Page 28 of Blood Coven

“Ana?” Matthias asked gently, though a subtle hint of anger still lingered in his voice.

She tried to speak but succumbed to a coughing fit. She used his sturdy body to pull herself upright into a sitting position. Matthias helped her to her feet, but Ana was hardly able to stand without clinging to him. Staring vacantly at the floor, she wavered while Matthias steadied her.

Juniper filled a cup of water and brought it to Ana, helping her take a sip. Most of it spilled down her chin, so Juniper stepped back, dipping her head down so the water splashed onto the floor.

Matthias glared at his mother, but she spoke first.

“This is good. She has proven herself strong enough to handle what I have given her—she’ll make it. You do not need to worry about her surviving now, Matthias.” She grinned. “Unless, of course, her husband does not arrive or does not willingly take your curse; then, it will most certainly kill her in two weeks’ time… Or you will.”

“How can you sleep at night? Do you not harbor an ounce of guilt for the innocent lives you take? The lives you hold in your grasp, just tight enough so they do not slip, yet you can crush them at a moment’s urge?”

“It is because of my grasp on everything around me that I do sleep at night,” she spat. She gestured towards the door. “Go on now. Get her out of my sight.”

Matthias yanked Ana’s cloak from the peg near the door and jerked the door open with such ferocity, Azalea was surprised it didn’t come off the ancient hinges. With a slam, Matthias was gone.

Smiling, she walked to the window and opened it, finding herself face-to-face with her trustworthy familiar, Aegidius. She stroked the crow’s soft black feathers, feeling the smoothness that allowed him to glide through the air, cutting through the fiercest of winds to get where she needed him to be.

“My sweet,” she crooned. “Follow them at a distance, and keep a close eye on Matthias.”

With a soft kiss between his black eyes, Azalea sent him off. Listening was more valuable than coin, gold, or jewels. Secrets haunted every town, every family. They held so much power over others if one knew of them. Often Azalea chose to be paid in secrets instead of coin. Coin could purchase necessities and luxuries, but secrets could keep her and Juniper alive. Now that Matthias was back in Ocleau, they would keep him alive, too.

“Juniper.” Azalea beckoned her daughter.

She guided her to a kitchen table covered in all manner of scripts, scrolls, and books full of spells and incantations; there would be something in there that they could use to control the Wolf.

Azalea spread her hands over the documents. “We have work to do.”

They began without delay, pouring hours of their time into reading every line twice to decipher any hidden meanings or riddles within the spells, pondering the best way to control a person. There were temporary possessions; Azalea had dabbled in possession more than once, but to be in the body of the Wolf was not her intention. I need full control of the beast to command it at my will. Not simply a werewolf I can leash, a wolf that can change at my whim. A wolf that will come to my every beck and call.

It sounded impossible, but Azalea had long learned that the impossible only remained so until a witch found a way to create what she needed.

“Mama.” Juniper walked into the room with two mugs of tea. She gracefully handed one to Azalea.

Azalea looked at her curiously.

“Something is not right about this,” Juniper admitted.

“If you do not agree with what I want to do, you do not have to be a part of it,” Azalea told her. She knew her daughter’s moral code was very different from her own, but Azalea had always sheltered and protected her so she wouldn’t turn out as viciously cynical as herself. Every time Azalea looked at Juniper, she recalled the betrayal and hurt but found she could still love her daughter.

Juniper shook her head. “Not the wolf.” She set down the steaming mug, leaving her fingers faintly red from the heat. With the soft expression on her round face and her button nose, she still looked so young and innocent to Azalea. She wondered if a time would come when this would change. Maybe I’ve protected her too much.

Juniper snapped Azalea out of her thoughts. “I mean Ana. There is something about her that I do not trust.”

“She looks so much like Riina,” Azalea said. She noticed immediately when Ana walked into the house. The similarities between the two were uncanny. While Azalea had more up her sleeve than Matthias or Juniper ever knew, it was obvious Matthias also had a plan. Confident she would figure out his ploy first, she wasn’t worried. I love my son, but he is no mastermind.

“Yes,” Juniper agreed. “Matthias is a very loving person. It would not surprise me if he fell in love with a woman who looks like Riina. Perhaps he has already fallen in love with her and is trying to get her husband out of the way.”

Azalea pondered this, unable to deny that the thought had occurred to her too. “He has too much at stake. If he loves her, he knows how easily I can make her drown herself, hang herself, poison herself. If he does love her, he would do best to stay away from her. He belongs to this family, and I will not have him trying to leave us again for another pretty face. Love is for family, not harlots.”

Juniper nodded, though she looked pensive. “Why do you want to keep him so badly?”

Azalea’s lips tightened, and creases formed at her eyes. “Before you were conceived, I loved someone very much. With that man, I had Matthias, and when he was dying, I did everything in my power to save him. It wasn’t enough. Matthias is all I have left of him.”

Juniper dropped her head, knowing her conception was very different. However, she made no more comments about Matthias and his father. “But Mama, how will you keep him here?”

“Simple, child.” Azalea grinned. “When it is all over, we will kill Ana, and he will have no one left in this world but us.”

“That is what drove him away last time,” Juniper warned.

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