Chapter 13 #2
She looked between Jessamine and Sybil, her eyes wide and full of fear. Clearly, the young witch thought this was a setup. That as soon as she broke the stick, Sybil might launch at her. Or perhaps Jessamine would snap her fingers and the barely leashed god behind her would snap her neck.
Still, Elissa lifted her shaking hands and took hold of either end of the stick. With a soft movement, she broke the stick.
“Lovely.” Jessamine took the two pieces of that stick and added two more. “Try breaking them now.”
Elissa did, but it took her a little more effort to do so.
She handed her another stick to add to the bundle, this one black as night and thicker than the other four. “Now try again with this one.”
Elissa added the stick to the rest, failed, and then looked up at her with confusion in her gaze. “Why am I doing this?”
“Because I need you to understand something. This is an important lesson, and I hope it will linger more than the others we have taught you. Try one more time.”
Elissa tried again, even struggled with it on her knee underneath the table. But try as she might, Elissa could not break the bundle of sticks. Some of the ones on the outside creaked, but none of them broke.
Jessamine took the sticks back and took the original stick out of the bundle.
“When you are a witch on your own, it’s easy to feel breakable and overwhelmed.
I certainly did. I looked at the world as the dangerous beast it was.
A single witch is far too easy to break on its own.
” She lifted the other two. “A coven makes us harder to break. Still fragile, I’ll give you that much. A coven is not indestructible.”
Then Jessamine held up the stick that had never broken. The dark, thick stick that was infinitely stronger than the other three. She handed it to Elissa to hold, watching the other woman understand what she was about to say long before she said it.
“We are a coven of witches who will outlast the ending of time itself. The more witches in our coven, the stronger we will be. One becomes two.” She smiled at Sybil.
“And two becomes many. But we also have our god, who is unbreakable and unbendable. You were the one who sacrificed to him. You were the one who prayed to him, so you must have believed in some small way that he could save you.”
Elissa’s eyes welled with tears, her lower lip trembling. “Even if I believed it then, I still told her. I still stood by while you were all gathering clothing to hide in the crowds, and I still told her where you were and who you were.”
She did. And that stung.
The truth hurt, but then again, it always did. The truth was harder to swallow when it was someone Jessamine wanted to trust. But that was life, and sometimes, people made mistakes.
“Did you tell her I was here because you are loyal to Fortuna?” And when Elissa shook her head violently, Jessamine lifted her hand so the other woman wouldn’t talk.
“I don’t want to hear excuses. I want to know the truth.
No matter what, if you are loyal to Fortuna, then I will leave this place with you safely behind.
I have no interest in the blood play that the nobility so love.
Your safety is a promise, Elissa. All I am asking for is the truth. ”
The last sentence vibrated with power that she hadn’t called upon from Elric yet. Still, the Deathless One echoed in her voice, deepening it with magic that ripped honesty out of Elissa.
“I am afraid of her,” Elissa replied. “I feel no loyalty to someone who inspires fear when she walks through the streets. I have no loyalty to anyone who runs this place. But I fear what she will do to me, and what she will do to those I love.”
Elissa’s gaze slanted to the parrot who still perched on the chair next to her. And Jessamine knew that though there was always a risk in manipulation, sometimes it was necessary.
“What was her name?” she asked.
“Sarah.”
“Sarah is a beautiful name,” Jessamine replied. “I hope you know I will always care for her. If your bravery ends in sadness, your family will always be safe with me. No matter how hard it is to provide them safety.”
Elissa nodded, her eyes on her twisting fingers before she said, “Fortuna wanted to know when you were coming. There were rumors, you see. Rumors of a witch who killed Callum Quen. Then stories of a god reawakened. It all made them nervous.”
“Who are they?”
“The nobility who betrayed you, and most of the people who run the Pleasure District. They all know each other, and they all know Leon Bishop. The kingdom prospers for them and them alone, but that is how it always works. Peasants break their backs to never see the fruits of their labor. Artists perform until their fingers bleed, but rarely are they paid. And the rich continue to play, on and on, until the world burns around them.”
The haunting words played over and over in her mind. Because they were true. Because they hurt to hear. Because no one should believe that, and yet, what other belief was there?
Jessamine opened her mouth on an inhale and then blew it all on with a sigh. “If you are going to be part of this coven, you have to trust us to protect you.”
“I don’t know that you can.”
It was Sybil who stood, her chair screeching across the floor as she reached for Elissa’s hand. Dark and light, intertwined together as their fingers meshed like a woven tapestry. “We will bleed for you, Elissa. What more could you ask for? A coven is a family, and a family protects.”
Elissa looked between the two of them as tears dripped down her cheeks.
Elric’s hands came down on her shoulders, dark with claws that stretched from his fingertips. Yet they were gentle as he held on to her. And it was his deep voice that came and echoed what the witches had said.
“If you do not trust in your fellow witches, then trust in me.” His fingers squeezed, and Jessamine could see the white marks he left with his tight grip.
“There are no longer any gods left to save the few who would threaten you. But even in the days of old, when the gods still roamed this kingdom… there were few they could save from me.”
Elissa’s eyes widened with every word, but Jessamine could also see her spine straighten. She finally nodded firmly. “I apologize for my mistake. I will not question the coven again.”
“See that you don’t,” Jessamine replied before Sybil could beat her to it. “We do not forgive twice.”