Page 63 of Midnight Witch

“Shit.” Violet swallowed heavily. “Is thatSoul Conjure?!”

“Yes.” Mae’s insides twisted as she endedContain.She caught the harpy eagle and cradled her gently to her chest. The creature’s racing heart began to settle, as did the quivering orb that was her soul. “It’s okay,” she mumbled. “You’re okay, now.”

Cortes stared at the pale globe floating next to the bird. “You conjured the soul of a living creature?”

“Her core would have cracked otherwise,” Mae said quietly.

Cortes paled. She knew he was thinking about his first familiar.

She studied Sable with a faint frown.

She had no doubt Oscar would have felt his authority over the familiar shatter wherever he was right now. Whether he would think it was because she’d died was another matter.

Mae wrapped the bird and her inert soul within a protective shield before turning to an ashen-faced Mendes. “We should talk.”

CHAPTER26

“Sable belongs to my daughter,Anya. Oscar and that demon came to our city twelve days ago and attacked our coven before kidnapping her.”

Mendes stared blindly at his hands where they sat in the mansion’s main sitting room.

Mae’s heartbeat accelerated. The pieces of the puzzle were finally falling into place. “Does Anya have blonde hair and gray eyes?”

Mendes recoiled like she’d struck him.

Her chest tightened. Mendes looked like a broken man. There was little doubt in her mind now that the swagger he and his coven had demonstrated at the reception had been to hide their fear.

“How do you know that?” Mendes whispered thinly.

Troubled murmurs broke out among the members of his coven. Though most of them still watched her and the others with deep mistrust, it was clear they were petrified of how the Dark Council might react to their current situation.

Mendes’s aide spoke up. “This is a bad idea, Sergio. You know what they’ll do to Anya if they find out we’re talking to the Witch Queen!”

The sorcerer’s strained gaze flitted to the red sphere bobbing next to Mae. Sable and her soul orb floated peacefully inside it.

Mendes ignored his aide and glowered at Mae, color returning to his face. “Answer me!”

“I saw a vision of your daughter when I went back to where I triggered her mirage magic.”

Mendes drew a sharp breath. His chin wobbled. “You saw Anya?!”

“Yes.”

Hope brightened the High Priest’s face. “Did—did she seem okay?!”

Mae hesitated. “She was alive.”

Mendes’s expression crumpled. His aide fisted his hands, his distress and that of his coven plain to see. Anya was clearly loved by them all.

“Illusion Sorcery,” Mendes mumbled.

Mae straightened.

Mendes swallowed heavily before meeting her gaze. “That’s the name of Anya’s magic. It’s called Illusion Sorcery. There are only a handful of people in the world who possess it.”

“The Sorcerer King sure likes collecting rare things,” Cortes said bitterly in the fraught hush.

Mae’s stomach tightened.He’s right. First Roman and now Anya. It seems Vedran is keen on amassing formidable talent at his side. Whether they wish to join him doesn’t seem to factor in the equation.Her nails dug into her palms as she cut her eyes to Nikolai.His mother was one of them. And now, so is he. Is this all because he wishes to defeat me?

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