Page 85 of Last Gift: Supernatural Battle

I released a breath. “Good.”

“Varden announced there will be a group healing at the next esbat,” Rooke offered. “And from now on.”

My brows rose. “Also good.”

“Wild heard about Frond’s deal with the original coven from Delta at dinner,” Huxley blurted. “He attacked Frond.”

I stared.

“Just went for him, no magic and all fists. Frond fought back—tried at least. But he did manage to tear Wild’s tunic.”

“His tunic?” I asked in confusion.

Huxley grimaced. “The one covering his runes.”

My jaw dropped. Shit. “What did the coven say?”

“Frond started shouting about dark magic use. That set off Wild big time, and it took most of us to get him out of there.”

I threaded my hands through my white hair. “Fuck!” I just needed one single thing to go right.

A coven member attacking Frond was one thing. More than a few people wanted to do so even though an attack would undermine the harmony and unity we were trying to achieve. That Wild had been the one to do so was worse. Wild attacking Frond came across as me attacking Frond.

The runes were another matter. “If the coven knew about our mating ritual, the runes wouldn’t have given Frond a foothold.”

Rooke closed the gap to wrap an arm around my shoulders. “There was nothing to be done about the demon gates delaying Wild’s explanation.”

“We could have told everyone the morning after.” I’d seized onto the excuse of trainings and meetings to delay the subject further. I’d celebrated the timely intervention of the opening demon gates. Now, I regretted it tenfold. “What happened after everyone saw the runes?”

“Varden intervened,” Sven said.

Both my brows rose. “Everyone listened to him?” I’d pictured anarchy without possibility of order.

“No, they didn’t even listen to the entire team of advisors. Everyone stopped talking when Varden collapsed.”

I blinked. “What?”

“He’s okay. He seemed more embarrassed than anything, but when he fell to the ground, the coven stopped for a crucial second and realized they were acting crazy. The other advisors got a handle on things then.”

Sven didn’t seemed worried about the old esteemed, but I was. Varden wasn’t someone who just collapsed. “Serene is with him?”

“Yeah,” Rooke said. “We wanted you to know what went down. And didn’t too. It’s not fair that you’re getting hit with all this bullshit. I’m so sorry, Tempest.”

I felt a little sorry for myself too, but the words of Basilia’s grandmother came to me. The ones about getting great bargains from people who felt sorry for themselves. This is what the original coven wanted.

“The Astars are being systematic about tearing me down, I’ll give them that.” Squeezing Rooke in a return hug, I released her to approach the gaping demon gate—something I’d managed to forget about while I braided and knotted. Quipu work put me in a deep trance. No doubt that was why I’d missed the surge of Wild’s emotions when he went for Frond. “The demons will be loving this upheaval.”

I gazed into the darkness of the demon realm for a beat, taking inward stock of the bond I shared with Wild. I didn’t need a translation for the agony radiating from him. He was beating himself up about what happened. “How was Wild when you left him?”

“He took a while to calm down,” Corey said. “When he did… he took it hard.”

“I don’t know where to start with all this,” I admitted. My quipu didn’t have enough information yet to begin showing me new pathways. I was on the brink of coven collapse. And Wild was walking one dark path that I didn’t know how to pull him from.

“There’s only one thing to do,” Sven replied. “Own your runes. Tell the coven the truth.”

If Sven was recommending the truth, then these were desperate times. I wanted to confess all, as much out of sheer exhaustion from this pattern the coven and I had fallen into as genuinely not wanting to hide so much. I understood that secrets limited a person from forming real connections—I’d experienced that through high school.

I didn’t want to be the Mistress of Dark Magic or feel so fucking guilty all the time.

---