare ring finger.
A sad smile touches her lips as she turns and presses a kiss to my hand. I wish I was an empath like her just now, so I could know exactly what she’s feeling.
Two witches stumble into my side. I push Ava behind me and glare at the idiots. They’re not even using magic to fight anymore; they have each other in dual headlocks and are spinning in a circle.
“Crone help us all,” I mutter and break up the fight.