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With four of us in this bond, it’s majority rules, and everyone but Sebastian is on board with my plan.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
JOSIE
“What did you find out?” Fintan asks when I finally emerge from my suite with the Dumont family grimoire clutched to my chest. What a loaded question. Where do I even begin?
“Enough to blow my mind about a dozen times.” I join them, sinking into the unoccupied armchair across from Finn.
“Lay it on us.” Rune perches his butt on the edge of the windowsill, lifting his feet to rest his heels on the back of Finn’s chair.
“Where has his majesty gone?” I look down the hall, but unless he’s hiding inside one of the paintings that line the long corridor, it’s just me, Finn, and Rune.
I almost expect Sebastian to materialize from the shadows. It would be perfectly on brand for him.
“He went to the club,” Finn answers.
“Bas thinks you’re too much of a handful—Hey!” Rune sets his feet back on the carpeted floor with a thump when Finn elbows him in the shin.
I roll my eyes. “Well, my opinion of him isn’t much better. He can think what he wants.”
“Why don’t ye tell us what ye found in yer family grimoire,” Finn prompts.
I exhale a long breath. Again, where to begin?
“I guess the most important part is that there is nothing about having over two people in a unity bond, so we’ve still got squat there.”
“Disappointing, but not unexpected,” Fintan comments with a nod. “What else?”
“Forming a unity bond makes both—or, in this case—all parties stronger. Vampires become daywalkers when they drink their bonded witch’s blood, but there is more to be gained. There’s a possibility of unlocking dormant powers too. Especially if the connection is open and wanted on all sides.”
My gaze travels from one vampire to the other, letting that last bit of information hang in the air between us before I continue.
They have to know that I won’t—and can’t—be their mindless blood whore if they want to achieve the level of power their kind craves. For this to work for any of us, we need to be on equal ground.
Preferably, starting now.
“Are you ready for the big finale of mic drops?”
“No,” Rune says, “but tell us anyway.”
“The Unity Bond Ritual—the original one, not the one we did the other night—was performed by none other than my grandmother.”
I wait for their reaction but get nothing.
“Was that meant to be a mind explosion moment?” Rune asks, bursting my bubble.
“You guys already knew that? Really?”
“The only witches strong enough to perform a ritual as monumental as casting a unity bond are High Priestesses. Back then, there were more than just two covens of witches. It took two of them to cast the unity bond and as a result, one became the leader of the Sun Witches, the other the leader of the Moon Witches.”
I blink and look between Fintan and Rune, hoping I’m misunderstanding what they’re telling me. “You’re not saying…”
“Claudette Dumont was the original High Priestess of the Sun Witches. Did ye truly not know that before now?” Finn asks.
I didn’t think my brain could explode so many times in a single day.
“Are you sure you knew Claudette at all?” Rune adds.
