Chapter 91 Nico
NICO
I’d fucked up. It was obvious, and I didn’t know how to make it better.
Maddy had been trying to tell me something, and all I’d done was make her feel like an idiot.
Worse than that, I’d made her feel like she was going crazy.
I’d have to do a lot of work to climb out of the hole I’d dug for myself.
We’d all been on edge, which meant it was hard for me to think of anything but the main problems facing us.
I should have trusted Maddy’s judgment. Now there was a witch sitting on my back porch.
That was the first thing to worry about—what the hell was Sinthy doing here?
Making up with Maddy would have to wait.
But perhaps we could at least get back on the same page.
Semi-forgiveness would work for a start.
Maddy was in the kitchen making tea. When I walked in, she didn’t even look at me. I went over, feeling awkward and out of place, much like I had when I’d disappointed my mother. “Maddy, I’m really sorry about earlier.”
“Oh, you mean when you tried to gaslight me?” she spat the words without looking at me.
I winced. I deserved that and more. “For not believing you, yes. I apologize.”
“I don’t want to hear it.” She snapped her head around to look at me, and it was all I could do not to take a step back in fear. Her irises were blood red. “I don’t want to hear anything. Not right now.”
I opened my mouth to say something but closed it again before any words could come out.
This wasn’t the time. I shouldn’t push it, especially not with our new guest waiting outside.
I sighed and picked up the tray. I balanced the teapot, teacups and saucers, cream and sugar containers, and the small plate of shortbread cookies, then followed Maddy outside.
Our new guest sat on a chair, hands folded in her lap, and had her eyes closed.
She seemed to be enjoying the feel of the breeze.
When I set the tray down on the table, she opened her eyes and smiled at us.
“Thank you for the hospitality. I fear my entrance was not exactly how I wanted to approach you. I’m sorry for that. I didn’t mean to unnerve or scare you.”
“No, it’s fine,” Maddy said. Her eyes slid toward me, and a shadow of anger flashed across her features before she turned back to the other woman. “What did bring you here?”
Sinthy leaned forward and poured herself a cup of tea with sugar and cream before leaning back, relaxing as though she were sitting in her own home.
“My mother gave me the message after this whole…” She rolled her eyes.
“Feral debacle happened. She said she sensed ‘it was time.’” Sinthy shrugged and took a sip of her tea.
She seemed young by her mannerisms, but the way she talked sounded like someone much older.
It was strange. Though I did have the feeling we were in the presence of a young woman, but how young?
That remained to be discovered. All I could tell was that her true age was not reflected in the face and body we saw here.
But was she an ancient centuries-old witch like her supposed mother?
I leaned forward to take my own cup of tea. “What do you mean by that? ‘It was time?’ Time for what?”
She smiled at me. It was thin but good-natured.
“Do you really think that little cave-in didn’t send a message?
” She cocked an eyebrow. “A message three hundred years in the making? It did. As soon as you crossed that magical barrier, my mother knew the long-awaited heir of Edemas had finally found the cave. Once the note was taken and the cave collapsed, we knew. We understood that we’d finally found what we’d been waiting for. ”
A quick glance at Maddy showed me the fear and excitement in her eyes. I sipped at my tea before speaking again. “How did you know where to find us?”
Sinthy shrugged. “Simple. We cast a spell to find you.”
Maddy frowned. “If all you had to do was cast a spell to locate me, why didn’t you do that years ago? Find the descendant and protect them, guide them to the vial?” She looked annoyed.
Sinthy rolled her eyes. “That would have been much easier, I’ll admit.
Edemas knew that his descendants must be kept secret.
Not every witch has…” She paused for a second, searching for the right word.
“Good intentions. Some are used by the evil and the mad, twisted by those who wish to do harm. Edemas had my mother create a spell so strong that the only way to locate you was after you crossed the barrier in that cave.”
The anger melted off Maddy’s face, and she nodded thoughtfully. “I guess that is smart. How many witches are there in the world, anyway?”
With a wave, she brushed the question away. “We aren’t here to discuss things like that. We’re here to talk about the vial.”
“Do you have it?” Maddy asked. The hunger in her eyes when she said that made me a little nervous.
The woman shook her head and sipped more tea. “My mother has it. She would have sent me with it, but she was worried about me getting here with it without incident. You’ll need to go to her.”
“Couldn’t she have come? Surely both of you together would be enough to keep it safe on the trip here,” Maddy said.
The knowing, cocky smile vanished. Deep, weary sadness melted her face into a mask of anguish.
“My mother… she’s… she is not long for this world.
Even for a witch, she has lived nearly two full lives, all in a desperate attempt to stay alive until this very moment.
She wants to be the one to give it to Edemas’s descendant.
Once she completes her contract with Edemas, she’ll be free to cross beyond the veil. ”
That was one hell of a contract. To live hundreds of years until the stipulations were played out. I wondered how he’d ever even talked her into it in the first place. I’d heard the stories and legends, but this Edemas guy had to have been a charismatic force of nature.
Maddy leaned forward and put her hand on Sinthy’s. “I’m sorry.”
Sinthy patted Maddy’s arm and smiled. “Don’t be sad for me. My mother has lived a long life. Longer than any I’ve ever known. It’s time for her to rest. To go on to the next adventure.” The witch glanced at me. “What time is it?”
I blinked and dug out my phone, showing her the screen.
She sighed. “About time to go. I wish I could teleport us to my mother, but my magic isn’t quite as strong as hers. I’ll need to rest up a bit first.”
“Teleport?” Maddy asked. “Seriously?”
“It’s a tad difficult,” she said. “Especially when you don’t know exactly where you’re going. If I’m being honest, it took me two whole days to get your location right. Since I know where we’re going, we can make the trip in no time.”
The idea of my body vanishing in one place and reappearing in another was possibly the most terrifying thing I’d ever heard.
She must have seen the worry in my eyes and waved a hand at me.
“Still, I’ve never done three people at once.
Good lord, I’ll probably end up with you guys a thousand feet under the surface of the ocean or something. ”
My look of horror intensified, and Sinthy grinned. “Kidding. I’m kidding, of course. We’ll be fine. You all need to lighten up. I need to get my strength back, that’s all.”
“Where is your mother?” Maddy asked.
With a small shrug, she said, “Australia. She went there about a hundred years ago to live out her days as she waited for the last descendant of Edemas to make themselves known. That’s where she found me.
You see, she isn’t my birth mother, more like an adoptive mother.
I was a bit of a prodigy with the magical arts, and when she saw what I could do, she took me in as an apprentice of sorts.
She’s been teaching me all she knows for many years now. ”
That piqued my interest, and the obvious question was out of my mouth before I could stop myself. “What happened to your birth parents?”
The smile vanished from Sinthy’s face, and her eyes went cold and hard as she looked at me. Her lip curled back from her teeth, and I was almost positive the temperature outside dropped at least five degrees. I struggled not to flinch away from her.
“Shifters are not the only target the royals have had over the centuries.
Witches are rare, and we keep ourselves hidden at all costs because when we are discovered, we are used.
Throughout history, the rich and powerful have done everything they can to ensure that they and their families remain rich and powerful.
The royals have been the most egregious of those who have forced us to do their bidding.
“You don’t think the royals have stayed rich on nothing but smart business moves, do you?
No. They seek out witches to use forbidden magics that put the practitioner’s life and very soul at risk.
My parents were discovered by Viola Monroe’s late father.
He tried to force them to help find the last descendants of Edemas, but they refused.
They wouldn’t allow themselves to be used as puppets…
so, her father had my parents killed.” Sinthy turned her fiery gaze from my eyes, and I saw the level of pain she was holding inside.
Once she got herself under control, she looked at us again, and this time the look was gentler.
“I want the royals done. I will dance on their graves and spit on their tombstones. This is my one wish for life. I’ll see their line ended or die trying. ”
The fierceness and fire in her tone were all I needed to hear.
This was a woman who hated the royals as much as we did, perhaps even more if that was possible.
Hate, like love, was an emotion that could not be faked.
It was something you either felt or you didn’t.
Her rage was exactly the thing I needed to see to let me know that we were with a true ally. A person we could trust.