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I’d gotten some of my strength back, so I portaled to the safe house after I woke up to gather a fresh change of clothes and bring the cats back to the estate. They circled around my feet and meowed happily when they saw me. They must’ve been so worried.
I hurried back to the estate and got dressed while Nadine fed Marcus, then held him while she got ready. He slept in my arms peacefully. I still couldn’t get over how perfect he was. Isa purred happily on the bed while she nursed Rishi. The other cats hurried to find their respective owners.
Nadine and I wandered to the other side of the house. A huge kitchen was connected to a large dining room. Everyone else was already awake and sat around a long table eating breakfast. Pancakes, sausage, and eggs were laid out across the table.
“Nadine, Lucas,” Verla greeted as she finished her food. “It’s good to see you up and about. Here, let me hold Marcus while you eat.”
I hesitated, because the last time we let someone care for him, he’d been taken from us. But my hesitation only lasted a split second. We trusted Verla with our lives, as well as our son’s. I gently set Marcus into Verla’s outstretched arms, then sat beside Nadine.
“Now that everyone’s here, it’s time to get to work,” Verla said. “First things first. Nadine needs to decide on her council members.”
Nadine poured syrup over her pancakes. “The coven voted us all in.”
“Technically, they voted for you and whoever was going to support you best,” Chloe pointed out. “There are other seats on the council that need to be filled, and several of us to fill them. It’s up to you to decide who’s going to serve best alongside you.”
“I want us all on the council,” Nadine decided. “We all have ideas and insight we can provide. I want us working together.”
“We will,” Verla promised. “But the coven is going to want a singular figure to look up to from each Cast. We need to be clear with them about who their council members are.”
Nadine nodded. “All right. I want Lucas to be the Mortana priest.”
I furrowed my brow. “The role typically goes to a woman. Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Nadine stated without hesitation. “My grandfather served as a priest on the council. Why not you? I trust you completely, and you’re a great leader.”
“You have my vote,” Professor Warren said. He sat at the head of the table, with his broken leg propped up on another chair.
I eyed him. “You’re Mortana, too, and you have more experience than me. Why don’t we make you a priest?”
“Because you showed last night how powerful your voice can be,” Professor Warren pointed out. “You know how to rally the people, and a large portion of them want to follow you. Don’t forget that you were found not guilty by Mother Miriam, too, and that’s earned you quite a bit of respect. Besides, my place isn’t on the council. If we’re going to work together, we need people in specialized areas reporting back to the council. I’m better suited to helping get the school up and running again.”
“As am I,” Verla added. “The school is a cornerstone of the coven, where young witches and warlocks come to learn their power. They need the best education they can get—not just magical instruction. We need to restructure the entire curriculum with a holistic approach, or we’re bound to repeat these mistakes in the future. I am not done with being headmistress yet.”
“You’re one of the most powerful Alchemists we know,” Nadine argued. “You’ve always had respect from the people. You’d be a huge asset to the council.”
“I understand that, but I do not desire to be in a place of such power. I need to be leading the school, not the whole coven,” Verla insisted. “I will be here every step of the way to consult with you, but nobody else in the coven understands Miriam College of Witchcraft the way I do. Professor Warren and I have the experience and expertise to get the school up and running again, and so that’s where our focus needs to be.”
“I think Grant should serve as the Alchemy priest,” Onyx suggested. “If it’s not Verla, it’s between him or me, and I think it should be him.”
“That’s kind of you, but I know you’d make a great leader, too,” Grant said.
“Maybe someday I will,” Onyx agreed. “But my place right now is in healthcare, helping as much as I can. You didn’t see what it was like in the ER last night. People were being turned away. They didn’t have enough help. The priestesses screwed up our healthcare system, and the coven needs nurses and doctors who really care about their patients to provide healthcare while we work on fixing it.”
“Onyx is right,” Nadine agreed. “She needs to be working in the medical field so that she can help us restructure the healthcare system. Having a strong ally in the medical field will help facilitate communication between the council, medical providers, and patients. She’s a great nurse, and Grant will make a wonderful priest.”
Grant smiled, looking proud to be a part of the council. “I’m honored, and I’m glad to help. We need Chloe on the council, too. She knows how to speak to people who oppose us, and we need a strong voice like hers. She trained for this since she was a kid. She knows what the fuck she’s doing.”
“Absolutely,” Mandy agreed. “I’m the only other Mentalist in the room, and there’s no way I’m sitting on any council. After everything the priestesses put me through, I’m not sure I’m going to stay in Octavia Falls at all. The position is all yours.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Chloe admitted. “The last thing I want is to turn out like my grandmother.”
“You won’t,” Nadine promised. “You’ve already made the choice not to be anything like her. Sitting on the council won’t change that. It will only give you a chance to make an impact for good, the way your grandmother failed to do.”
“I’m not sure the coven will want me on the council, though,” Chloe added. “They won’t believe I’m nothing like my grandmother. If they want her off the council, they certainly want someone who isn’t her family to take her place.”
“That’s actually one of the reasons you need to be on the council,” I said. “We received support from the coven last night, but there are many who will still oppose us. Lilian gained a lot of respect during her time on the council, and it’s going to be hard to earn her followers’ trust after we drove her out of town. You’ll be able to win them over because you remind them of your grandma.”
“You make a good point. All right, I’ll take the position.” Chloe glanced between Miles and Talia. “That just leaves the Seer position then.”
