Page 25 of Commanding Chaos

She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter what you intended. You did manipulate her. You made her feel something she didn’t want to feel. She’s entitled to her own emotions, whether you like them or not.”

“Point taken. I won’t use my power on her unless she needs it.”

“No. Point not taken. You’re missing it entirely.” She filled her mouth with French fries, so I took a large bite of potato and contemplated her words.

Why would I not calm Ash if she needed calming? I would do anything to help her.

Ember took another drink and set down her glass. “You don’t get to decide when she needs to calm down. The days of men blaming women’s emotions on hysteria are over. Don’t use your little manipulative trick on her unless she asks for it, and I doubt she ever will.”

While Ash was the more logical of the two, both sisters operated on instinct and gut feelings. Not allowing her emotions to present would hinder her abilities. She needed to feel, whether the sentiments were pleasant or not. “I see.”

“Do you?”

“I believe I do.” And while Ember was speaking to me civilly, I should continue learning more about the witch to whom I was bound. “Tell me, why does she insist I caused the man’s death at the park. I had released the crowd from my hold as soon as Shade created his cloak.”

“There had to be remnants of your magic in them. It doesn’t instantly go away, does it?”

“Indeed it does. The moment I release my hold, the human returns to normal. They’ll be confused and won’t remember what happened during the time I held them, but the other effects cease immediately.”

She wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Okay, but if you hadn’t caused the mass hysteria, the killer wouldn’t have gotten a bloody nose and blamed it on the guy next to him.”

I paused, the pieces to Ash’s thought trail coming together in my mind. “And the men never would have scuffled. Therefore, he would not have pulled his gun.”

“Bingo. You started the chain of events.” She called to the server and asked for the check.

“True, but had I not held the crowd, Shade wouldn’t have been able to cloak us without raising suspicion. I wasn’t playing, as Ash accused. I was assisting your coven.”

“A coven of light witches. We don’t hurt or manipulate humans. Ever.”

“Not even to keep your town safe from supernatural invasion?”

“Then who would keep them safe from us?” She paid the bill and rose, indicating I should follow her. “Anything that causes a human pain and suffering is off limits. The sooner you learn that, the sooner we can solve our problems.”

I stood and tucked my chair beneath the table. “What about when the humans deserve it?”

She laughed dryly. “Not even then.”

Considering the consequences of my actions went against my very nature, yet now that I had thought about it, I could understand Ash’s logic. She made me look at the world differently, made me see how my actions affected others. Perhaps being bound to this witch was good for me. “It seems I owe Ash an apology.”

She nodded. “A big one.”

At the very least, if I could squelch her anger, she’d speak to me again. For reasons I would never understand, her fury, her silence, cut me to the core, and I couldn’t deny it anymore. Ash wasn’t just good for me…she was meant for me.

We exited the restaurant and returned to the blustery street. Ember flipped up her collar and held it tightly against the wind. “My turn to ask the questions. Why do you think BMS summoned the basilisk?”

I walked beside her, the cold having no effect on me. “A pair of their witches followed us through the grocery store before the events took place.”

“How do you know they’re from Boston?” Her hair blew across her face, and she tucked it behind her ear.

“Ash recognized their crest. I assume they’re here because of their library.”

She crossed her arms, tucking her hands beneath them. “Well, shit.”

10

ASH

I’d never been more furious with anyone in my life. How could Chaos be so dense to not even acknowledge his hand in that man’s death? And then he had the nerve not only to tell me to calm down but to try and force me to. This sigil had to go. It didn’t matter if he was bound to serve me while I had it if he was going to go rogue and kill people anyway.

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