Page 118 of The Blood Witch

He turned to go but paused, glancing back at Callum.

“Get out while you can,” Silas warned him. “Don’t put your life on the line for them. Their Faction never cared about the rest of us. And I see no evidence that’s changed. Don’t make the same mistake your father did.”

Then he was gone, his footsteps echoing on the marble walls until he was out of sight.

Alice couldn’t breathe. It was all coming down around her. She sat back down heavily, in shock.

At the table, someone snorted.

“Well, good riddance to bad rubbish,” Linh said. “If you ask me?—”

“No one asked you, you old bag,” Alice murmured. She couldn’t even summon the energy to put any heat behind the words.

“Do you really believe these two deaths aren’t connected, Alice?” Kallista asked.

Alice looked up, glancing between Kallista and Callum, the last of her council. Was she really so sure? Was she being blind here? Were their lives at risk, all because she was being stubborn?

“I don’t know,” she admitted, finally. “I truly don’t know.”

“Then we should find out,” Callum said decisively. He held her gaze, his eyes serious but unafraid. And for a moment, hearing the sureness in his voice, Alice felt a little hope bloom in her chest. He had his father’s strength.

“We should make finding a new Shifter representative a priority, I think,” Sana said, pen moving quickly over the notes in front of her. “Silas was right, I am sorry to say. He wasn’t meant to be more than astand in for a few meetings. Maybe we expected too much from him. The Shifters deserve a real representative, one fully committed to the role.”

“Sam,” Alice heard herself say, before she’d even realized she’d started forming a plan. She felt a shift in her emotions, felt her wits begin to gather. They needed someone trustworthy, someone the Shifters would listen to. “He’s a Hare Shifter, well respected by his Faction. I’ll reach out to him tomorrow morning and see what he can do to help repair this.”

They couldn’t lose the Shifters, couldn’t risk alienating so many citizens because of her anger. Her failure as a council member.

Sana jotted it down.

“Perhaps we could extend the invitation to Regina, Kellos’s sister? Or at least make the suggestion to Sam?” Sana added. “Silas wanted us to interview her, after what happened, but maybe she would appreciate being offered the seat on the council?”

It was a good idea. One with merit. Yes, this could work.

“We should reach out to her anyway,” Leandra added in a calm voice. “Whatever she has to tell us about her brother’s death… we should listen to her.”

Yes. They should.

And for a moment, Alice was grateful that the other Priestesses had shown up tonight. She was grateful for their support. They could do this, together. Theywoulddo this. The council would not fall.

Not while she still lived.

With a renewed sense of surety, Alice began to plot. She could make this work. She could salvage this.

Further down the table, Linh made a noise, deep in her throat, like a cough.

“What was that, Linh?” Sana asked, not bothering to glance over at her as she wrote in her ledger. Her pen made a playful scratching sound as she wrote. “I didn’t catch that.”

Linh’s only answer was a gurgle, strained, and almost sickeningly wet.

Goddess, is she still ill?Alice wondered, looking over at the High Priestess. She did look pale, and her eyes were glazed, unfocused…

“Linh…” Leandra started, frowning at her. Linh’s head jerked slightly, more a twitch than anything. “Are you ok? You look?—”

WHAM.

Leandra screamed, leaping away as Linh slammed her own head down against the council table.

Every head in the room turned in shock to watch as Linh straightened in her chair again, blood dripping from her nose.

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