AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Or we can just kill you, ending the Grundelier line for good,” the redhead says.
Jesse and Erik both growl at those words. Jesse takes a step forward, but I grab his arm to hold him back. I can’t let this meeting devolve into some kind of battle to the death. We need these witches on our side. Killing them all but seals Steph’s death warrant.
“There has to be some sort of compromise,” I say as calmly as I can manage. “If you don’t want to help us physically, at least tell us where we can find Brimmwise so we can save Steph on our own. Once we have her back, we’ll leave, and you’ll never see us again.”
“Now that they know you exist, they will never stop looking for you. Even if you manage to get your friend back and flee, Brimmwise will hunt you down. And when they find you, they’ll strip you of your magic and proceed with their plans,” another woman says.
“Not if we kill them all in the process,” Erik growls, anger and tension radiating from his body.
“Enough!”
The familiar voice echoes off the walls around us, and the witches gasp collectively as they turn toward the mouth of the alley. Moving as one, they split apart, and Bernadette strides into the circle with Leif walking stoically behind her.
“Bernadette Brummett,” someone whispers, then another, and another, until the woman in question lifts her hand, cutting off the chatter.
I stare at her with wide eyes as the two covens seem to shrink back a few steps. She pulls me into a tight hug, whispering words of encouragement before pulling back to meet the eyes of several witches.
“You know who I am.” After several nods and a few shallow bows, she adds, “The witch in question is my niece, Stephanie Brummett. The heir to my power. The succession of my line. You will help us save her.”
I watch in awe as every witch in the alley dips his or her head in acquiescence. After a few promises to meet with their entire covens and come up with a plan to rescue Steph, they turn and leave, each coven heading in the direction from which they came. When they disappear from sight, I spin to face Bernie, who’s still wearing a tight, strained expression.
“What was that?” I ask with wide eyes. “Who are you?”
Her shoulders slump, and her eyes fall closed for a moment as she takes a deep breath. “I can explain. Let’s go to your hotel where we can speak in private.”
I nod in agreement, and she lets out a quiet sigh of relief before looping her arm through mine. I notice for the first time how fragile she seems, like this whole ordeal has somehow robbed her of her vitality.
Something really strange is going on here, and in the current state of my life, that’s saying a lot.
But there’s a thread of hope in all this darkness. The covens are going to help. We’re going to get Steph back, unharmed.
And when we do, I’m leaving this fucking place and never coming back. Finding clues to my past isn’t worth the lives of my friends. Of my family.
They are the ones that matter, not some long-dead blood relatives that abandoned me with no knowledge of my lineage.
I’m just sorry it took a kidnapping and death threats to make me realize it.
26
THE SECRET
When we get back to the hotel and crowd into the room I share with Jesse, Bernadette walks straight to a chair and slumps down into it. Sucking in a deep breath, she lets it out slowly on a quiet sigh. I’ve never seen her look so tired.
“What’s going on, Bernie?” I ask, keeping my voice soft and gentle despite the urgency zipping through my veins.
I have so many questions burning in my throat. Why did the covens relent to her so easily when they were determined to stake me just a moment before? And why does she look like she’s aged a decade in the week since I’ve seen her?
“Can I please have a glass of water, dear?” she asks instead of answering my question, her voice cracking on the words.
“Of course,” I say, hurrying to grab one of the complimentary bottles left on the dresser by the hotel staff.
Twisting off the top, I hand it to her. She thanks me with a slight dip of her head before taking several long sips. Setting the water on the table beside her, she meets my concerned gaze.
“What I’m about to tell you is the most tightly held of witch secrets. If the others were to find out I divulged this information, I’d be ostracized from my coven and shunned by the community as a whole.” Her gaze flits to Jesse. “If they were to find out I told a vampire, much less the king, I’d be executed immediately.”
The urge to yell at her, to demand she shut her mouth and not tell us a single word rises up inside me. I want to know what’s going on with her, desperately, but not if it means she could be killed for it. Nothing is worth that.
As if she senses the shift in my energy, Bernie looks at me with a sad smile.
