Page 44 of All Her Feelings

When they passed through the wards of the coven, Holly shook off the brush of magic as the door opened and a solemn Aiden Ashcraft stepped out. “Ambassadors.” He inclined his head at them. “I’ve been expecting your arrival.”

Holly kept her face neutral, even as she wanted to raise her eyebrows. Kallan took a step closer to her as they ascended the steps. Luca’s tail lashed behind him, but he remained outside without much of a fight, either sensing the tension in the air or happy from the extra attention Holly had been paying him this morning.

Inside the manor house, gauzy black fabric was draped over every window and door. Aiden Ashcraft’s eyes followed Holly’s. “We took several heavy losses when we answered Frederick’s call a few weeks ago. Our entire coven is in mourning.”

Holly hadn’t remembered seeing the Ashcraft coven at the battle, but with all the chaos, she likely would have missed him. “I’m sorry for your losses,” she murmured.

“Thank you.” He tilted his head as he studied their group. “I know you are likely trying to find the rest of the corruption and cut out the rot before it spreads, but you won’t find it here.”

Holly’s eyebrows rose at his frank statement, and he gave her a solemn smile. “I’m loyal to the Realm. To all of it. What Vanya and Roland had planned to do… It was unnatural and treasonous. We might not agree on everything, but we aren’t traitors.”

Holly glanced at Kieran. His truth-telling abilities were still young, and he was still learning, but he gave her a small nod. Aiden Ashcraft was telling the truth.

Kallan caught Kieran’s nod as well, but his next question had Holly snapping her gaze to him. “Who do you think are the most powerful magic users in the Realm?”

Aiden looked caught off guard by the question. He looked at Holly in confusion. “Vanya—well, he used to be. Desmond, Frederick, and Benedict of Brandlevine have always been powerful. Although Lyle Fernwood and Wyatt Waterwind can hold their own, and I guess Claire’s the most powerful of all of them.”

Holly kept her face neutral as she gave Aiden a short nod. Her papa being on Aiden’s list was surely going to be a mark against him in her mates’ eyes, but they still had two coven leaders to question, and Aiden Ashcraft had backed her up on that, at least.

“Thank you,” Kallan said. “We won’t take up more of your time. Our apologies again for your losses.”

Aiden gave him a short nod.

They filed out of the manor house, and Holly tried not to be disappointed at the short visit. On one hand, they had knocked a name off their list, but on the other hand, her mates still suspected her papa.

“We should go to the Fernwood coven next and talk to Lyle,” Holly said, looking in the direction she knew Fernwood was.

Kallan came to stand next to her, but Holly didn’t look at him. “You all go ahead,” Kallan told the others. “We’ll join you in a minute.”

Oh, we will?Holly thought, biting the inside of her cheek in frustration. There he went again, telling her what to do instead of asking. She went to move away, but he caught her elbow. “Please,” he said softly, and Holly let out a sigh. Part of her knew she was being a bit irrational, but she had thought they’d had a breakthrough with communication, and last night, Kallan made all the decisions without her.

“I know you’re angry,” he said, once the others had walked off, “but we’re just trying to protect you.”

Holly rolled her eyes, and she didn’t care if he saw it. That wasn’t why she was mad. “I’m not mad that you want to protect me; I’m mad that you made a decision last night and didn’t want to hear my reasoning at all. Just because my papa is a powerful magic user doesn’t mean he’s the right-hand man.”

“But it doesn’t mean he’s not,” Kallan said softly, like he was afraid saying it louder would make her angrier. “We don’t have the same blind faith in your family that you do.”

“It’s not blind faith,” Holly argued. “I would have felt that type of evil.”

“I hope you’re right, for your sake,” Kallan said, “but we also cannot rule anyone out. We would not be doing our duty to Claire if we didn’t follow every possible lead. If it helps, your uncle is under suspicion as well, although he did fight in the battle.”

Holly bit her lip as she felt some of her anger drain away. He had a point; she could give him that. Even if she didn’t like the point. He tentatively reached out and pulled her close, and Holly went into his arms.

“I don’t want it to be your papa,” he said again, “but until we have absolute proof, we can’t rule it out. We can’t rule anyone out or we risk danger not only to us, but to Claire and the rest of the Realm. So, if you want to be mad, I understand that. But be mad at me, not the others.”

“That’s not fair to you,” Holly mumbled into his chest as she placed her hands on it. Her anger was quickly melting away with his proximity.

“I’m a commander. I’m used to it.”

“But not the commander of our group, of our family,” Holly said, looking up at him. “We’re all equal, right? We have to be if this is to work. I understand your reasoning, but you have to extend me the same understanding if this is truly going to be an equal partnership. I know you’re a commander, but I’m not your soldier. None of us are.”

Kallan looked thoughtful and nodded as he took in her words. “That’s fair. So how about this… We continue down the list and treat everyone on it as a suspect, but we won’t cross anyone off without clear evidence.”

Holly bit the inside of her cheek but nodded. She still didn’t believe her papa or her uncle was behind this, but she could agree to figuring it out together. She would cross her papa’s name off the list, and then Kallan would see she was right.

CHAPTER21

Holly sighed with relief when the Brandlevine manor house came into view. They had traveled to the other two covens over the last six hours, and her feet ached as frustration bubbled under her skin. They had found nothing. Well, not nothing. They had crossed the two coven leaders off the list but hadn’t found anything that brought them closer to finding the identity of the right-hand person.

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