Chapter 66 - Carina
Sixty-Six
CARINA
One Week Later
Everyday feels like I’m living a million lifetimes.
Every day is a genuine struggle to get out of bed and go to work, returning to my old routine of helping at Mom’s crystal shop on the main strip while pretending the past few weeks never happened.
Like every morning since returning from Twilight Grove, Mom looks up from her coffee with a million and one statements in her expression but only says one, by the time I full up my own mug with the black liquid of life I’ve been relying on more and more.
“Morning.”
“Morning. Today, I’ll be reviewing all the incantations for the ceremony.” The full moon is in a few days and preparing keeps me focused.
Again, with the many statements, all of which she hides behind her mug.
The front door opens without invitation, which means it’ll be one of three people: Jasper or his parents. Being direct family, they’re the only ones with access to our house.
“I brought muffins!” he calls seconds before appearing in the doorway and then resting a box from a nearby bakery in front of us.
Mom flicks the lid, examining over the choices. “You’ve shown up unannounced with food. What do you actually want?”
“Mom mentioned the vampires are coming to town. I refuse to miss them.”
Mom’s been…careful—yeah, let’s say that—since I returned, always watching me like I’m about to explode or cry, or both.
Even though the Darkness has oddly and surprisingly quieted the past couple days, with only the odd slither to remind me of its presence, she made the recommendation of visiting Harlow and getting her insight to keep it at bay.
I agreed, mainly because I miss Harlow and didn’t see enough of her before Freya was kicking her back to Alec’s castle, insisting they can’t be around Banff…
for whatever reason. Considering they have superhuman speed, it made more sense for them to come here rather than us drive the nine hours one-way to them.
I arch a brow at my cousin. “Trying to get your ass kicked by Alec? You know how protective he is of Harlow.”
He rolls his eyes and reaches for a chocolate muffin as he takes the seat to my right. “While objectively pretty, sure, she’s no different than you. Believe me, not interested.”
“Tell Alec that. Might save your skin.”
Shadows creep over his expression. This conversation reminds me of something from my time in Twilight Grove—something I’ve been too busy hiding from the world and trying not to think about Sloane and her coven to consider.
I angle towards Mom. “Did you ever give him the bracelet?”
Jasper freezes, muffin halfway to his mouth. “What’s she talking about?”
“Carina, no—” Mom starts, but I ignore her.
“Archer—”
“Archer?” he hisses, dropping his food—and then his fist hits the table as he zeroes in on Mom. Sparks from his magick, from anger, radiate over his hands. “Archer fucking Yarrow? Adalyn Yarrow?”
Clearly, I’m missing something.
“Uh, yeah. They’re with Sloane—”
“Adalyn is part of Twilight Grove?” Jasper’s head swivels to Mom, pinning her with a glare. “You’ve been lying to me this whole fucking time?”
Mom stands with all the poise I know her to have as she wanders across the room, acting like no one is yelling at her, even as he trails her. I twist to watch the drama unfold; for once, it’s not me.
“Where’s the bracelet?”
Mom conjures the leather strip on the flat of her palm, and he snatches it possessively, his eyes a bit manic as he glares.
“What is going on? How do you know Adalyn?”
Jasper jerks his head. “You wanna tell her, or should I?”
Mom folds her arms over her chest, and then crosses her ankles, staring impassively at him before her gaze slides to me.
“A few months before Jasper’s birth, there was an agreement that Dominique’s child—since at the time I didn’t have you—would marry one of the twins.
When Jasper came to be, that arrangement was with Adalyn.
As you know, I only put it all together recently that Sloane was behind Harlow’s parents, so back then she was simply another High Priestess.
She ended the arrangement a few months after their births and didn’t explain why—only that she didn’t feel it necessary any longer.
Dominique wasn’t concerned and figured it’d be better for Jasper’s future. ”
Jasper fists the bracelet tighter. None of this answers how they know one another, but instead of letting Mom continue, I muse about the theory beginning to formulate.
“Archer and I were engaged before my birth, so I wonder if it was Sloane’s way of connecting covens together, to collect the heirs. If her only son was intended for me, he wasn’t available for Harlow. Putting Jasper with Adalyn was Sloane’s way of getting near Harlow.”
Mom pauses with her mug halfway to her mouth. “It’d make sense, though it would depend on when she learned the future from her Seer. It doesn’t fully explain why she’d break off the union and instead send two of her own to retrieve Harlow.”
My fingers drum on the back of my chair. “Do Seers have different lifespans? Because he looked around my age, but if this timeline’s correct, it means she knew about this years before coming for Harlow.”
If so, her knowledge is two decades old. Surely the Devil got his bride by now. Which would make the trajectory of this upcoming war already started.
“I don’t know much about Seers,” Mom admits.
“If no union, what’s the story behind that?” I jerk my chin at Jasper’s fist, which comes into the air as he rounds on Mom.
“The story,” he grits, “is that she obviously still fucking cares about me if she has this.”
Mom ignores him and returns to the table. “It was the summer your cousin was seventeen, and he was very insistent on seeing Toronto…for whatever reason. He and a friend travelled there, and it was by coincidence that Adalyn and Jasper met.”
Jasper stares at the leather in his hand before taking over.
“I didn’t know who she was. Being around mortals, we both had our eyes masked.
” Because purple eyes don’t blend well with human society.
“It wasn’t until we were alone that I realized she was like me.
She claimed to be in the city, exploring like I was. ”
Knowing how Sloane seems to be ten steps ahead all the time, I wonder if the meeting was planned.
“So, a teenage summer romance?”
“A summer friendship that lingered,” Mom corrects.
“He went back that winter, claiming she was a mortal girlfriend. According to what she said, she hid it from Sloane too, scared of being kept away. That winter and the following summer they texted back and forth. For all reasons, we had no need to look deeper.”
“She lied,” Jasper murmurs heavily, tightening his hold on the leather. “She told me she was from Starfall Coven. I was falling for her, and then she disappeared.”
“You gave that to her.” It’s not a question, but a statement as I jerk my chin to his hand.
“A cheap gift to symbolize my growing affection.”
“It’s an interesting coincidence that the two who were engaged ended up meeting later on.” I slide my attention to Mom, hoping she’s picking up what I’m suggesting. Her subtle brow lift says she does.
“She disappeared after leaving a note behind,” he continues, “saying not to look for her and that she was sorry. I didn’t listen, of course, and for a long fucking time, scoured Quebec, coming up empty.
It all makes fucking sense.” He opens his palm, glaring at the bracelet.
“Because she was never a part of Starfall to begin with.”
He starts for the door, his large steps eating up the kitchen. Just as his shoe passes the threshold, Mom throws up a barrier, forcing him back into the kitchen.
“Aunt Morgan—”
“Sit down.”
“She kept it. It means something, and I’m going to figure out what.”
“No, you’re going to sit down, not go charging into Twilight Grove. The situation between us and them has changed vastly since you were a teenager. Adalyn wasn’t a Dark witch four years ago, but now she is. She’s not the girl you knew.”
“Then explain this.” He shakes his fist. “You can’t. Morgan, I’m going to find her and—”
She throws a spell at him, invisible bounds yanking him into a chair. “No, you’re going to stay inside Banff, and that’s an order from your High Priestess. Do not test me, Jasper. I will alter the boundary spell to prevent you from leaving, if I must. Your parents will agree with me on this.”
My sweet cousin who’ll do anything to obey his High Priestess—and only ever breaks the rules when I force him to—stares at Mom with a deadly chill found only in the depths of a tree-mansion in Ontario.
“Morgan—”
“Jasper, I said no.” He falls back into his chair, legs buckling beneath the order.
“You will go nowhere near Twilight Grove or Adalyn Yarrow. Carina just escaped, and you want to walk yourself into danger to save a girl who isn’t seeking safety.
You go to Adalyn and she’ll use you to get to Carina and Harlow.
Your teenage relationship isn’t worth it. ”
“What if he’s meant to?” Playing devil’s advocate, I tap his knuckles. “Archer wanted him to have this for a reason.”
“A sentimental act.” Mom sniffs, sweeping herself off her chair again.
“Maybe a token of goodbye because he knows something. Regardless, my order remains.” She waves her hand and dispels the barrier preventing him from leaving the kitchen, and then again to free him from the chair. “You’re free to go home.”
With every level of hate possible, Jasper passes the now-dissipated barrier and out the front door, slamming it hard enough that the house rattles.
Tense silence falls between us—which I break almost instantly.
“You knew who she really was. After Harlow’s transition and Freya’s visit, you were shocked about who was behind the Sinclairs’ murders.
You said that it’d crush him.” The only way any of that makes sense is if Mom looked deeper into Adalyn years ago and pieced it together.
“Worry about your own relationship, Carina, not his.” She exits the room just as quickly, disappearing elsewhere in the house.
My own relationship is a howl that echoes in the nearby forest every night.