AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Just what I said. He has a darkness about him that I can’t place. Something rotten inside him.”
My mother huffs. “You spent an hour with Owen. You don’t know a single thing about him. I didn’t know you were so quick to judge, Cassandra.”
I bristle at the comment. My senses, my instincts, have never led me astray. “I am the future High Priestess of this coven and as such, I should be allowed to choose my Consort.”
My voice is louder than usual as it carries through the gathering. I rarely speak up or defend myself. I was born into a position that should give me power but has only made me a puppet to my mother and the rest of our coven.
“What do you suggest?” she asks.
“Give me until the next full moon to find someone acceptable to all parties involved.” I scan the entire gathering. “I deserve the chance to pick my own Consort. I know I won’t ascend to my full powers if I don’t merge with someone before my twenty-fifth birthday.”
“And if you can’t find someone?” one of the elders questions skeptically.
“Then I will take Owen as my Consort without any further issues or complaints,” I concede.
Their reasons for me finding a Consort as soon as possible haven’t changed throughout the numerous arguments we’ve had, and I don’t feel the need to listen to them repeat themselves. But I do need to get away from all of them before I say or do something I will come to regret. I end the conversation by turning and walking away. I can’t handle this anymore. I feel like a piece of cattle being sold off to the highest bidder and it is breaking me apart. Pushing the heavy doors to the meeting hall open, I step into the bright autumn sunlight.
“Are you okay?” Tayla asks as I exit the meeting hall.
I don’t know where she came from but I’m more than happy to see my best friend. She is one of the only people who understands why I am fighting so hard against merging with Owen. She gets that I don’t want to spend my life married to someone I can’t stand. Tayla understands why I need to follow my heart, and why I can’t just merge with someone for the sake of the coven.
“Great,” I say sarcastically.
“So, it went well?” Tayla bats her eyes at me.
“Don’t try to be obtuse, we both know you aren’t,” I reply as we continue to my house.
“Did you get it sorted out?”
“Sort of,” I mumble. “I need to find a Consort before the next full moon.”
Tayla’s eyes stretch to the size of saucers before she bursts out laughing. “I don’t know how to break it to you, but you’re screwed.”
“Royally screwed.”
Chapter Two
Niko
“There must be a better way to defend Runic against Quietus. We cannot simply keep banging our heads against the same wall,” I say to those gathered in the Conclave.
My father has called this meeting. He wants me to sit in on official matters so I know the status of everything about our realm before I take the reins. Nothing has changed from the last time I sat beside him, but this is the way it has always been done. I have been sitting in on these meetings for the last hundred years, being groomed to take over the position when the time comes.
What I have learned so far is that the Eternal Havok is going to be a thorn in my side if I don’t find a way to squash it. I don’t want to spend my days as the high ruler fighting a war that has been happening since the beginning of time.
“And what do you suggest?” my father’s second-in-command, Josef, asks haughtily.
“I suggest,” my glare lands on him, my words calm and measured. “That you watch your tone.” Josef has grated on my nerves since the first time I met him.
He lowers his eyes and nods his head in acquiescence. I know most of the members gathered here are older than me and carry more knowledge. I should show some respect. I just don’t know how to respect someone that clearly thinks they are better than everyone else. Besides, if the older generation could have ended this mess they would have already. It is time for fresh blood and a new perspective.
“Are there any avenues we have previously dismissed?” I ask the men assembled.
“There is one avenue,” an older gentleman speaks.
“No,” Josef cuts him off with a glare.
“Stop.” I raise my hand to end what seems to be an ongoing argument between the two of them. I face the older man. “What is your name?”
