Page 114 of Last Gift: Supernatural Battle

I didn’t tell Wild to get in line again. His murderous intentions were exactly what I wanted to hear right now. That’s all I felt. So much fucking anger.

And despair.

“I was nearly there,” I said hollowly. “Soon, the quipu would’ve started linking paths for us. It would have helped against the demons.”

A passing sentry heard and stopped in her tracks. “Would it really have, High Esteemed?”

“Yes. Getting to that stage again….” Time was a precious commodity, and in time, I was a pauper. Replicating the quipu would take months and months. Could that even be done? I’d never tried before, and there was no itching in my fingers at the idea. Rather it felt a pointless endeavor, like each quipu piece was unique to the point of being impossible to redo.

I swallowed hard. “What do we do now?”

“You’ve been leader so far without the help of the quipu,” Wild said low. “You’ll continue to do so and do great at it. Trust yourself.”

I wouldn’t describe the last couple of weeks as having gone great. I was barely holding on. I’d needed the help of my quipu, and part of me had expected that once the quipu kicked into gear, everything else… all my problems would fade.

The loss of that seemed like a symbol of my end.

The end of this coven.

I closed my eyes and started to walk from the room.

“Tempest,” Wild called after me. “I’ll make sure this works out okay.”

I believed he’d break his back trying to do that. I forced the corners of my mouth up. “I love you.”

Seemed like I spent these days walking out of rooms alone, and tonight was no different.

29

I didn’t go to breakfast.

I couldn’t face the coven. Not until I knew who was involved. I couldn’t lie by being in their company. Yet wasn’t I a lie as well? Wasn’t I doing that to them?

“Eat,” Rooke said, shoving an apple toward me.

I’d felt bereft since last night. I could reason that the quipu had been a lot of lengths of cord knotted and braids strung together, but the quipu was almost a person to me, a guiding light that had helped me through the toughest moments of my life.

The betrayal of having it burned ran deep.

I picked up the apple and started to eat.

“Talk to me, Tempest,” she said.

“Should I even be angry at the people who did this when I’m keeping a secret that would hurt them?”

My cousin didn’t immediately answer. I could tell through our bond that she didn’t like my admission. “Frond’s group went out of their way to hurt you, your magic, and a gift from the Mother. By contrast, Tempest, you were just born part demon. Since discovering that, you’ve made some very logical and reasoned assumptions about how the coven would react to knowledge of your heritage. You and Frond cannot be compared. Why do you put so much expectation on yourself? What you are may become general knowledge one day, yes, but it’s not up to you to make excuses or amends for being born. Your heart, your soul, and your magic—those are pure gold and that makes your intent to do good crystal clear. You’re here for this coven and part of it. Your privacy and fears will be respected as if you were an everyday coven member. We don’t get to peer at every part of you because you’re leading us. Against your wishes, I might add.”

My cousin’s words made some kind of sense. She felt deep anger on my behalf, and I’d wager that she wanted to unleash her most painful poisons on the quipu culprit before using her ghosts to torture the person in endless agony.

“Thank you for being on my side,” I told her.

“Thank you for being on mine, and on the side of people who I don’t believe deserve you. I swear, if I had it my way…”

Her eyes glazed over, and I was tempted to ask what terrible fates she was imagining upon Frond.

But they’d interfere with my own twisted fantasies.

A knock. The person didn’t barge in after, so it wasn’t someone I liked.

---