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Silence permeated the night. Not a single soul spoke, because we were all stunned by what had just happened. I’d seen that white light before, when Mother Miriam had appeared to me in her energetic form. I wasn’t the only one who knew what it meant, either. Everyone knew the stories of Mother Miriam, and how she was the only witch to possess white magic.
This wasn’t something that could be faked. Mother Miriam had intervened, and she’d determined us both innocent.
The relief that flooded through me was unmatched. I reached out for Nadine, and her fingers curled around mine as she began to cry.
“They’re innocent!” Professor Loren shouted. “Look what you’ve done to them!”
The coven broke out into protests once more.
“How many other innocents has the coven killed?” someone I didn’t know demanded.
“This torture has to end! We must stop hurting our own people!” another insisted.
They weren’t the only ones with opinions. Other people stood up for the priestesses. They couldn’t see the truth right in front of them, and they were in denial.
“The priestesses wouldn’t execute anyone without proof!” Leroy insisted.
“They gave Nadine and Lucas a fair trial,” Olivia added.
We were a rare exception. So many others had been burned or hanged without a trial… Professor Daniels, Professor Ward, Amy, Christine, Ashley, and so many others. The priestesses had never intended for our trial to go this far. They’d had every intention of executing us at the end of it.
But now? Now they couldn’t hang us unless they wanted the coven calling for their own heads, because to do so would go against the will of Mother Miriam. The shock on their faces was unmistakable, but in the darkness of night, most of the coven couldn’t see it.
Priestess Margaret quickly collected herself. “Mother Miriam deems Nadine Evers and Lucas Taylor innocent. They are free to go.”
I couldn’t believe it. I literally couldn’t believe they would just let us go like that, after everything they’d done to us.
It took all my strength to crawl closer to Nadine and help her sit up. Several people came forward to remove the witch’s bridles and noxite bracelets. I wasn’t sure I’d ever felt more relieved in my life. I pulled Nadine close to me, and she sagged into my arms as she hugged me with all the strength she could muster. I didn’t even care about the burns and shit right now. I got to hold her again, and that was everything.
“However,” Priestess Lilian added, halting my relief in its tracks. “Priestess Nadine is no longer the only Curse Breaker in the coven, and if her Cast rejects her, it is grounds for removal from the Imperium Council.”
Nadine’s form went rigid, and she sat up straighter. “What are you talking about?”
“Mira, dear,” Margaret said kindly. “Come forward. Show the coven what you showed us.”
I watched incredulously as Mira Benson stepped forward, looking timid. Priestess Margaret conjured a witch light to illuminate Mira’s features. The young Executor lifted her arm and pulled back her sleeve.
A collective gasp traveled around the crowd. I couldn’t believe my eyes. On Mira’s wrist sat a crescent moon tattoo. Mira Benson bore the mark of a Curse Breaker.
I didn’t even know she’d turned nineteen yet. She must’ve gone through her Evoking Ceremony recently, because the mark was unmistakable.
Nadine was no longer the sole Curse Breaker in the coven.
CHAPTER 22
NADINE
Icouldn’t be sure of what I was seeing. Mira, a Curse Breaker?
My throat ached as I rasped, “You can’t take me off the council.”
Priestess Lilian smirked as she looked down at me. “I think you’ll learn that we can.”
Mira turned toward the crowd and raised her voice. “I am a Curse Breaker of the Miriamic Coven! I hereby oppose Nadine Evers’s spot on the council, and I call to have her removed.”
Lilian looked over the crowd. “Any objections from the Curse Breaker Cast?”
Of course, there was no one to object. Mira and I were the only Curse Breakers alive.
