Page 30 of The Fearless Witch

“Mariam is not our friend,” I said, straightening my shoulders and pushing away from Paula’s hand. “From the start, all she wanted was to use us. She wanted…” I bit on the inside of my lip, trying to pick my words carefully.

The best lies were always wrapped in just enough truth to make them believable. Mariam had been such a bubbly, friendly girl to all of them, they wouldn’t believe she was an evil bitch that stole bodies to stay alive. I had to make them question what they thought they already knew. And Regina might have unwittingly given me just what I needed.

“She wanted to use our Coven,” I continued after clearing my throat. “She wanted us to chase away the hunters and the other supernatural creatures because she wanted the power we have.” Whispers filled the room, their suspicion and disbelief rising until the air was so thick with it that I could feel it rubbing unpleasantly against my skin.

I clung to Regina’s teachings, to all those long, tedious lectures that I thought were just another form of torture. “This city,this land, it holds power that makes it unique. Power that can help a witch grow her reserves, heal faster, age slower. This is the reason the Fae grove was formed here. This is why so many other races flock to this place.” I could see them listening, really listening, and that helped me steady my voice and put even more conviction in my words. “Mariam wanted that power for her own Coven. Keeping the Silver Flame burning is a hard task, but should they move it here and siphon that power, they wouldn’t need to sacrifice witches to it. But this would mean we’d lose our power.”

The whispers grew more frantic, and to my relief, some of them started nodding in agreement, their closed expressions relaxing. I sighed under my breath. This had been a theory Regina had once shared, the reason she had kept a friendly face with any visiting witches from the Coven of the Silver Flame. She tried not to make them her enemy to avoid them turning their gazes on our land. Maybe this was also one of the reasons she worked with Mariam and even acquired… me.

None of that mattered now. Not unless I turned them against Mariam.

“She tried to negotiate a deal with Regina to share this place, but that night… She betrayed us. She never planned to share the land, she wanted it all for them.” I heard someone curse her name, while another murmured that they knew the Silver Flame was up to something. I took a deep breath, ready to deliver my final blow when a vicious jam in my brain almost made me scream. I blinked away the tears, ensuring my voice didn’t waver when I spoke again. “That’s why she killed Regina!”

Gasps of shock and murmured denials came from a few of the women, and then everyone was talking at once. I winced at their loud voices, the pain in my head only increasing as Mathias’ insistent prodding grew bolder. He hadn’t followed, which was a small mercy, but if he kept going like that, I’d have a hard time stringing a sentence. Goddamn bastard!

“That’s not possible! Mariam was with us that night!” one of the women at the front said, moving right in front of me. My headache was blurring the lines of her face, but I could feel her suspicion infecting the others. Paula inched closer, her hand brushing my elbow as if she was ready to catch me if I fell. I couldn’t tell if she was acting like this so she could get on my good side or if there was another reason, but right now, I didn’t care.

“Of course, she wouldn’t do it herself,” I said, looking away from her before the nausea made bile rise in my throat. “Regina was more powerful! But what Mariam does best is turning us against each other.” I dug my nails into my palms, using the pain to ground myself. Taking another deep breath through my nose, I continued while I could still talk. “Who had the idea of pinning the werewolves against the hunters? Her.” I hissed the last word, making a few of them flinch. “Who had the idea of attacking the other supernaturals while they were still weak? Her. She wanted us at…” Puke filled my mouth and I quickly closed it, swallowing it down. My tears burned, but there was nothing I could do about that, only hope they thought my emotions were getting the better of me. “...odds so we wouldn’t talk to each other! She fueled the hate… then used the enemy we created to strike us!”

I tried to concentrate on their faces again, but all I could see was colors and the pulse of magic. It wasn’t theirs and it wasn’t mine, but it connected them like a thin black thread that I hadn’t noticed before.

‘Am I hallucinating?’ was all I could think before someone murmured that I was talking nonsense and I had to focus on them again.

“It’s true.” I continued even though I could hear myself drawing the words. “That night, it was the shifters that…” There wasn’t enough air in the room, they were all stealing it from me. “...attacked the house. All of them—merfolk, shifters, even… Gideon. You must have seen the damage. You know…” I stopped to take another breath, leaning harder against Paula’s hand. “...there was a dragon there. Didn’t you wonder why… we didn’t run? Why we didn’t call for your aid? Regina…” Bile rose in my mouth again, but this time I had to clasp my palm over it to stop it from bursting out. A few people murmured in concern, but I held a hand up. When I composed myself, I continued. “Regina was proud, but she wasn’t… stupid. An attack on the Head Witch is… an attack on us all.”

“So why didn’t she?” another voice asked, and I didn’t even try to find them this time. I could no longer focus my eyes, the pounding in my head was too distracting. So I focused on that black thread instead, watching it float and tighten around their necks every time one of them spoke.

“Because someone… messed up with our wards and… cut us off. Other species can’t do that. Only a witch can…” I took a deep breath again, but felt no relief, just burning. “You should be asking yourselves… who among us had… the means and the devices to overpower even Regina’s spells?”

Silence met my words this time, and I felt Paula catch my arm. I was going to collapse at any moment, and I needed to plant the seed of doubt as deep as I could. If I didn’t…

“I’m only alive right now because Regina… saved me. She sent me away before…” I grasped for the name of the werewolf that had killed her, hoping my mind wasn’t too far gone. “Isaac Lin…wood tore her head off. Her last words to me were…” Paula’s hand slid around my waist and she held me even as I swayed. “‘Don’t trust Mariam Castle. She is… behind it all.’” The silence that followed was deafening, and for a moment I wondered if maybe I had passed out. But then I felt Paula’s squeeze, and I realized it wasn't over. I tried for one more push, knowing this was the end, one way or another. “So if you don’t trust me… trust her. Because she died for me, for… all of you. So she could… protect us from the real threat among us.”

I didn’t wait for their reaction. Steeling myself with the last of my strength, I walked in the direction I thought was the door, sighing with relief when my hand brushed against the frame. I had barely stepped out of the room when my feet buckled and I helplessly flew forward. The tinge of magic filled the air and before I knew it, it was wrapping around me and saving me from no doubt a painful fall.

“Let’s get you out of sight,” a distorted voice spoke, and for a moment I thought it was Mathias, but then I recognized Paula’s soft timbre. “You’ll be fine, Samara. I’ve got you.”

Chapter 12

Isaac

“How many?” I asked as I stepped into the tent, letting the cloth fall behind me.

“Six.” Peter frowned. “Elderly and children mostly, whose healing abilities are not as strong as ours. And one who has been bitten by a venomous snake. He’s fine, but the antidote knocked him out, so he’s sleeping it off.”

I looked around the large tent they had turned into a medical wing, noting the figures lying in sleeping bags on the ground. There was a little girl, pale and shaking, with her parents beside her, holding her small hands. The young man next to them had to be the one who was bitten, since he was the only one who appeared peaceful in his sleep. The rest were elderly.

My eyes stopped on the lone figure walking among them, her dark hair bound out of her face as she kneeled by another bed and said something to the woman in it. I patted Peter’s back before heading toward Alice. I hadn’t seen her since Lily’s collapse a few days ago, and while I was glad Roman allowed her to stay at the mansion to look after her mate, I had been dying to talk to her.

“Alice,” I said softly. Her movements were slow, eyes tired and bleary, like she hadn’t slept in days. My shoulders dropped with sympathy and I took a step toward her, but then stopped myself.

This was not the time or the place. The fact that she was here was a miracle enough. I wasn’t sure I would have left my mate’s side when she was lying unconscious in Roman’s house, even if he ordered me out at the threat of death. And I still didn’t… like her back then.

I pushed thoughts of Celeste away before the gnawing emptiness in my chest consumed me. I couldn’t allow myself to look weak and desperate in front of all those people. They needed my strength, my confidence, my hope. Later, when I was alone, I could be weak. I could be broken. But not now.

“Thank you for coming,” I said, glancing at the woman next to her. My lips parted in surprise when I recognized the patient, her frail body curled uncomfortably on her side. The wrinkles on her face seemed even deeper now, throwing heavy shadows over her eyes and gray hair.

“Margaret? What’s wrong?” I circled the sleeping bag, kneeling on her other side while she turned on her back and caught my hand. I searched her face for any clue of what was wrong but found only her familiar warm smile. “Why are you here? Is it anything serious?”

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