Chapter 18
JOSIE
In the late afternoon hours of a Sunday at the apothecary shop, sunlight filters through the array of suncatchers in the windows and casts dappled patterns on the polished wooden floor.
The store is tranquil and quiet. I am not.
I’m trying not to freak out, but the more I think about the next trial in the high priestess competition, the harder it is to ignore.
Shifting on my stool behind the counter, I do my best to turn my attention back to the book in front of me—one from Elara’s personal collection upstairs detailing the magic properties of plants.
It’s an interesting read, but I’m barely skimming the pages. I close the cover and abandon the attempt. Maybe learning the inventory and puttering among the display tables and shelves will help spark an idea.
I need a potion that is potent, useful, and unique. For the millionth time, I wish my grandmother was here to help me. But she’s not. And if she were still alive, I wouldn’t be here. I would never have felt the power of standing in my ancestral lands, I would never have found out the truth about Adelaide and Egan, I would never have been bound to Finn, Rune, and Sebastian.
I feel the tug of my mates over the bond. Where only a few weeks ago, I hated the intrusion, now I’m learning to take comfort in it.
Finn is in the back garden with his laptop, playing the part of my escort—cough—babysitter, and Rune texted me half an hour ago saying he’s taking Sebastian on a witchstone fact-finding mission to see a witch turned vampire in one of the other wards.
They aren’t here, but I’m not alone.
And now, with Phi tethered into the mix, I don’t think I’ll ever be alone again.
I pause in front of a shelf of dried herbs, and idly trace the delicate white blossoms of the water hyssop.
“You’re going to wear a hole in the hardwood if you keep pacing like that.” Elara is arranging vials of colorful potions with practiced precision, her calm demeanor a soothing contrast to my inner turmoil. “And these boards are original.”
I hold up my hands and let out a frustrated sigh. “Sorry. I can’t help it.”
I move over to watch Elara work. The two of us have become fast friends and I’m thankful to have someone I can talk to here in the city.
“Wanna talk about it?”
I meet the concern in her gaze and am about to wave it away when I realize I do want to talk about it. “This whole competition for high priestess is driving me insane. I can’t figure out what kind of potion I should make for the trial and I have to present it tomorrow night. Summer and Beatris will make something incredible. I’ll look like a fool.”
Elara turns to face me fully, her expression gentle yet firm. “Destiny weaves its threads around us, whether we seek it or not. Deep down, you know you have all the qualities you need to dazzle the elders.”
I run rough fingers through my hair and give the lengths an angsty tug. “What’s the point? It’s not like the witches in this city will approve of me. They hate me.”
“They don’t know you.”
“They know my mother and my grandmother.”
“And that is neither here nor there. Many witches recognize the women in your family as incredibly powerful members of the coven.”
“And others think they destroyed the coven and left them to hang out to dry.”
Elara shrugs. “Then it’s time they learned you’re a different kind of witch. You grew up away from here, so you haven’t been corrupted by the politics of this city. You could bring genuine change. You’re a natural-born leader.”
I laugh. “Me? You think I’m a leader?”
She eases back and grins. “Of course, I do. You’re thoughtful and smart. You’re not jaded by the state of things, and you aren’t intimidated into conforming to the politics that have been running the wards for decades. I think you’d be a great high priestess.”
Screw the politics side of it. Adelaide set the bar low for the next witch to fill her shoes. If I don’t make a pact with the enemy to have my sister witches murdered for power, I’d already be miles ahead of the last High Priestess.
Of course, I can’t say that.
As awful as Adelaide was to me and mine, she was good to Elara and she’s still mourning the loss of her mentor.
“It’s not just that,” I say.
Elara’s gaze lifts from her work and her smile dims. “Then what is it? How can I help?”
I think about that and draw a deep breath. “I’m torn. I’ve only just realized how little free will I’ve had during my life and now that I’ve taken the reins…I’ve never made big decisions. Grand-Mère took care of everything, and I was too na?ve to question why.”
Elara dries her fingers on a rag and smiles. “Okay, so what is it you want to do?”
I drop my head back and stare at the ceiling. “I don’t know that either.”
She moves close and takes my fingers, gently shaking out my arms. “Let’s start with something easy then. What kind of tea would you like while we figure this out?”
I groan. “Even that’s too hard. You choose.”
She giggles. “Tavor? Could you run upstairs and grab the bag of peppermint jasmine tea? I think someone here is suffering from decision paralysis.”
“Is it that obvious?”
Elara watches as her ferret bounds up the stairs and then meets my gaze. “Could this have anything to do with three incredibly handsome vampires and your unwillingness to let yourself fall for them?”
“What? No.”
She tilts her head, looking doubtful.
“You don’t believe me?”
She takes a step back and leans her hip against the counter. “It’s obvious Finn and Rune are smitten, and for Sebastian to simply give you back your family grimoire out of the blue…there’s something building there, too.”
It wasn’t exactly out of the blue.
We may have shared a moment this morning, but him giving me back the grimoire was more about breaking his curse than anything else.
I think about Sebastian’s dream and the torment my mother has put him through these past two decades. It sickens me.
“Goodness, Josie, what is it?” Elara’s gaze is intense as she reads my face. “Tell me, and maybe I can help.”
“I don’t want to say it out loud because it feels disloyal to even think it.”
“But it’s just you and me here, and we’re sisters. I will never betray you.”
I know she won’t and that, more than anything, is why I love to spend time here. Elara knows the good and the bad and doesn’t judge.
She’s a good friend.
Drawing a deep breath, I push down my anxiety and go for it. “I’m disillusioned with my mother and my grandmother. I was raised to believe they were the two most honorable witches and because of the cruelty of vampires, they were robbed of their lives.”
Elara accepts the satchel of tea from Tavor when he returns and strides over to fill the kettle and make a pot of tea. “You were very young when you lost your mother and lived an isolated life with your grandmother. It’s understandable that you may have idolized them.”
“But now I find out that Grand-Mère bound my powers and hid everything about the unity ritual and the fallout…and my mom…”
“What about her?” Elara fills the kettle and clicks the button to start the boil.
I promised Sebastian I wouldn’t tell anyone about the curse—and I won’t tell Rune or Finn—but I may need help to break it. Still, I’ve barely skimmed through the spellbook…
Deciding to keep that to myself, I pull on another of the many threads that have frayed from the fabric of what I believed to be true.
“Sebastian and the vampires didn’t kill my mother. He didn’t betray his unity bond. My mother rejected him and left him in a worse position after the bonding than before it.”
Elara nods. “And while that’s sad, it doesn’t mean you have to fix it.”
“But Mother Gaia bound us for a reason.”
“Or she bound your mother to Sebastian and, consequently, you’ve inherited that bond, which has extended to his fledglings.”
It’s nothing I haven’t thought about before. “The point is, Sebastian isn’t the horrible monster I painted him to be my entire life. He made mistakes, which he fully admits, but he was wronged, too.”
Elara nods. “You’re an empathetic woman, Josie. A lot of people would never be able to see beyond the callus and autocratic chaos he causes.”
That might be true, but they aren’t bound to the man. I feel what he would never let outsiders know about him. Behind all the murder and arrogance, he’s a wounded man who was rejected and publicly humiliated by my mother.
And cursed by her.
The kettle whistles a shrill squeal and Elara fills the pot. “So, you’ve learned your grandmother and mother weren’t perfect and Sebastian isn’t wholly evil. What else is bothering you?”
I think about that. “Too much.”
“That’s fine. We’ve got time.” The ceramic lid clinks the top of the teapot when she sets it to steep and then faces me. “We’ll unpack your upsets one at a time until they’re more manageable. We’ve got the witch trials, your revelations about people you thought you knew, and what’s next?”
What is next?
“All right, let’s say, by some act of divine intervention, I make it through the next two trial challenges and beat out the other four witches in the running.”
She sets two mugs up and starts to pour. “I don’t think Mother Gaia will need to be involved, but sure, I’m with you. You’re now the New Orleans Sun Witch High Priestess.”
Even the sound of that seems unreal. “I never intended to stay here. How long do I serve as high priestess before I leave? As long as it takes to set things right for the Moon Witches and get Egan under control? Will that be a month? Six months? A year? And what happens when I leave?”
Elara frowns and sets the pot down. “You talked about going back to England before the ball, but you’re way too smart to miss the fact that your life—your destined path—is unfolding here.”
“Me getting pulled into the trials was a magical prank pulled by Adelaide’s dying raven familiar, not destiny.”
She shakes her head. “You’re a Dumont witch, Josie. You’re meant for more than hiding away in a cottage in Leeds and running a funeral home.”
I’m not sure I believe that.
And what’s wrong with hiding away in a cottage in Leeds, running a funeral home? “I love my life back home.”
“You loved it—past tense. Mother Gaia bound you to the three hottest, most powerful men in this city. She didn’t do that for you to shrink back into your shell.”
Is that what I’d be doing?
“I bet if you tried, Rune and Finn would just drag you back to their bed, anyway. Those boys are smitten. There’s no way they’re letting you get away from them.”
Rune and Finn are definitely a complication I wasn’t expecting. “It’s one of the reasons I’ve kept them at arm’s reach. I don’t want them reading too much into our bond.”
Elara bursts out laughing. “Do you know how crazy that is? You’re unity bound to them. They are yours. You are theirs. There is no long-distance scenario where you wave to them from over the pond. They’ll go feral and you’ll ache for them.”
I pull out a work stool and save myself from falling on the floor. “Is that your opinion or a fact?”
“That’s a fact, Josie. You belong here, so you need to wrap your head around the fact that your bond will only grow stronger. You’re not going anywhere.”
I accept the tea and inhale the warm scent before taking a sip. She’s right. I can’t imagine Rune and Finn living an ocean away, and what would that do to Sebastian?
I won’t add to the torture he’s been put through, especially when I know how fragile his sanity is right now because of my mother.
The thought of what he’s endured is like a dagger pierced through my heart.
My thoughts weave through tangled images of a future here or there and when I emerge from my musings, Elara is smiling against the lip of her mug. “Why do you look so smug?”
“Because you know I’m right.”
I chuckle. “No comment.”
Her grin widens. “I’ve got you, Josie. We’re a team. And since I refuse to live in dreary Leeds, it looks like we’re both here to stay.”
“You might want to take a few steps back. Most of NOLA hates me.”
She shrugs. “Nope. I’m your witch sidekick. When you become the HP, I’ll be your VP.”
“Vice priestess?” I guess.
She points two fingers at her eyes and then mine and back again. “See? Our mental wavelengths are already merging. I’m sure our two heads put together can figure out how to navigate all the political intricacies and responsibilities of leading a coven.”
I snort. “I’ve never had a coven, so I’m pretty sure I’m the last person who should run one.”
“Or you’re exactly the person.”
I take another sip of my tea. “Even the thought of it makes me want to puke.”
Elara presses a hand on my arm and releases a wave of calming warmth. “You don’t have to put my name on a ballot or anything. What I’m saying is that I’ll be there to help you. You’re not alone.”
How many times has Rune said that to me in the past few days? “Rune thinks I’ll make a good high priestess.”
“Because you will.”
“Finn, too…I think. Mostly, he’s worried.”
“I’m sure it was hard having you witchnapped and then watching you taking hits at the first trial.”
“I’m sure it was.”
Sadly, I conked out in the car, got sucked into Sebastian’s dream, and have been reeling all day. I haven’t had the chance to catch up with either Rune or Finn.
“I know that look.” Elara points at me and waggles her brows. “You’ve got some dirty ideas forming in your mind. Come on, give me the dirt, spill the tea, air the dirty laundry. How is it going with your trio of men? Inquiring minds want to live vicariously through your sexual escapades.”
I laugh and hop off my stool. “Yeah-no. Our tea session has come to its end. I’m going to take what you’ve said to heart, gather my Celt, and see where that leads us.”
Elara grins. “May it lead you to many hours of orgasms.”
I wave over my head. “Good night, Elara.”
“Good night, HP Josie.”