Page 7 of Witch Queen

“Come on, it’s already started,” the aide said, beckoning briskly.

“No one mentioned anything about a meeting,” Mae said, sullen.

“What do you have against meetings?” Nadia asked.

“Something bad always happens when there are meetings.”

“She’s not wrong,” Nikolai muttered.

“Ah.” Nadia grimaced. “I’d forgotten about that acid-inducing Philadelphia incident for a moment.”

Abraham sighed heavily at Mae’s disgruntled expression. “We have sandwiches and cake. There’s even food for the fox.”

Mae and Brimstone brightened.

It was as they were climbing the stairs to the upper levels of the mansion that Mae noticed the buzz of activity around them. Almost all the rooms had been taken over by the New York coven. Even the sweeping hallways they passed were jampacked with workstations and filing cabinets.

She scanned the defensive magic she sensed throughout the building. It extended to a fifty-foot radius around the entire block and down into the bowels of the structure. She frowned faintly.

We should augment their barrier,she told Brimstone.The coven headquarters on Madison Avenue had ancient runes built into its foundations. Barquiel still managed to smash those in minutes.

The demon fox’s eyes flared crimson.I hope that damn demon is suffering wherever he is.

Heat flushed through Mae at the thought of the Archduke of Hell who had hurt Na Ri and her kin. It still sickened them that he’d coveted Ran Soyun for all these years.

Bryony’s study took up most of the northwest corner of the third floor. The New York coven High Priestess was in the middle of a full-blown argument when they entered the palatial chamber.

“I’m not going to stop her from doing what she wants, Karin!”

Bryony slammed her tea cup on her saucer and glared at the witch seated opposite her.

Karin Everheart scowled. “We can’t just let her waltz into Hell. What if something happens to her?”

“Karin has a point,” Derrick Adlington murmured, absentmindedly stroking the hawk perched on his knee.

“We all know what a trouble magnet Mae Jin is,” Gerard Mosele added with a grunt. “Ten bucks says she gets into a fight with an even bigger numbskull the minute she steps foot in the Underworld.”

“They sure trust you, huh?” Nadia told Mae drily.

Mae pursed her lips as the witches and sorcerers in the room finally registered their presence.

Roman twisted around and gaped at Mae, eyes bulging. “Wait. You’re trying to gowhere?!”

CHAPTERTHREE

Marlena Kosek smiled brightlyand rose to greet her nephew. “Nikolai.”

“Hey.” Nikolai hugged his aunt and kissed her cheek. “You should have told me you were in town.”

“I flew in this morning.” The High Priestess of the Council of the Moon glanced at Bryony. “It seemed urgent.”

“Hi,” Simon Roth greeted them awkwardly.

The new head of the Atlanta coven was doing his best not to fidget in his seat where he sat beside Isabelle West. Rumor had it the pair were currently an item.

“I was only gone a goddamn minute,” Abraham muttered under his breath as he crossed the floor and joined Raven Quinn on a couch.

“I’m sorry.” The witch apologized to her boyfriend with an irate sigh. “I wanted to keep the peace, but that would have involved some pretty powerful destructive magic and I know how much Bryony cherishes those Ming Dynasty vases on the sideboard.”

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