Chapter 15
Felix
Could I join a coven? I wanted to. After Astrea was cursed, I’d wanted nothing more than to have a coven behind me. But could I trust this coven? They were helping me get Astrea back, so it seemed like they were honorable witches. Maybe I should trust them. Maybe I already did.
Knowing Severin and I still hadn’t heard the game plan for how this whole thing was going down, I decided to ask Dina and Peter. “So, what is the plan?”
“Right!” Dina said, sitting straighter in her seat. “I completely forgot, sorry.” I waved it off. Severin and I had slept for longer than the others and had missed the “planning meeting”.
“I will go in first,” Peter interrupted. “We know the building, but not how many witches are inside. So, me in front, two witches behind me, and then Severin and you, Felix, then five witches behind you. The rest will keep watch and ward off any attacks while we are inside.”
Dina continued. “Peter will carry Astrea to our car and then we will drive back the five of us together. Severin needs his full focus to be on keeping you safe, so Peter is our best choice for getting her out.”
It all seemed fine to me, so I nodded. Dina and her coven were taking this seriously, which I appreciated. Every witch wore several crystals. Enough to ward off attacks and to protect them against different spells and attacks.
I could make most crystals myself with my magic, but I wasn’t a powerful witch when it came to infusing crystals with my magic.
I was better at potions, but humans didn’t care much about how strong the crystals they bought were, just that they worked.
Funnily enough, witches were the most accepted supernatural beings by humans, and vampires the least accepted.
After learning more about how much leeway the vampires had, I had to agree with the humans on that front.
Not that Peter or Severin should be held accountable for how other vampires behaved, but I wasn’t na?ve enough to think neither of them had been as good natured as they were now.
But I wouldn’t punish them for their pasts. Times had changed, and so had they.
Witches back in the day weren’t saints either. The mass burnings weren’t because witches healed people, it was because they cursed them. We witches were a petty kind, not that I was happy about that, but most drama tended to happen around witches.
“Here,” Dina said, interrupting my thoughts.
She held out a necklace filled with different crystals.
“I want you to be protected.” I took the offered necklace and had to hold back tears.
I hadn’t been given a necklace since my Gran was alive.
This was something witches did for family members, or dear friends.
Offering a necklace filled with crystals the witch had infused themselves was a sign of, well, love.
Unable to tell her how much this meant to me, I went with a simple, “Thank you.”
She smiled kindly. “Anytime.”
Severin’s hand tightened on my thigh, his silent way of letting me know he was there.
We weren’t strangers anymore, Severin and I, but we still had a long way to go before I knew him as well as I wanted to.
I felt comfortable in his presence, under his touch.
Being fated must mean he felt right to me.
Like we truly belonged together. So, I wouldn’t question it further, just allow myself to trust in this feeling of rightness.
“One hour left,” Severin informed us.
“Good,” Peter said, looking behind us at the other cars. “I am itching to show those witches what happens when they take one of ours.” I had no way to reply to that comment. Peter seemed almost… possessive.
Clearing my throat, I figured the last hour could be used answering some of my burning questions, so I asked Peter and Severin, “So, you can walk in sunlight without burning?”
Severin laughed at that. “Yes, we can. You figured as much? Seeing as we are not screaming in agony?”
I rolled my eyes. “Excuse me for not just assuming, but actually wanting to know for sure.”
Severin shook his head, his hand on my thigh moving up and down in a soothing gesture. “I like that you asked, my heart. And both Peter and I can be out in the sun for however long we wish.”
“That’s perfect!” I exclaimed, happy to know I could go outside with Severin without worrying about sunlight. “Do you have other abilities?”
It was Peter who answered this time, “Yes. I can run faster than Severin.”
“That is not an ability, that is just you being so bloody competitive you need to be faster than anyone around you,” Severin teased.
“Guilty,” Peter replied with a shrug, his smile smug and knowing.
“So, only the sunlight thing? Not that it’s bad if there isn’t more!” I quickly added.
Severin laughed again. “Peter and I have some differences, but not abilities as such. He needs less sleep than I do, but I am stronger. And it is true that he is faster than me, both at running and swimming.”
“Do not forget the aura thing,” Peter said, twirling his finger in the air.
“Ah,” Severin said, nodding his head like he just remembered. “Peter can also see auras.”
“Auras?” Dina asked, her eyes gleaming with curiosity.
“I can see the color of people’s souls,” Peter explained. “If they are bad souls, or good ones.”
“Was that why you were there when I was hired?” Dina asked with a knowing smile.
“Of course,” Peter replied easily. “I always make sure the people around my family are good souls.”
I liked knowing that. I hoped whatever my aura showed Peter that he at least liked what he saw. I knew I wasn’t a bad person, but how my aura looked? I had no idea.
Dina’s phone rang and she answered immediately, putting it on speaker. “Hi, Jenny.”
Jenny replied with a forced cheeriness. “Hi everyone. I have some maybe bad news?”
Considering Jenny was Dina’s coven leader, I feared what came next.
“Maybe bad?” Dina questioned.
“Lotta and I were talking about the situation, you know if they had a seer or not.”
“Yes?” Dina prompted.
“This could be an ambush, Dina. If their seer can see us coming… You don’t need me to tell you how badly this could end for us.”
Severin muttered under his breath and Peter did, too, the brothers were so alike it was comical, even if the situation was anything but.
Dina answered calmly, “Then their seer will see just how badly attacking us will end for them.”
There was a beat of silence, then Jenny sighed. “You’re right. See you in ten.”
Dina hung up after saying goodbye and I felt horrible.
It was my fault all these wonderful people were risking their lives.
Had I picked another master than Severin, would they even have taken Astrea?
No, I couldn’t go there. If I hadn’t met Severin…
Just the thought of never knowing him… This fated thing truly was the real deal; my heart couldn’t even take thinking about never meeting him.
“No matter what happens,” Severin said. “We will rescue your sister, my heart. You have my word.”
If only he could promise no one would get hurt, too.