Page 61 of Last Gift: Supernatural Battle

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I closed the book on Celtic ancients when the quad entered with Rooke and Spyne. Wild was on sentry duty again.

“Want company?” Huxley said, pulling Spyne down onto the couch with him.

“If I said no?”

Huxley looked at the title of my book. “I read that when I was four.”

I shook my head. “How is everyone?”

At dinner, I’d simply given the coven an update on how the meetings with the other supernaturals went. I’d encouraged them to ask questions about Vissimo and Luthers, and had welcomed the opportunity to speak openly on a subject where I had no secrets.

Wild would address them tomorrow, and I’d decided that no one could force their way into the painful memories of my past.

My family’s deaths were mine to share as I wished.

Sven sank into an armchair and pulled Rooke down onto his lap. “Swimmingly.”

Dark circles smudged the areas under his eyes. The guy had done what I’d asked him not to—exhausted himself. “Thank you, Sven.”

He forced a smile. “You got it.”

Spyne watched the exchange, then said, “Huxley was saying that we may gain access to the archives of the other supernaturals as part of an alliance.”

“The Luthers’ knowledge will be trickier to get our hands on,” I answered. “But I have high hopes for what the Vissimo may possess. The prince knew as much as us about demons, and ample amounts on us—though our race is so insular.”

Spyne tucked his hair behind his ear. “He seemed really old.”

“I think he is. Which means his father is older again.” And the king hated demons and magus. Yikes.

The grimoire paused. “There’s something you should know, High Esteemed. The coven is talking.”

Spyne was about to warn me about the rumors too? I felt a surge of warmth for the magus. He wasn’t sure what to make of me—like others, he sensed more was afoot. He’d decided to withhold judgment for the time being, and so I appreciated that he was going as far as to do me a solid. “I’m aware. Thank you, though.”

He cleared his throat. “They’re saying you do dark magic.”

“What?” Corentin blurted.

He was the only one who hadn’t been brought up to date. Huxley heard everything in the advisory chamber. “I’ve embraced the dark ways,” I told him pleasantly. “Were you not aware?”

“That’s fucking bullshit,” he exploded.

So much for breathing my worries in and out. “I’m glad you think so.” I set my book on the floor and regarded Spyne. Then Huxley.

Huxley was head over heels and was about as prickly as Andie’s sister—though in a learned way. He’d been treated like crap, but something about Spyne had called to him. In this battle against the demons, I’d been thrown toward those who could help me. The quad. My cousin. Varden. The other supernaturals. Spyne. I may have felt the coven was one thread away from falling apart, but I needed to trust in the Mother’s plan for me. Surely she didn’t strike me with lightning for no reason. “Wild and I are in a mating ritual,” I said to Spyne.

Huxley’s eyes widened, and he fixed them on me.

He might as well have asked the question aloud. Are you certain?

Divulging this to Spyne ahead of the coven extended trust that had only existed between the six of us—and Varden in more recent times. It told Spyne that we accepted him as an important part of Huxley’s life.

I was opening the door to divulging more to him too. Things that would really test his trust and his relationship with Huxley.

“What do you mean?” Spyne said, scanning the others, who’d all reacted to my words.

I exhaled in a rush. Here goes. “When my magic met Wild’s at my coven initiation, something happened to us. Something was triggered, a connection and a drive that was impossible to explain and ignore. When it became clear that the situation was worsening instead of resolving, Wild and I united with the interest of figuring out how to end whatever was going on.”

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