“I only have my mother’s word right now. I’m working on proof,” I explain. “I’ll either accept the seventh seat or challenge you for your seat, Caro. Which one do you prefer?”
Caro scans each person on the council to determine their agreement. Turning back to the audience and me, she bangs the gavel once before stating, “The seventh seat will be given to Arden as an interim measure. If no proof is forthcoming, we will reevaluate in the future.”
Satisfaction and irritation fill me, but I decide to concede to the ruling for now. “Thank you. As a new council member, my second open item is to motion for An Lee to be seated on the council for bloodline four, replacing Adam Pennington.” I turn and motion for An Lee to step to my side. “Or he can challenge for the seat. We all know he’s more powerful than the current council member.” I stare at Adam. Relief briefly flashes across his face before it settles back into its usual apathy. I almost feel sorry for him. As Caro’s husband, he must be a big disappointment to her, and I’m sure he hears about it often.
“Absolutely not,” Caro spits out.
“I second the motion for An Lee,” Santiago says, overriding her. “Anyone else support this motion?”
Amelie, Katarina, and, surprisingly, Nico all agree to the motion. Caro’s face is purple now. She glares at each person on the council, but to little effect. They quietly wait for her to bang the gavel and accept the defeat and motion. She doesn’t move, silently protesting, until Nico takes the gavel out of her hand and accepts the motion on behalf of the council. An Lee turns to me and smiles. Caro’s expression morphs into hatred and suspicion, her mind finally catching on to my plans.
In two moves, I’ve managed to kickstart a quiet revolution, and she knows it. The council wields the power of the coven, and Caro more than most. If I’m going to find a better way for all witches, the first thing I need to do is shift power away from her.
“Last, I motion for the removal of the ‘pure’ classification. I believe all witches should be allowed to test for affinity and placement in the coven. As the original tapestry shows, there isn’t a single witch who is pure, not even you, Caro.” I allow my voice to ring out loudly for this one. It’s critical. We need to start changing the way we approach witches entering into the coven.
“I second the motion,” Santiago states firmly.
There’s silence from the other witches, but I expected it. This one will require a fundamental shift to their current way of life.
“I deny the motion,” Amelie softly inserts. “I believe we need time to think about the repercussions of this change. I motion to table the discussion.”
Not surprisingly, the rest of the council supports Amelie’s motion. I incline my head and smile. I respect the need to cling to the familiar, but she’s only buying time. I’m going to rip it all apart. I don’t know how or when, but I refuse to be part of an exclusive coven and the inevitable destruction of witches and our magic.
5
ARDEN
With all the uproar at the council meeting, I completely forgot to request access to the archives. Running through the options, I send a quick text to Santiago. A minute later, I’ve got a startling reply. Apparently, a fire destroyed most of the early archives. I groan loudly. I guess it’s not a complete surprise, given the hidden tapestry. I assume someone, possibly Gemma Perrone, went to a lot of trouble hiding the MacAllisters. Almost too well.
After discussing it via phone with Theron, he thinks we should still check Witchwood first. We’ll shift our focus to correspondence or council meeting minutes, mundane pieces of history often overlooked by others. This means I’ll have to arrange another trip to Witchwood to view the archives.
My phone pings, and I throw open the door to my room to find Meri standing there, her arms full of cupcakes and wine, with pitiful sad eyes and a quivering lip. I roll my eyes.
“Please, I know you’re not in the least bit sorry,” I tease, laughing at her antics. “But I’ll take the cupcakes and wine.” I reach out and grab those from her. “And I might give you some too, but it will require additional payment.”
“Details of my nights with the triplets? Done!” She laughs and reaches for the wine.
I pull it out of her reach. “How about the scoop on you and Callyx?”
Meri freezes like a deer in headlights. She exhales and rolls her eyes to the ceiling. “Did he tell you we’ve met before? That bastard. He told me he’d keep it a secret.”
My eyebrows rise at this piece of news. “You both told me when I introduced you. Neither of you can act worth a damn. It was all over your faces.”
Relief flits across her eyes, and she shrugs. “Seeing him was a shock. It’s really, really old news, but if that’s the payment for cupcakes and wine, I’ll pay it.”
After pouring a glass of wine, I set it on the nightstand, grab two cupcakes, and plop down on the bed, my back to the headboard. “Get comfortable,” I tell her and take a bite of the cupcake. It’s chocolate with chocolate icing and completely decadent. I moan.
She toes off her shoes, grabs wine and cupcakes, then joins me. “Spill,” she demands.
I decide to start at the beginning, like I did with Theron. She listens as I tell her about my mom, her seer ability, friendship with Solandis, her death, my obscure destiny, binding my powers, and all the rest of my background. I haven’t even gotten to the stuff that’s happened since I’ve been here, but I stop.
“Why are you stopping?” she screeches. “You’re not going to give me a cliffy, are you?”
I give her a puzzled glance. “A cliffy?”
She sighs exasperatedly at me. “You know, leave me hanging on the edge?”
“I’m not giving you a cliffy, and I’m not stopping. I’m hungry for real food,” I explain. Bouncing off the bed, I stride to the door. “Let’s go downstairs and get something to eat.” The empty bottle of wine catches my eye. “And some more wine.”
