AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He removes the bundle and sets it on his desk. As he peels the beige cloth away, he reveals a golden hilt and a stunning yellow stone buried in the pommel.
The sunstone dagger.
“You’ve had it this whole time?”
“I have.”
What the fuck is going on?
“Then why have we spent the past two weeks using all our resources to try to find it?”
“Because the Moon Witches asked us to help them find it. If we didn’t make an effort, Lilian Beauchamp would wonder why.”
“So, why not just tell her when we were at the Moon Witches’ hideout? You’ve wanted nothing more than to end the bonds since the ritual. If we have both pieces of the puzzle, why didn’t you hand the dagger over to Lilian and be done with this whole thing then and there?”
“Because there is no going back. I haven’t figured out if Lilian is playing us or if she’s that naïve, but when a Dumont, a Beauchamp, and a Caron perform a ritual so strong that not one, but two witchstones are created, their goddess has spoken. There’s no going back.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I asked Sloane. If anyone outside the three families involved would know, it’s her. She said there’s no chance and I believe in her instincts.”
Sadness and anger taint his response but there’s also a finality to it. “You don’t even want to try?”
“No.”
“The witches won’t like that.”
“Let them be angry.”
I raise a brow. “Angry? They’re going to be raid-the-castle and burn the vamps kind of pissed off. These amulets—the witchstones—are their most powerful magical artifacts. They’re imbued with the essence of the Unity Ritual. They want their dagger back.”
“The dagger belonged to Celine Dumont. She was my Sun Witch. Therefore, the dagger belongs to me or, if I decide to part with it, Josephine.”
“But Josie gave them her word. She said she would try to undo what her mother did.”
Sebastian pegs me with a seething glare. “The spell went wrong for three elder witches from the most powerful bloodlines, one of them a high priestess. Now Lilian wants a fledgling witch to attempt the same thing? What if it goes wrong again? What if things end up worse than they are now? What if Josephine doesn’t survive the ritual?”
That’s a lot to unpack. I drop back into my seat and scrub my fingers over my beard. “Since when do you care about what happens to Josie?”
His gaze narrows. “Like it or not, we’re bound to the woman. That which affects her also affects us. I don’t trust Lilian Beauchamp to consider that. And if word gets out the dagger is found, the wolves might well make their play.”
“You think Lilian’s in bed with Egan? Bas, the man tortures and abuses her witches.”
He shrugs. “Adelaide was with the wolves. It didn’t seem to bother her.”
“True, but when Lilian spoke of wanting to free the Algiers witches from Egan’s hold, she seemed genuine.”
“Determination and delusion aren’t so different. If she’s so desperate to end the unity bond, Egan could persuade her to exchange the witchstones for the Moon Witches’ freedom.”
“That’s never going to happen.”
“No, but desperation might cloud the woman’s judgment.”
“But for there to be a deal, Egan would have to know Lilian Beauchamp is alive.”
Sebastian scoffs. “The woman’s been living in wolf territory for two and a half decades and hasn’t been discovered or bothered? I don’t fucking believe it. Of course he knows.”
Yeah, witches coming and going…all it would take is one perimeter scout to catch a scent, and they’d track her to that cabin. “So, when Josie arrived, he had a Dumont witch in play and figured she might know where the witchstones were.”
