Page 154 of Last Gift: Supernatural Battle

This coven wasn’t under my rule.

Winona and Varden left, while the others remained.

I stood and walked around the table a few times to loosen my legs and body. Wild sent me soothing magic that washed over my frame and cleared the cobwebs from my mind if not the other threads.

Sending through a burst of magic, I dialed two supernaturals.

Two rings. “Hello? Tempest?” Andie answered. “Are you okay?”

Seven rings and Basilia’s voice filled my head. “Love that song. What’s up demon-witch?”

I shook my head, unable to stop the smile curving my lips. They’d answered, and that meant a lot. “I’m fine, Andie, thank you. Hi, Princess Basilia.” I blew out a breath. “I’d like to speak face-to-face to you both, to Kyros and Sascha and King Julius too. May I open a portal? I am happy to meet in one of your territories if you’d prefer?”

“How about ours?” Andie said. “The pack is out for a run. Will King Julius mind?”

Basilia shouted, “Hey, Julius! You okay to meet Tempest in the Luther packlands?” There was a pause. “Kyros, it’s fine. How else was I meant to ask?”

I wondered if Andie’s brows were raised too.

“You live, demon-magus.” The cold voice echoed down the line. The voice was arctic-frost cold, not just spine-chilling, so I could conclude that King Julius was on the other end, not his son.

“For now,” I replied. “I’d like the opportunity to explain what I am and what it means.”

“It means that, as with Vissimo and Luthers, you have been granted the ability to mate through the union of our race with a slice of demonkind. While our races completed this process millennia ago, you are the first we have witnessed in recent ages.”

I stared at the stone wall before me. Well, shit. “That is what we’ve put together. You… that’s a thing across the supernatural board then?”

“Demons had to be useful for something,” he answered in a bored tone. “Rootstock sums up the extent of that use.”

I mean, being in possession of a demon of my own, I knew there was more to them in general than rootstock. Otherwise, the king’s thoughts replicated my own. “I expected more anger from you.”

“I am angrier that you wish me to travel to a place that reeks of dog. Yet I am curious, and that is a rarity for me now. I will meet you in this place through a portal of your making. Do it now, Magus Queen. Our time runs out.”

It did. Was he aware just how much?

I opened a portal for him that would lead to the pack lands in Deception Valley. I opened another for me. Wild came to stand beside me. “Anyone else?” I asked the remaining advisors.

Delta and Ruby both stood, while Barrow and Opal shook their heads.

The ones who least trusted me were coming along to make sure I didn’t do anything to harm the coven. I was glad for their witness. I felt awkward dealing with the other rulers when I wasn’t one myself now. If the rulers would speak with anyone else, I would’ve been happy to stay in the background and focus on my thread children.

I stepped through into the green oasis dotted with simple cabins and huts and surrounded by thick, lush trees.

I inhaled deeply, hearing Wild, Delta, and Ruby do the same. This territory was far closer to what I envisioned as a comfortable home than the king’s mansion.

Sascha and Andie were greeting King Julius, Prince Kyros, and Princess Basilia. Andie stepped forward to hug me after.

“Your question the other day makes more sense now,” she said quietly. “Sounds like you were struggling with a secret identity of your own.”

My chest squeezed. “I feel better now the truth is out.”

She nodded. “How have they taken it? Are you leading them?”

The Vissimo turned to listen. Delta and Ruby did too.

“I will only accept the authority, the seat of leadership, if they invite me to it. For now, I have offered my magic freely as we figure out the best strategy against the demon king.”

Wild spoke from beside me, “You should all be aware that the demon king’s red smoke is slowly working toward our cave systems. Tempest’s demon and the archives of Clan Sundulus have confirmed this happens prior to attack.”

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