Page 61 of Sugar, Spice, and Magical Midlife

I practically jumped out of my skin with excitement as a wave of relief washed through me. Maybe everything I’d heard about the Tribunal being corrupt had been heresy.

“But the charges for Jaques Boudreau’s murder still stand,” the sorceress said haughtily.

Maybe not.

“How,” I spat, “when it’s obvious someone is trying to frame him?”

I froze, then pushed Des behind me when she pointed her wand at my chest. “Speak out of turn one more time, and I’ll have you arrested for contempt of court. Do I make myself clear, Miss Lovelle?”

I swallowed back my rage, knowing I had to play nice if I wanted to help Ric. “Yes,MagaSagredo.”

“Investigators are searching for Vivienne LeBreau,” she continued haughtily. “If we can’t find her, we’ll see if any of her family members can bear witness. In the meantime, I highly suggest you leave the investigating to the detectives, Miss Lovelle.”

I shook my head. “I can’t when I know an innocent sphinx, the last of his kind, could be hung for a murder he didn’t commit.”

That hooded figure whispered in the sorceress’s ear, digging her spindly claws into her shoulder. The sorceress nodded, then looked at me. “What do you plan to do, Miss Lovelle?”

I squared my shoulders, refusing to be intimidated by her scowl. “I plan on finding the succubus who framed him.”

“And then what?” She clucked her tongue. “Risk meeting the same fate of your parents?”

So she believed a succubus had killed my parents? “And then I will avenge my parents.”

“No!” Ric hollered from below, his deep bellow surprisingly strong for someone who couldn’t shift.

“How old were you when your parents died, Miss Lovelle?”

My gaze snapped to the sorceress. “Fifteen.”

She tapped her chin with a long fingernail. “Why do you believe a succubus killed them?”

I could’ve told the sorceress that I’d seen their murder, that I’d survived due to my ability to completely conceal myself at just fifteen years old. But the bitch knew too much already, and I didn’t trust her or her creepy advisor.

Every muscle in my body tensed as I worked hard to unclench my teeth. “I just do.”

She rubbed her chin while eyeing me as if she could somehow see into my soul. “Interesting.”

“Why would their murder be interesting?” I snapped, irritated by her casual tone.

“It’s been well over five centuries,” she answered.

This sorceress made no sense. “Since what?”

“Since the last phoenix resurfaced.”

The crowd sucked in a hiss, then went eerily silent, and I swear the temperature in the room dropped by ten degrees. I caught their shocked gazes, their slackened jaws. Why would they react this way? Sure, I’d read about the phoenix in my school textbooks, a rare striga with incredible powers, but the consensus had been that the phoenix was nothing more than a medieval fairytale. And even if it wasn’t, the phoenix was supposed to have come from one of the ancient magical families like the Sagredos. Was she implying I was the phoenix?

I scratched the back of my head while averting my gaze. “I thought the phoenix was a myth.”

“How easily witches forget lessons from the past.” The sorceress clucked her tongue. “My grandparents knew the last phoenix. She was more powerful than a dozen combined witches.”

Des let out a gasp, and I squeezed his hand.

The sorceress nodded toward the floor where Ric had stopped fighting his restraints, his head hanging in defeat. “Do you know why he’s the last sphinx?”

Nervous energy buzzed through me, like thousands of insects were swarming in my veins as the hooded figure whispered in the sorceress’s ear again, reminding me of a parasite attaching itself to a host.

“No.”

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