Page 6 of Reckless Witch

Fear that practice of the dark arts empowered Damien, demigod and Lord of The Shadows, to wage the latest Shadow war, has kept tensions high these last twenty years. Damn the Illumina’s fear. It’s almost as if the mindless wisps of dark energy that are The Shadows still infects our leaders.

The discovery that Miriam Crowe died while dabbling with Shadow magic rocked the Illumina to its core. Her estranged granddaughter being identified as a High Potential set off another shockwave, one nearly as powerful as the first.

And now?

Now, I have to tell Raith that Leilah Crowe, granddaughter to Miriam Crowe, an Illumina High Potential, is also Ciarah.

I enter the main foyer, a carved white marble monolith. I nod to Jace and Michael, who stand guard on opposite sides of the room. The only indication they notice me is the lightspeed flick of their eyes in my direction.

The school’s coat of arms, wings spread over the Illumina Academy name, hangs on the arch above the stairs that lead to Raith’s office. I take the steps two at a time. His door stands open. The room is dim, lit by an antique brass lamp positioned on the edge of his desk. He looks up from paperwork arranged before him, then leans back in his chair.

Blade isn’t present. Not that I expected him to be. He deals with Ciarah’s absence by burying his cock deep into the soft folds of his latest flavor of the month. Or week, if I want to be more accurate. I can’t remember the last time Blade kept a woman for longer than a week—aside from Josephine, but she doesn’t count. She’s as big a playgirl as Blade is a playboy and she makes no demands on him.

Raith tracks my progress across the room. If not for the special bond created when we battled The Shadows—and the fact I’ve known him for millennia—I wouldn’t have the slightest idea what he’s thinking. But the darkening of his pupils reveals the fact that he knows me as well as I know him.

“I’m all right,” I assure as I drop into the chair across from his desk.

“You need a vacation.”

I grunt. “A vacation from you,” I say, although I have seen him little these last two weeks.

He gives a slow nod.

Without Ciarah in our lives, too much time spent together can be dangerous. Maybe Caleb and Matthias had the right idea by disappearing. In all this time, we’ve yet to discover just why her presence balances our life forces. Hell, despite complete access to the Illumina archives, we still haven’t figured out what keeps bringing her back to us—or why our bond grows stronger each time.

Raith still watches me. His lips are compressed lines and I wonder when he’s last fed. He can survive as long as a year without feeding on human blood, but he doesn’t do well. It’s been decades since he’s kept a stable of humans, as most vampires do. It’s been forty years since he’s fed off Ciarah, and I know that’s the hardest. Maybe that, at least, will change soon.

“What happened?” he asks.

I lock gazes with him. “She refused.”

Surprise flashes across his face.

Part of me finds the situation amusing. In all my decades recruiting, I’ve never had a student look disappointed, let alone resist. Leilah has courage.

“I slapped a sigil on her,” I say. “She’ll show tomorrow.”

Raith frowns. “Just who does this little witch think she is?”

“Ciarah,” I say in a hoarse whisper.

He goes rigid. “No,” he responds with vehemence, but I know it’s because he wants to convince himself I’m wrong. “No,” he repeats, this time, in a whisper.

I give a single nod.

“If I had… Leilah?” he says. “Crowe?” He sucks in a long breath. “If I’d had the slightest idea… I should have sent Zadkeil back to Olympia. Fuck. Leilah Crowe can’t be Ciarah. You have to be wrong.”

He knows dragon energy is never wrong.

“She’s angry we took possession of her grandmother’s home,” I say.

He shoots me a narrow-eyed scowl. “You shouldn’t have marked her with your sigil. Why didn’t you let her walk away?”

“You know as well as I do that Olympia would have found her,” I say. “She’s a High Potential.”

“Fuck,” he curses again.

I nod. “She’s strong. Even stronger than last time.”