Page 60 of Rites of Passage

“Yeah. Some days, it sucks to be the Witch Queen.”

A frustrated sigh escaped Armand. “Raven is right. I wish you’d informed us of all this in advance, Bryony. It could have avoided the situation with Karin.”

April’s face tightened. “I doubt that. Karin was on the warpath tonight. She’s up to something, I’m sure of it.”

Raven and Armand exchanged a guarded glance.

Suspicion brought a faint frown to Mae’s face. “What?”

Raven looked discomfited.

“You didn’t tell her?” she asked Bryony.

“Not yet,” Bryony murmured.

“What was I not told?” Mae said stonily.

Raven chewed her lip. She jerked her head at Bryony. “Youtell her.”

Bryony sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Karin may have intimated that your only role should be to serve the needs of the High Council.”

Mae blinked. Hellreaver made an angry sound.

What?!Brimstone jumped to his feet.How dare they?!

He snarled, magic pulsing from his body. The lights flickered.

“It’s okay, Brim.” Mae laid a hand on the fox, the anger bubbling in her veins controlled by the thinnest of threads. She leveled a hard stare at Raven and Bryony. “So, you’re saying they want me to be their puppet?”

CHAPTER27

A strained silence followed.

“Those people sure have a death wish,” Vlad said between gritted teeth.

A muscle jumped in Nikolai’s jawline. “That sounds like something my father would say.”

Raven raised her hands defensively at their dark stares. “Hey, I didn’t vote for it. Karin was the one who suggested it. Though Ephra and Gerard didn’t openly agree, they tend to support her decisions.”

“And the others?” Barbara said sharply.

“Charlotte and Derrick abstained from commenting.” Raven faltered. “I couldn’t tell where Linus’s allegiance lay.”

Barbara tapped her cane on the floor. “Still, the fact that Karin even dared suggest such a thing shows how out of tune some in our High Council are. To have so easily forgotten the threat posed by the Sorcerer King and the Dark Council means they have lost touch with what’s at stake and are simply craving power.” She leveled a piercing look around the room. “Which makes them no better than our enemy.”

Raven lowered her brows. “Look, I know they did something shitty out there tonight, but I doubt they’re on the same side as the Sorcerer King.”

“Quite honestly, I don’t give a rat’s ass about Karin and the others right now,” April said bitterly. She turned to Mae, her knuckles white where she’d fisted her hands in her lap. “Do you believe my coven members were kidnapped by the Dark Council?”

Mae hesitated.

“Yes,” she said reluctantly. “As much as it pains me to come to that conclusion, it’s clear Oscar and Barquiel need people with magic to bring forth ghouls from Hell. That must be why they were taken.” She drummed her fingers on the armrest of her chair. “There’s one thing that puzzles me, though. From what Agnes described, the facility where they were carrying out their experiments was likely in or around New York. I’m surprised they have one in Philadelphia too.”

“That may not necessarily be the case,” Vlad said thoughtfully. “They may have perfected their technique enough to be able to change magic users into ghouls at will.”

Dread filled Mae at his words.

“I think Vlad’s right,” Nikolai concurred grimly. “We know Oscar and the Dark Council want something out of this covenstead. We still haven’t figured out what that is. What we’re certain of is that it has something to do with that.”

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