Page 142 of Last Gift: Supernatural Battle

When Wild’s parents visited during the three-hundred-year anniversary of Caves, I’d gone out strong against them, setting my feet in stone. Acting weaker may have served me better then. Acting weaker could serve me better now, so I was willing to appear cowed and afraid. This was just another type of trap.

Barrow stopped before me, an apologetic look in his eyes as he held up the dropper. “My apologies, High Esteemed.”

“Go for it, Barrow.” I opened my mouth, and he squeezed the end of the dropper. I felt the serum burn through me, and I grunted, tightening my grip on the armrests of my authority.

Wild grunted, too, and I could feel the extent of his iron will as he worked to stop from whisking me away to a hiding place.

Frond’s voice permeated the burning sensation filling me. “Tempest Corentine, have you ever practiced dark magic in any capacity or intend to do so in the future?”

He’d tried to cover the past, present, and future in his question.

There was no point in resisting such potent magic. There was no resisting it. My heart squeezed, my chest loosened, and my lips opened. “I have never and will never practice dark magic.”

I grunted again as the truth serum burned away and released me of its grip.

Loud talking filled the chamber, growing louder by the second. I was too busy composing myself to dissect the emotions of the coven. I sent a query to Wild, who sent me a visual. Some magus were nodding. Some were shocked. Most relieved. A few defiant.

As if truth serum could be outsmarted.

There was no trap against it. That was why the truth would always come out.

I took a steadying breath, then nodded at Barrow.

Barrow didn’t bother apologizing to Frond, and I got the feeling the magus wanted to ram the drop down the other man’s throat instead.

But he dutifully squeezed the liquid into Frond’s mouth.

Frond cried out, doubling over. Allergic to truth?

I finally allowed myself to smile. “Frond, you gave me permission to use truth serum to prove your innocence. Here is my question. Have you passed a steady stream of information to the original coven in exchange for their promise that once I’m evicted from the authority, and they claim this coven for their own, you will be appointed the new high esteemed?”

There was a huge intake of air from the watching coven.

I’d tricked Frond, yes. No one seemed to mind very much.

Frond could no sooner resist the truth serum than I had. But boy, did he try. His jaw clenched, and his eyes bugged out. Tension ran through his body, and magic surged into his hands.

He screamed against the power of the truth serum, and then a torrent left his mouth. “Yes! They promised me the authority in exchange for coven secrets and information. I’ve given it to them since Wild came here.”

His words induced a silence far greater than any I’d managed to inspire. And that was saying something.

There was a hurt to the silence that I couldn’t have ever created because I’d only been part of this community for a few months. These magus had grown up and old with Frond. They’d looked to him as a council member and an esteemed.

His group—those I could see—were slack-faced or aghast as they stared at the man on the chair beside my authority. They’d believed he had their best interests at heart when cold ambition had driven his actions for over five years.

“There’s much I could say to you now,” I said quietly, knowing everyone could hear me regardless. “But the faces of those you’ve betrayed are comment enough, and those looking at you have a far greater right to tell you how they feel than I do. If they wish to, then that’s their choice. As leader of this coven, my duty is to uphold coven law. You have broken several of them. You’ve acted selfishly and without consideration of the coven as a whole. You are found guilty of passing on coven information to outsiders. You are found guilty of treachery. You will occupy a holding cell until which time as the extent of your guilt is determined, and a choice is made regarding your future here.”

Frond rose and whirled on me in one jerking movement.

Wild was behind him in a blur, but that didn’t stop the furious words bursting from Frond’s mouth. “Don’t bother. I am wanted in another coven, a true coven ruled by true leaders. I wash my hands of the Buried Knolls and those within it, not least of all its high esteemed, who is nothing more than a pathetic magus who happens to possess four affinities.”

Oh, good. He’d decided to make things easy. “Are there any who choose to join Frond in departing?”

There was a ripple through his group. They lowered their gazes, but one stepped forward in valiant loyalty.

Josie glared daggers at me. “I will not live under your rule.”

This day was working out well. I dipped my head. “So be it. The choice is yours.”

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