Page 55 of The Darkest Night

“Two weeks ago, one of my father’s Seers experienced a vision of the Witch Queen’s awakening. The details were blurry at best. All she could make out was that it would happen in a city, under a gibbous moon. New York wasn’t the only place the Dark Council sent reinforcements to.”

Surprise flashed on the faces of the coven members.

“So, that’s why their activities increased in every major metropolis in the world,” Abraham said grimly.

Mae arched an eyebrow at Violet and Miles. “Really?”

The cousins nodded.

“Then, how didyouknow the Witch Queen would awaken in New York?” Bryony asked Nikolai, her jaw set in a hard line.

Mae studied him with a faint frown, equally curious. Remorse flooded him all over again. He knew what he was about to disclose would cause her pain.

“I performed a scrying ritual to search for her soul.”

“A scrying ritual?” Miles repeated blankly.

“Wait.” Consternation clouded Bryony’s face. “The only scrying ritual that can locate a lost soul is—”

“The Aura of the Moon!” Violet’s eyes bulged. “But—you’d need several sorcerers and witches to carry out a rite that powerful. Especially one intended to search for a soul gone astray! And the chances of success are—”

“Less than one percent,” Bryony said in a flinty voice.

Disbelief washed across Abraham’s face. He scowled.

“Are you saying you executed that spell on your own?”

The other coven members looked equally skeptical.

“I haven’t exactly been sitting on my ass the last fourteen years,” Nikolai said stiffly. “As one of the Sorcerer King’s heirs, not only did I regularly spar with some of the most powerful sorcerers and witches in the Dark Council, I also had access to their library and a private training room. Though the stakes may be high, that rite can be performed by a single person. The trick is to find the perfect location and the right phase of the moon.”

“High?!” Bryony snapped. “You could have surrendered your soul to Hell!”

Mae recoiled. A stilted hush followed.

Nikolai could tell his revelation had done little to inspire the trust of the sorcerers and witches in the room.

“So, you saw Mae’s awakening?” Bryony said tensely once she’d calmed down.

Nikolai hesitated.Here we go.

“Not exactly. I knew the Witch Queen would awaken somewhere in New York. I just didn’t know whose body she would arise in.”

Bryony narrowed her eyes. “I don’t understand.”

“I forced her awakening before Oscar and the Dark Council could find her.”

Shocked silence descended around them.

Bryony blinked slowly. “Pardon?”

“The magic explosion,” Violet mumbled, color draining from her face. “The spell you unleashed that night, on that high-rise.That’swhat that was for? To force Mae’s soul to awaken?!”

“Soul Storm,” Bryony said glassily. “You carried outSoul—”

Magic flooded the room, a red mist of fury.

Nikolai grunted as Mae grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air, everything and everyone except for Brimstone and Hellreaver levitating helplessly around them under the influence of her rage.

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