Page 69 of Rites of Passage

Charlotte stirred. Ephra drew a sharp breath. Gerard blinked.

Karin opened and closed her mouth soundlessly, her face growing red.

“That’s—that’s preposterous!” she spat out. The witch glared at Bryony. “Is this the best lie the New York coven could come up with?! Well, it won’t work.” She pointed a finger at Mae. “She still has to go through theRites of Passageto prove her allegiance to us!”

The hairs rose on the back of Mae’s neck.

Brimstone went stiff in her arms.Rites of Passage?

“What the hell is theRites of Passage?” Vlad said between gritted teeth.

CHAPTER30

Nikolai’s heartknocked against his ribs.

He had a nasty inkling what Karin was talking about.

Bryony pressed her hands on the table and rose to her feet, eyes flashing emerald with magic. “Are you insane?!”

Penley hissed, hackles rising.

Nikolai had never seen the witch and her familiar so furious.

“How could you even suggest such a thing?” Marlena told Karin, horrified. Her terrier was growling at her side, his pupils crackling with moon magic. “That’s an archaic tradition. It was banished hundreds of years ago and for good reason!” She stiffened, the color suddenly draining from her face. Her gaze swung jerkily to Ephra. “Wait. Is this why you asked me to bring theBook of Lightto Philadelphia?!”

“Bloody hell!” Derrick swore.

Nadia flinched. “You brought theBook of Lighthere?!”

“Yes.” Marlena swallowed, scowling. “Ephra insisted. But she wouldn’t tell me why.”

A chill coursed through Nikolai. The pieces of the puzzle were starting to fall into place. He could tell from Mae’s hyper alertness that she’d come to the same conclusion as him.

“If someone doesn’t tell us what thisRites of Passageis in the next fifteen seconds, I swear to God, heads are gonna roll,” Vlad ground out.

Tarang bared his teeth at his side.

Mae laid a hand on the incubus’s arm as he lurched forward. Vlad froze.

Nikolai sensed magic building up inside them. His insides twisted when he detected what they’d just felt. There was something in the room with them. Something that had just released the faintest pulse of corruption.

He reached for the core of his own power, Alastair bracing on his shoulder.

“TheRites of Passageis an oath which witches and sorcerers used to swear centuries past,” Barbara said grimly, her furious stare locked on Ephra and Karin. “It involved making a pledge on a white magic grimoire called theBook of Light. The covenant was deemed a sacrilege after the magic communities realized it bound a piece of the soul of the one who entered the contract to the grimoire. It’s been kept under lock and key in the Council of the Moon’s secret archives since the Treaty of Argentheim.”

Vlad drew a sharp breath.

Nikolai’s eyes widened.Fuck!

“So, that’s it,” Mae said quietly. She turned to Charlotte Brix. “That’s your end goal? To bind my soul to this book?”

Charlotte’s fingers stilled on her knitting needles.

Confusion darted across the faces of the rest of the High Council.

“What are you talking about?” Ephra asked irately.

“It was Charlotte who suggested theRites of Passageto us, Ephra,” Raven said bitterly. “Remember, she said it would alleviate the concerns you, Karin, and Gerard expressed about Mae? And it’s Charlotte who hasn’t said a single word since this meeting started.” The young witch glowered at the older woman, hurt darkening her eyes. “She’s also the only one who entered this room without a familiar.”

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