Page 122 of The Witch and His Crow

‘Because you are thekey.’ There was anger in the demon’s tone. A sense that he was displeased with this fact, and it irked him to reveal it.

The key. The same thing my mother had said to Caym as she conjured him. My blood had opened the portal to the Witch Trials. This was why Caym was adamant about getting me out of the Trials. Because he knew, as well as my mother, that the only way of keeping this demon locked away for good, was keeping me away.

For the first time in my life, I longed to defy my mother’s dying wish. All for a man who likely didn’t deserve it.

‘Say it,’ the beast sang. ‘One word. And I will save him.’

I screwed my eyes closed, watching stars dance in the dark. I refused my better judgement, telling myself that this was the only option. Because I was selfish. I hated Arwyn, but that didn’t mean I wanted to lose him.

Weak hands clutched at me, barely able to grasp onto my shirt. ‘Don’t…do it. Let me go?—'

‘Bahmet,’ I shouted to the dark, above Arwyn’s final plea. As if it wasn’t enough the first time, I bellowed the name out of my throat as though I spat flames.

A cold steady peace folded over me. It was as if the atmosphere paused, drew outwards and then flooded back towards me like the destruction of a black hole.

‘Good boy,’ Bahmet praised, two words soft as a father’s admiration.

I refused to open my eyes, to face the possible realities. It was easier, to face the dark in my mind. Familiar. But when Arwyn shifted in my grip, I forgot all of it. My eyes flew open. I peered down at him, holding my breath in anticipation.

Arwyn sat up silently. He tugged the athame from his chest with steady hands, discarded the blade on the floor.

I was speechless as I watched dark veins stitch the wound in his chest together. Arwyn glanced down at himself too, silently pondering the possibilities. Or at least I thought that was what his silence was born from.

Until he looked back at me, with glowing red eyes. He pulled himself out of my arms, but I did little to try and stop him. I was left, dumfounded and frozen, as Arwyn defied death and stood tall above me.

‘Look at what you have you done,’ Arwyn spat, clutching the side of his head. He pinched his eyes closed, stumbling back,as though he waged a war. Which he did, with the demon now possessing his body.

‘Congratulations,’ I said, getting up and putting distance between us, unsure if I should give into relief or the hate that still lingered in me. ‘You won. You are the new Grand High.’

When Arwyn opened his eyes, it was to show the beautiful blue I had become so powerless in the face of. Pools of sapphire I would’ve happily drowned within, until I discovered his truth.

In seconds, he was before me, grasping the sides of my arms so tight I knew my skin would’ve bruised.

‘Listen to me,’ Arwyn said, wincing as he battled against the entity possessing him. Unlike my mother, he didn’t have the thistlebane in his system to render Bahmet powerless.

At least, not yet.

‘Tell them…you won,’ Arwyn forced out as though the words pained him.

‘Tell who?’ I couldn’t grasp the reality that Arwyn had been a thread away from dying, and now stood before me, alive and well.

He held me close, snarling in my face as he forced his words out. ‘The Coven. Tell them you won. It will give you…time’ He fell to his knees, screaming out in agony. I was pulled down with him, unable to break away from his grasp. ‘time to save yourself from what is to come.’

I was stunned to silence, as the reality of everything set in. Arwyn had become the Grand High. I’d passed the greatest power straight into the hands of the enemy.

As if reading my mind, Arwyn broke out of his inner battle and fixed his eyes on me. One was beautiful blue, the other a terrifying ruby.

‘It was Jonathan Baily who sold your parents out. He was as much to blame for the death of your parents as I was. Trust no one. Trust…’ Arwyn silenced himself as Bahmet finally tookover. As suddenly as his fight began, Arwyn was calm as the centre of a storm. Both eyes were overcome with the demon’s red. And I knew that I’d lost him.

‘See you soon, my child,’ Bahmet said, using Arwyn as a puppet. He released me, waved a hand in my direction and I felt my body leave the floor. I was forced backwards, torn away from Arwyn as he faded into the distance.

Shadows swallowed me whole, chewed me up and spat me back out. I hit the ground on all fours, unable to steady my breathing. I was vaguely aware of the shuffling of feet, the gathering of people around me.

When I looked up, I was no longer in the castle. Arwyn was no longer standing before me. Instead, I faced Jonathan. I was back in London, in the cellar of the White Tower with the stone archway at my back, the one we’d walked through to enter the Witch Trials.

Fanned out around Jonathan were witches with eyes glowing an array of silver, blue, red, and green.

‘Welcome back, Hector Briar,’ Jonathan said, a hesitant yet knowing smile plastered across his mouth.

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