Page 63 of Sugar, Spice, and Magical Midlife

“I know.” My gaze flitted from my son to Ethyl. “And once they figure out I’m not the phoenix, they’ll come after Des.”

Ethyl sat up straight, her eyes narrowing to slits. “We can’t let that happen.”

“We need to hide,” I blurted. Where would we go, for I was certain every striga across all seven continents would soon be looking for us?

Ethyl fluttered to her feet then knelt beside me. Taking my hand, she blinked up at me with luminous pale blue eyes. Her eyes were only blue when she was being sincere, which was hardly ever. “Do you trust me?”

I swallowed back my fear. “I do.”

She stood, holding down a hand to me. “Then let’s go.”

“To where?” I asked as I took her hand and stood.

“Luci, you know I love you like a sister, but I haven’t been entirely honest with you these past few years.” She visibly swallowed then looked away.

My knees quaked. “Tell me,” I rasped.

“The past two summers, I wasn’t sleeping my way across Europe,” she said as her gaze flitted from me to Des. “I was in training with the Insurgi.”

My hand flew to my throat. “What? You were with drug dealers and thieves!” Sure, I knew Ethyl liked bad boys, but not this bad!

“They’re not drug dealers.” Ethyl shook her head, snickering. “That’s what the Tribunal wants you to believe. They’re an underground rebel army preparing for war against the succubi.”

What the what? “Did you...” I paused, struggling to push out the words as panic gripped my heart in its webbed fingers. “Did you tell them about Des?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t need to. They already know.”

My knees gave way, and I fell back onto the bed.No. No. NO!I hung my head with a groan. “They know about my son?”

Des sat beside me, patting my back. “It’s okay, Mama.”

I gave him a hopeless look before scowling at Ethyl. “Explain.”

She chewed her lip while toying with her pentagram necklace. “That’s why they recruited me, to ensure I helped you keep him safe.”

I flashed my teeth while snatching my wand off the mattress. “And you’re just now telling me this?” A blade of despair pierced my heart. How could she betray me like this?

She backed up, a hand splayed across her heart. “I was spell-sworn to secrecy.”

I slowly stood, clenching my wand in my fist. “But you’re able to tell me now?”

“I guess so. Our leader said the spell would break when the succubi found us.” She looked at me unflinchingly with eyes as pale as the summer sky. I’d known Ethyl her whole life. I knew her eyes reflected her moods. I knew she was being sincere, damn her.

I loosened my grip on my wand. “Is Frederica part of the Insurgi?”

She nodded.

No wonder the minotaur was so willing to risk her job, possibly even her life, to sneak us into the Tribunal. I suspected it was too much of a risk all for a lover. She had an ulteriormotive. Now I had to figure out what it was. Ethyl wouldn’t betray me, not willingly anyway, but I feared she might have landed us in a big pile of dragon doo.

I arched a brow. “And Ric?”

She scrunched her features, that same puzzled look when she was trying to manually figure out a customer’s change. “I don’t think so.”

Good, because my heart would’ve shattered if he’d been working for them, too. I would’ve been mortified if they’d sent him to seduce me. I paced the floor, a million questions running through my mind. “How do you know these Insurgi aren’t succubi, too?”

She blanched. “They’re not.”

I pinned her with a glare. “How do you know?”

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