Chapter 31
Elric left their bedroom, gently closing the door behind him so she wouldn’t wake. After the horrible things that had happened in front of her, and the night they’d had, she deserved a long rest this morning.
He had no idea what to do. He had to believe the priestesses had carved their own path, because it was impossible to believe the Crone would have ordered such madness. His siblings had known from the first flicker of his power that Elric would outlast them all. He couldn’t die, after all.
Of course, there was always the chance that the ancient goddess had a plan that went far above the heads of any other god or goddess.
Perhaps this was a last-minute ploy to use her own body to remain relevant for the longest time possible.
Perhaps she’d resented the end of her reign and grown desperate to forestall it.
He hadn’t been there when all the gods disappeared, which meant he wasn’t entirely sure how it had happened.
He just knew the moment they’d all died.
Felt all of their lights dimming, one by one.
Blinking, he came back into his body as though he’d been sleepwalking. The kitchen was already in movement. Sybil had started early, it seemed, considering the scent of scones filled the air and tea was already on the stove. He caught the kettle just before it shrieked with steam.
“Sybil,” he scolded. “Let everyone sleep in.”
“I think you and I need to have a talk. Excuse me if I’m waking you a little earlier than you are used to.” She turned, her dark hair piled on top of her head and sticking out in all directions. There were deep hollows under her eyes, as though she hadn’t slept at all. “They’re using souls?”
“Yes.”
“For a spell that is likely far beyond what any of us could ever guess?”
He poured himself a cup of hot water and plunked a tea bag into it. As the red stain of tea spread in the water, he nodded. “That is what it seems.”
“That’s not good,” she breathed. “Would have been helpful to know sooner than now. You were too distracted with Jessamine to tell us, clearly.”
“You’re right. It is not good.” Did he want sugar and cream this morning? After all that he’d been through, he decided that he did. A sweet treat first thing in the morning might wake him up. Of all people, he needed a sharp mind.
So he got his cup ready and sat down at the kitchen table, waiting for Sybil to join him. She was angrily clanking around back there, likely trying to cook something else that would calm her nerves, but there was no such recipe.
Only the two of them understood how horrible this was. Even though Sybil had been young in the days when the witches had given up their lives, she knew what it meant that souls were now in play.
Finally, she sat down in front of him with her own cup of tea, still drinking out of a chipped mug. He mused how she always found the broken one, no matter where she was, when she finally spoke.
“I think the coven needs to be stronger.”
“It does.”
“And you sent a man back here.”
The swift change in the subject reminded him that he had, indeed, done that.
A young man who had been more than a little curious during their time at Fortuna’s home.
“He was at the party. He knew who Jessamine was, even with the mask, and he warned us to leave before the spell was unleashed. He knows something.”
“Of course he knows something. Did you not even ask who he was?”
“He didn’t answer.” He sipped the tea, then scowled down into the mug when he found it was still too hot to drink.
“He’s a Bishop.”
“I don’t need any religious men here.”
“He’s Leon Bishop’s brother, Elric.”
The world seemed to stop spinning as he looked at Sybil, feeling his gaze heat with the massive amount of hatred that burned inside him. “Excuse me?”
“He is Leon Bishop’s brother. He is here because he said he saw you and Jessamine at the party, and he knew something that could be told only to the Deathless One himself.
” She quirked her brow at him, clearly waiting for an explanation that he did not have.
“So I tell you again, Elric. This coven needs to grow, and it needs to become significantly stronger than it is. You want Jessamine on a throne? She’s going to need a lot more than just a single god on her side. ”
Yes, he was seeing that now. She would need every ounce of power he had to get there, and all of this was unraveling at a terrifying pace.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked, narrowing his gaze on her.
Sybil had leaned forward against the table, her hands braced on the edges and a wild expression on her face. Her eyes were too wide, her jaw jumping as she ground her teeth. There was something going on in her head and he didn’t like it.
“The covens of old were powerful because they had a leader,” she said. “Groups are powerful, but better when there is someone at the helm. You know this. I know this.”
“What are you getting at?”
“I think we should ask her.”
It took him a moment to follow her train of thought, but then he groaned. “You are not going to ask her what I think you’re going to ask her. Sybil, it is too much! She already wants to become a queen, and if she does, she will have an entire kingdom to run.”
“Yes, with a god at her beck and call. She is no normal queen. We both know that, so why not ask her?”
“Because it puts her in even more danger. Because it exposes her to the underbelly of our world, and I had hoped to save her from all that. I do not wish for her to know what it truly means to be a witch.”
“I have to ask. You cannot protect her from who she is. She’s a gravesinger, Elric.”
The door creaked open behind them, and Jessamine walked in.
Her hair was mussed and tangled, not just from sleep, but from his fingers running through the locks all night.
She was clearly beyond exhausted. She stood there glaring at the two of them before stumbling over to the teapot on the now-cooling stove.
“Ask me what?” she finally said, turning toward them.
Elric groaned. “I really don’t think it’s a good idea.”
She frowned to silence him before turning her attention to Sybil. “Ask.”
“Every coven has a high witch. A leader who tells us what to do, and who wields the coven like a blade.” Ignoring Elric’s growl, Sybil continued. “I wish for you to take up that mantle.”
“If anyone should lead the coven, it is you.”
There was a long, drawn-out silence after Jessamine said that.
Elric could read the thoughts running through Sybil’s mind so easily.
It was a dangerous position to offer any witch.
A head witch in a coven told the others how to think and what to do with their magic.
If the wrong person got into that position, then the coven became a powerful weapon easily aimed at the wrong target.
It was beyond unthinkable for Jessamine to deny the position. And yet, here she was, willingly passing it over to a witch who had wielded very little power in her life.
Sybil swallowed hard, her throat bobbing up and down as she thought about the offer.
Her voice was low and raspy as she replied.
“I… I cannot take that offer. Jessamine, you are the gravesinger who is directly connected with the Deathless One. You are the one who raised him from the dead. We are all here because of you.”
“And someday I might not be here.” Jessamine lifted her teacup to her mouth, blowing on the steam while looking at the two of them over the rim of her cup.
“Isn’t that what you were suggesting, Elric?
I’m going to be queen. There will be a hundred things to do, thousands of people to satisfy, and simply not enough time. ”
Sybil stood, letting out a scoff as she gestured at Elric.
“You cannot listen to him, Jessamine. The future is entirely unwritten. If you wish to be a witch queen and rule this kingdom with an entire coven at your disposal, you can do that. Just because he is old doesn’t mean he knows what to do with our lives. ”
“I take offense to that,” he replied dryly.
The kitchen witch glared at him. “I hope you do.”
“What would you suggest, then?” Jessamine asked, interrupting before they started bickering like children again. “Is your suggestion that I become the first witch queen this kingdom has seen?”
“Yes!” Sybil practically shouted. “You are more than capable of doing both. I have seen how you are with the people of this kingdom. It comes naturally for you to talk with them, to ease their minds. At first, I thought this meant it would make you a good queen. But then I saw you with Elissa, with Agnes, even with Agnes’s son.
I have seen the way you speak with people like us, and I have seen the ease with which they look at you.
Even with witches, you make them feel seen. ”
Jessamine sipped the boiling-hot tea in her cup and barely reacted. Elric tried his own but recoiled the moment it touched his lips. How was she drinking that?
“Sybil,” Jessamine finally said. “There is no reason that you cannot be that person. I listen. I learn from what they say and I allow them to speak their mind. The mark of a good leader is simply being willing to hear what other people have to say without bias.”
“You have the training from the greatest queen this kingdom has ever seen,” Sybil murmured.
“It would take me years to learn that. Years during which I might run a coven into the ground and destroy all that we have built. I’ve watched it happen.
You asked me once what I wanted. And what did I tell you? ”
“A quiet cottage, and a family by the sea,” Jessamine murmured.
“Do you really think I can do that if I’m the head witch of a coven? You’re asking me to give up my dreams.”
Elric straightened in his chair. Both the women looked at him, but he had eyes only for Sybil. “You never told me you wanted a quiet life.”
Her features darkened with a blush. “You never asked what I wanted.”