Chapter 15
LAYLA
T he one benefit of having a hoard of new people in the Circle was that they put signs up everywhere, so I found G block easily even though I hadn’t been to that part of the community before. The apartments circling a courtyard looked similar to ours, but this block had a fountain burbling in the middle of the garden. A few early fallen leaves swirled in the water.
The bench across from the fountain was occupied, and my breath caught.
“Dad!” I skirted around the stone water feature to embrace him. His body felt thin, and his beard was shaggy, but he was alive. “You’re okay, thank fate. I… I thought you were with Mother.” I pulled back to look at him. His eyes tracked me—a good sign.
“She got tired of me, I think. Sorry, Layla…” He shook his head, as if clearing it.
“Don’t worry,” I told him, sitting next to him on the bench. “Are you feeling okay? Taking your meds?”
“I got new ones. I think they’re… better. I’ve been sitting outside a lot.”
“That’s good,” I said, hoping it was safe.
I sat with him, watching leaves fall. His condition had developed during my childhood, with him slowly growing more withdrawn and locked in his mind. I couldn’t remember him before, but my mother often pointed out how different he was from when they got married. How disappointed she was. She blamed him for it, and I blamed her for that—driving a wedge between us that only got wider with time. This kind of mental illness wasn’t anything someone could control. He was still my dad. Still the man my mother loved. But she had become obsessed with imperfections and couldn’t see what she had right in front of her.
“You’re okay?” he asked, breaking the silence.
“I’m… I’m okay, I guess.” I held on to his arm and leaned my head against his shoulder. I should have come and found him ages ago. “I can’t invoke my familiar.”
“I lost mine that day. Maybe you’re better off. We won’t win.”
My body chilled. “What day? What do you mean, we won’t win? You said that before.”
His mouth opened and closed, his gaze becoming unfocused. “The… host. The throne. Layla. The eyes . Don’t… I need to…”
I shivered. He didn’t always have the best grasp on reality, but this didn’t seem like part of that.
“It’s okay, Dad,” I said. It sounded hollow to my ears. “You’re okay.”
“I’ll… I’ll go lie down…”
“Good idea,” I said. “Do you want some help?”
“No,” he said, getting up shakily. “No.”
“All right. I’ll come back and see you soon.”
He turned back to me and swallowed. “You can’t fight… them ,” he told me. “Promise me you won’t.”
I couldn’t make that promise. I wasn’t about to stand back and let the angels go unpunished if I could do something about it.
I looked back at my father solemnly. The cost of fighting could be very high.
“I’ll be okay,” I replied.
I hoped I was telling the truth.
***
Costi had told me to meet him outside the hall where the Council met, but when I got there, I didn’t see him. I leaned against the wall near the edge of the stone building, watching as way more people than just the councilors and delegates filed through the doors. That couldn’t be good.
Suddenly, I was being hauled around the corner and pushed up against the wall. My already-nervous pulse skittered into what I was sure was medically dangerous territory as Costi held me in place with his hard body. Bracing one hand above my head, he leaned in close to my ear. “I can’t take this.”
My whole being responded to him—blood rushing, heart tumbling, thrumming with urgent, unmet need. Sucking in a shaking breath, I ran my hands up his chest and wound my arms around his neck.
“Layla,” he grated out as he trailed his nose along my jawline, causing my breath to stutter. “I can’t stand that asshole.” He pressed his hips firmly into mine, and my head spun.
“What are you—” I gasped sharply as he bit my earlobe. “What are you talking—”
Costi made a frustrated sound against my skin. “ All morning ,” he said, punctuating it with a nip to my neck. “He’s been bragging . That you took him out .”
Loose pieces rattled through my mostly occupied mind, finally falling into place. Sliding my hands to his arms, I pushed gently and he rocked back, breathing hard and staring down at my open lips. His eyes were burning, and his hair looked disheveled, like he’d pushed his hands through it too many times.
“Are you talking about Cal—”
Costi roughly stopped me from saying the name with his fingers over my mouth.
“I didn’t take him out,” I mumbled around his hand, which he dragged along my cheek and pushed into my hair. My heightened emotions tipped into anger. “Does he think everything is a date?”
Costi looked down at me through lowered eyelids as he ran his fingers along my scalp.
“What are we doing, Costi?” I whispered, my head tilting without my permission into his massaging hand.
“Mm. I’m pushing you up against a wall. You’re not dating Grey. I’m not dating Holly.”
My eyes popped open as rage seized me. “So, she did go after you.”
Costi lowered his head and hit me with a smirk that was downright wicked . “A lotta witches go after me.”
“Are you trying to… to make me jealous?” I said breathlessly.
“ Yes, ” he whispered darkly. “You get it now?”
I got it. But my heart shattered. “We can’t.”
Costi pushed away from the wall. My legs wobbled like jelly, and I leaned heavily to keep myself upright.
“ No one ,” he bit out, rising to his full height. “ No one tells you and me what we can’t do.”
I was already shaking my head. “The second anyone finds out, they’ll kick you out of the Circle. But I… I don’t think they’ll let me go. Not now.”
Costi’s throat worked around a swallow. I could see he knew I was right. I might have been able to run away from the Northern Sea Circle to be with him. But after the coordinated attack on the eastern witch communities? There was no way the Mountain Circle was going to let a spell caster go, even a broken one. If they caught me with Costi, I didn’t think Cedar Grey and his friends would hesitate to physically restrain me so I couldn’t follow.
His face had gone blank, but his gray eyes churned with something desperate. “They don’t have to find out. We can keep it quiet.”
“No. I won’t do that to you.”
Costi froze.
“You deserve—” My breath hitched around my despair. “You deserve someone who can love you openly. You aren’t a dirty secret to be hidden away. I won’t treat you like that.”
He stared at me, his lips open around words he couldn’t form. A single tear tracked from his startled gray eye, and he quickly smeared it with his palm, looking away from me.
I couldn’t stand his pain. I surged forward and wrapped my arms around his middle, hugging him close.
He shuddered against me. “I won’t have anyone else.” His fierce voice was raw. “I can’t .”
“I won’t either,” I murmured into his shoulder.
He pushed me to arm’s length, and I stumbled back into the wall. He quickly followed, putting us back in the same position we’d started in. “One kiss,” he demanded. “Just one.”
Sharp longing pulsed through me. “We definitely can’t.” It would never be just one.
“Then for fate’s sake, distract me.” His eyes tracked hotly over my parted mouth. “I’m Troubled. I don’t have any impulse control. Layla, you’ve got three seconds.”
My mind ticked uselessly.
“Three,” Costi said. “Two—”
“I saw my dad,” I blurted.
He released me suddenly and blew out a breath, shoving his fingers through his hair.
“Okay. Good. How is he?” Costi asked, pacing away. He’d been with me for the story’s unfolding. My dad’s slow decline in health over my childhood. How I missed someone I never really knew but wanted to honor the good man he was now.
“My mother left him. She’s living with Cedar Grey.”
“ What? ” His lips twisted in a sneer. “What’s with Junior, then, some kind of twisted stepsister thing? That’s fucked up.”
My guts flipped over. I hadn’t actually considered that Mother might be involved with the councilor, even though that was the most logical explanation. “She was the one pushing me at him in the first place.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Costi said gruffly, throwing his arms across his chest. “He’s not getting you, and she’s not getting anywhere near you.”
I warmed with his protectiveness.
“Is he okay? Your dad?”
I considered. “I think so. He’s sad, though. He still loves my mother. And… he’s convinced we can’t win.”
“Win the war, you mean? Why’s that?”
“I don’t know. He can’t tell me. It almost seems like he knows something important, but…”
Costi nodded, looking off into the woods in consideration. He knew my dad couldn’t distinguish reality very well these days, that details got muddled in his mind.
“If we’re going to the meeting, we should go,” I said.
He made a noise that might have been agreement but didn’t move. “Layla.” His voice stopped me as I turned to go. “ Thank you .”
***
No one noticed us slipping in late—the chamber was in chaos. Costi used his intimidating body to make way for us through the crowd.
Quince shouted from the dais, “We were elected to discuss these matters. Please let us do our jobs.”
I moved in front of Costi so I could see. He stayed behind me, not touching, but close enough to haul me out of harm’s way.
“I didn’t elect you !” a witch shouted back, straining toward the platform. He was being restrained by two others. “You think you’re gonna dissolve the Saltmarsh Council like you did Northern Sea? Think again .”
Quince held up his hands, stepping back. “I know you’re angry. You’ve lost people—”
“He’s angry because we’re sitting ducks, and you Arcaenum people aren’t doing a fated thing !” a robed spell caster I didn’t know yelled above the clamor of voices.
“We are doing all we can—”
“Like Hell you are!”
Cedar Grey stepped up on the dais, clasping Quince’s arm and saying something to him. The gathered witches moved restlessly, hurling questions at the councilors.
“If I could have everyone’s attention,” Grey boomed. The crowd shifted slightly, some settling down. “I am Cedar Grey, councilor for the Mountain Circle Arcaenum. Due to the extraordinary situation we find ourselves in, we haven’t had adequate time to address concerns. We will do so now, in an orderly manner.” He stressed the word orderly , glaring out at the witches. “I’ll thank you to allow the assembly leader to continue.”
“Thank you, Councilor.” Quince straightened his black robes. “We will proceed as if this were a public meeting, with concerns being voiced one by one, giving the councilors the option to provide additional information. Since this wasn’t a planned meeting, we will hold on any decisions, but we will make official note of all concerns and go through the voting process next time.”
“If the Mountain Council could join us on the dais,” Grey said. “Again, I ask for order,” he called out, as sharp protests accompanied the councilors stepping forward. I counted a dozen members, including Rhodes. Someone brought her a folding chair to sit in front of the others, who remained standing.
It was already getting overly warm and humid in the room, witches fanning themselves.
“This is gonna be brutal,” Costi said, echoing my thoughts.
When the Arcaenum was in place, Quince invited the first person to speak. It was the angry witch, now calmed down a bit. His companions had released him, and he settled into the familiar pattern of speaking at a public meeting.
“I’m Branch Lowri,” he growled through gritted teeth. “Water engineer and councilor for the Saltmarsh Circle. My concern is that our elected Council will be dissolved, leaving us without representation.”
One of the robed Mountain Circle councilors on the dais stepped forward. “We understand the concern, but the counterpoint is that we are in the midst of a crisis situation and do not have time to work out a process with new members.” The witch brought her hands together in front of her. “I propose the solution of appointing two delegates from each of the refugee Circles’ former Councils until our spring election.”
“Your concern and a proposed solution are recorded,” a familiar voice called out.
A complicated reaction fizzled through me. Holly looked professional in a knee-length dress with a jacket, her hair styled in an elegant updo. With her experience doing administration for the Northern Sea Circle’s Council, she must have been a natural choice to help the Arcaenum.
The meeting dragged on through a dozen speakers—everything from a concern over dwindling funds for supplies from the outside to an idea for circlewrights to darken the sky as they had during the Northern Sea evacuation.
“Great idea,” muttered Costi behind me. “Mark exactly where the Circle is with a nice big black dot.”
“They have to know where we are already,” I said, voicing my fear.
My heart lifted when I saw the next speaker. “My name is Jenny Luna, formerly elected councilor, and my concern is that the Mountain Circle sold us out.”
Gasps and muttering erupted as Grey glowered at the caster. “And what evidence do you have of this? What’s our supposed motivation for cramming in thousands more witches than we can hold?” he demanded, breaking protocol.
A few laughs followed his response.
Luna crossed her arms over her chest and glared back. “We’re supposed to believe that every Circle in the eastern part of the continent was accidentally discovered at once except this one? Then all the survivors fled here, and no one followed them? Give me a break. Someone sold out our locations. I want to know what you paid for safety.”
“We won’t entertain this kind of nonsense,” Grey said with finality. “Have her removed.”
Removed? I didn’t understand what he was talking about until the two guardians stepped forward.
“The fuck ?” Costi spat, and I saw what he’d been reacting to. One of the pair was Ewan—Datura’s assigned guardian and our roommate. His normal easy grin had been replaced with a nasty version that made me cold.
Luna backed away as Grey’s guardians advanced. “ What? You can’t—”
On either side, they hooked under her shoulders and pushed her through the crush of stunned witches.
What is going on? The guardians didn’t drag witches out of public meetings. I looked up at Costi. His eyes were narrowed. He gave me a slight shake of the head.
“Next speaker, please,” Quince said to the absolutely silent chamber, gesturing at me. Grey’s eyes swung angrily toward me and pinned me.
My heart beat rapidly as nervousness washed through me. Would he have me thrown out too? Every eye trained itself on me.
“Just stick to the facts,” Costi said quietly. I could feel him behind me, supporting me.
In the crowd, I suddenly felt young and small. I wished I had a stool to stand on. I cleared my throat and tried to project my shaking voice. “I’m Layla Rosen, Mountain Circle delegate.” I still wasn’t sure what exactly I was the delegate for, so I didn’t clarify. “My concern is that our patrolling teams are under tree cover, making it impossible for spell casters to see into the sky, and if they cast, they risk causing a fire. I don’t have a proposal for a solution at this time.”
The councilors on the dais looked at each other. Hadn’t they known about this already?
Quince scratched his head. “I propose the solution of clearing a perimeter around the Circle.”
“Excuse me!” called a voice from the back. “I’m the forestry delegate. Please consider the extremely negative impact of clearing that much land.”
Quince let the interruption go. His forehead was shiny with sweat in the overhead lights, and exhaustion lined his face, deep circles blooming around his eyes.
Artemesia Rhodes got to her feet slowly, one of her fellow councilors assisting her. “I propose the alternative solution of forming a security advisory committee and allowing them full decision-making in these matters.” The elderly former guardian looked directly at me and Costi, and I swore her eyes held a glint of mischief. “Our current situation is far more dangerous and complicated than we are set up for. We are negligent in expecting Security Coordinator Daire to handle all of it without assistance.”
“Your concern and two proposed solutions are recorded,” Holly recited solemnly.
“Next speaker, please,” Quince said tiredly.
They were still at it when we finally ducked out hours later, with barely an hour for Costi to get ready before his evening patrol. It was amazing how quickly people could adjust to routines. An attack hadn’t come immediately, so the prospect seemed much more distant. We were getting on with our lives.
I’d missed a text from Calamus while we were in the meeting. He had found us a space to work the new circle spell the next day.
“Oh, I have another date with Calamus tomorrow,” I told Costi coyly as he made efficient work of his dinner, standing at the kitchen counter while I leaned against it.
None of our roommates were home. We weren’t sure what to do about Ewan. This business with Grey was wrong . Costi had told me to stay clear of him until they had a chat. I needed to talk to Datura about him, too.
He gave a menacing laugh. “The Hell you do.” He was freshly showered and shaved, his damp hair curling appealingly.
“He’s going to try another circle spell for me tomorrow,” I said.
“I’m coming with you. Last time, he pulled a demon. He’s gonna accidentally summon a nest of angels.”
“Yeah, knowing my luck. This one is supposed to trap my familiar.”
“Good. Let’s catch the little bastard.” Costi picked up a brush to scrub his empty plate, but I took it from him.
“I’ll do it. You have to go.” I looked down and bit back a smile. We were being domestic, and I liked it. Eating together in the kitchen was innocent enough. We were friends. Just… really good friends who didn’t date anyone else.
Costi brushed his fingers over my hand. “See you later.”
***
I didn’t think this circle spell was going to work. Nothing else had so far, and I couldn’t imagine anything changing. But I wasn’t upset anymore. I felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from me.
It was time to give it up and do something else. I wanted to protect my Circle, but that didn’t mean I had to be a spell caster.
I could pull magic, so maybe a circlewright? Maybe I could try some of the old spells Hazel had dug up. I didn’t have a lot of patience for tracing, though, especially after working the summoning circle so many times. Lately I had found I really enjoyed feeding people—I was sure I could find a place in the kitchens to try it out. I wondered if I had what it took to become a guardian. Fate, I could try anything .
I could have Costi.
If I weren’t a spell caster, no one would care. The knowledge sparkled inside me, and for the first time in a long time, I stopped dreading the future.
When I got to the circle casting room Calamus had reserved, the door was open, and he had already gotten started with the tracing. “This one doesn’t take much effort to hold,” he said.
“Thanks again for trying,” I said. I wiggled my hands around. My limbs felt full of nervous energy. I could see the circle taking shape—Calamus traced the runic form of my name into place, personalizing the spell to me.
Costi joined us moments later, and Calamus sighed without glancing up. “What are you doing here?”
“Making sure you don’t screw up. Is there a fire extinguisher?”
Calamus didn’t dignify that with a response. Calamus was the more mature man, but Costi was hilarious, so I mentally handed him the point, biting my lip to keep from laughing.
I watched quietly while Calamus traced. Costi had pulled out his phone and was scrolling without comment, being good for my sake. Magic brushed my senses as the circle rose. “It’s working,” I whispered.
“Get ready,” Calamus said.
Several things happened at once. Calamus stepped back from the circle as it caught, swirling with loops and whorls of bright magic. I felt a sharp, alarming tug deep inside me and gasped out loud, clasping my chest.
Costi reached for me.
“What the f—” he started, then vanished.