Chapter 25 #2
Maybe I wasn’t. Being unceremoniously roped into this witch nonsense was something I really didn’t want. I had to appreciate that it was less than it could have been, since Amelia opted to tell the witches who’d helped Rachel with the unsuccessful spell to remove the curse.
Was I standing against the wall as an unenthusiastic and reluctant bystander or as a partner? Accessory? Culprit? I had no idea what my role was in this. But everyone’s eyes periodically turned to me while Amelia retold the incident, editing out Cirrian’s involvement.
Amelia remained planted in her chair, held by the sheer intensity of the glares from Rachel, Madoc, Mave, and Kenna.
Madoc and Mave were mirror images of one another, arms folded across their chests, stern looks of disapproval leveled at her.
Rachel stood close, appearing ready to lean over Amelia like an investigator questioning a suspect.
Kenna was in a state of perpetual perplexity occasionally overshadowed by glares at me and Amelia.
This was proving to be the cherry atop my sundae fuckery of a day.
I was the misplaced target of their ire.
I should have been with them, peppering her with questions, volleying allegations of not feeling trusted and a variety of emotions that they couldn’t wrangle.
Their magic and energy stifled the room.
Kenna, Mave, and Madoc directed some of their frustration at Rachel when they discovered she’d known that Vina was Amelia’s mother.
“So, you must guard this”—Madoc waved at the thaumavore on a bracelet around Amelia’s wrist—“without magic.”
Aligning the strongest of her coven to help protect the thaumavore was the smartest thing to do, but the witches seemed to share Cirrian’s belief that becoming its keeper wasn’t worth the trouble.
Amelia would be without her magic until Vina died, or she saw fit to allow one of them to unbind her from the object.
Her refusal to give them the spell to do so only added to their frustration.
We had shared a great deal with them, but Amelia still carried an exceptional number of secrets regarding it.
They weren’t aware that Cirrian was ever involved, or that the thaumavore only held Vina’s magic.
And I’d been the devious troublemaker who’d taken it from Diehle.
I disclosed that he had been killed, giving me unearned cred.
Between my employment with the vampires, association with kinborn witches, Diehle’s death, and the perceived theft of a magical object from him, I’d earned their respect and their apprehension.
“I can’t do it alone, which is why you all are here,” Amelia said.
Rachel waved her hand away. “Of course we’ll help you, but you aren’t safe from her without your magic.” She shot a look at their perceived source of the trouble: me. “We’ll figure out a way to release you from it,” she asserted with a pledge of a vow.
I thought they would oath bind themselves to it, but they didn’t.
The vow of protection seemed enough, and I left, happy that Amelia had their support but wishing she’d made another decision.
Vina couldn’t be trusted, and Amelia’s life would always be at risk if the thaumavore was the only thing standing between Vina and her magic.
We all saw it, but unfortunately Amelia was ignoring it or was in a deep state of denial.
“What aren’t you telling us?” Madoc asked her.
“What?”
He frowned. “There are gaps in the story. Kara acquired the thaumavore. Your mother was the source of the curse, but I don’t believe you were the target.
” His eyes slid to me. I tried to hold his gaze, but their searching intensity made it difficult.
We hadn’t disclosed my locked magic, and I’d asked Amelia to keep it a secret, but if they were taking on the role of Amelia’s protector, they needed to know.
“I’d like this information to stay between the people in this room,” I said. “Please.”
After they all agreed, I told them everything, starting with the assassination attempt, Vina learning that I was an ashinwa, and her wanting my magic.
I gave a highly edited version of the draveths and their connection to Vina.
I needed them to know how powerful the draveths were and their connection to Jonah.
They already knew to be careful of Jonah, but this gave them more understanding of his abilities and that of his merry misfits.
Amelia broke in, adding the information she’d gathered about draveths from Vina.
“Your mother—” Mave started.
“Vina,” Amelia asserted.
“—Vina wants to break the veil that separates our world from Umbryth, for magic.” The absurdity of it was lost on Mave, who couldn’t wrap her mind around being so power hungry you’d disrupt the fabric of the world.
“Yes,” Amelia said.
“What happens if she’s successful? Wouldn’t that disrupt all the realms?” Madoc asked.
The only thing we could offer were shrugs and speculation because we didn’t know, either.
“And the magic that expelled them from Umbryth was used on you.” Rachel’s correct assumption caught us by surprise.
“Why do you believe that?” I asked her.
“It makes sense. If they are from Umbryth and were expelled because they tried to steal the collected magic, and they have made attempts on your life, there must be some type of link that made them aware of ashinwas.”
I was ecstatic for her to be part of the team protecting Amelia and on our side.
Madoc’s face scrunched as if he were trying to uncoil a knot of questions.
It was apparent he’d recognized some issues with our story.
That was the problem with having the most talented and smartest of the coven on your side.
They were harder to deceive. His sister touched his hand and gave him a look.
I didn’t know them well enough to decipher the look, but she seemed to be urging him to let go of whatever misgivings he had.
I suspected she, too, saw the discrepancies but was giving us grace.
Maybe she realized there were secrets we just couldn’t tell.
I appreciated whatever caused her to extend that leniency.
Rachel sneered. “I knew Jonah was bad news. I hope there’s something in this that can help us manage him and his little House of Nigh.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head at the name. She scanned the translated pages. Her lips parted, then closed. “This isn’t the original, is it?”
“No, it’s from a grimoire Corrine loaned me.”
Rachel’s knowing look lobbed in my direction was another indicator that something was sketchy between us. “You paid to have the entire book translated?”
“I had it translated,” I told her.
A hard, narrow-eyed look accompanied her knowing smirk. “Okay?” It was the most unconvincing concession I’d heard.
“You translated it without Corrine’s knowledge.”
“I don’t work for the houses anymore so what I do is none of their concern.”
That announcement was met with a collective gasp. Of all the things they’ve learned today, that’s the shocking one? Witches were never beating the allegations of weird.
After binding the grimoire, the five witches settled into learning everything they could from it.
I left Rachel’s more confident than I’d been that things might be okay, and that I’d unlock my magic.
If the answer wasn’t in the grimoire, they’d figure out another way.
I’d be unbound from Cirrian soon. I ignored the tinge of unease that thought conjured.