Page 61 of The Powerless Witch

She sucked in a deep breath, her eyelids fluttering rapidly as if she was fighting back tears. I cocked my head, studying the way she clenched and unclenched her jaw, the way she pulled back her shoulders like she was taking a battle stance against a great adversary.

“I crawled out of the earth six months later,” she continued, her voice lower now, the hurt from before replaced by anger. “I went back to my village only to find that…they had killed them. My father had died the same night. They buried him in a shallow grave that the wood animals dug up. There weren’t even bones left of him.” Without thinking, I placed my hand on top of hers, where she squeezed the edge of the tub. She tensed, but then her shoulders sagged. She didn’t pull away.

“My mother had escaped with my sister that night. They looked for me, but they never found my body. So they went after those who killed me.” Her voice turned darker, harsher, venom slipping into her tone. “It took my entire coven to bring them down. My mother was…she was a powerful necromancer, even the Head Witch had a healthy respect for her.” Celeste finally turned to face me, and my heart clenched at the pain in her eyes. Never before had I seen her show it so openly, even after my sister all but broke her body. It was mesmerisingly beautiful and heartbreakingly sad.

“You said you were gone. How do you know that?”

“Because they kept their corpses.” She smiled, but there was no joy, no life in her expression. “They hung them up and kept them in suspension for everyone to see. As a warning and a reminder to those who oppose the will of the Coven. I reanimated them so I could speak to them one last time.” A gasp escaped my lips and she let out a dark chuckle while wrapping her arms around her knees. “It was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life. It…it broke something in me. And they…they looked so relieved to see me alive. They didn’t blame or curse me. I wanted to die with them. I was ready to. But then my mother looked me in the eyes, her face rotten and vicious, and told me I could not. Told me I had a debt to pay—for me, for her, for my family—and I could not rest until I was done.”

“That was…” I winced, and when she shot me a warning look, I closed my mouth.

“So I did,” she continued, as if I hadn’t said anything. “I murdered everyone in my village while they slept. Then I went after Noah’s village and I killed everyone there, too. His family’s ward was a weak one, and with no witch to oppose me, they stood no chance. But Noah wasn’t there, and neither was Medina. They had left with their baby.” I noted the names in my head, deciding not to ask. Noah had to be theman she loved, and Medina was likely her friend. The people who betrayed her, who killed her. “So I looked for them, leaving death in my wake. It wasn’t until I entered the territory of the Coven of the Silver Flame that someone came to stop me. I knew that Medina had gone to them. I had traced her there, so I knew they were hiding her. I had no quarrel with them, so I simply asked them to tell me where she was. However, they refused to surrender her. They attacked me first, and in defending myself, I killed many of them. But I was already weakened after using so much magic, so they bested me in the end.”

Another dark chuckle left her mouth as she leaned her cheek on her knees, looking at me with a distant, hollow look.

“But, lo and behold, it turned out my death was not meant to be permanent. I woke up again a few months later. I didn’t bother with murdering and killing. I just wanted to find Medina and Noah. I was sure that if I killed them, this painful cycle would end, and I would go to hell to suffer for what I had done. But…” She raised her head, smiling widely from ear to ear. The change was so sudden, it made me shudder with concern and a hint of fear. “I found them a few years later. Dead and buried, side by side.”

She reached for the edge of the tub, pushing herself to her feet and sloshing the water onto the floor. I didn’t bother moving back, even as the droplets soaked my robe. She climbed out before I could help her, striding unapologetically naked to where a pile of soft cloths were neatly arranged on one of the shelves.

“I burned their bones and killed myself that night. I wanted it all to be over,” she said with her back to me, her fingers absently drying her skin. “But it wasn’t over. It might never be over. Because my deal was tied to my revenge and I never got that.” She wrapped a cloth around her body before turning. Her eyes found mine, the vulnerability from earlier replaced by cold detachment. “So, who is the winner? A man who is ready to die for a family that doesn’t want him, or a woman who killed the family who was ready to sacrifice everything for her?”

Her voice shook, but her expression remained closed. Pushing to my feet, I made my way to her, caressing her cheek gently.

“You didn’t kill your family, Celeste,” I whispered, brushing my lips against her forehead. Moving her hand to rest on her chest, I pressed it against her right side and smiled. “We might hold some responsibility for what happened in the past, but it is not our fault. Maybe it’s time we both accepted that and forgave ourselves.”

She didn’t reply, too busy staring at her chest where a sliver of her magic—so tiny, I had almost missed it—had slithered out of her core and was now gliding through her empty pathways. She must have felt it too, because she held her fingers right above it.

“That’s enough excitement for today,” I said, stepping back. “Get dressed. I’ll have the food brought to your room.”

I was halfway to the door when her words made me pause.

“Thank you,” she whispered in a hoarse, trembling voice that almost made me rush back to her side. “For helping me. And for sharing your story with me.”

I looked at her over my shoulder, giving her my brightest smile even though I didn’t feel like smiling at all. Her eyes were rimmed with red, as if she had been crying, but when they met mine, her cheeks were dry.

“I told you already, my lovely rose. I will not leave. I will not betray you. I will not pressure you. You can trust me.”

She nodded once, and I took that as my dismissal. Turning my back to her, I walked out of the room just when the first muffled sob reached my ears. Balling my hands into fists, I kept going despite the urge to run back.

She needed this. She needed to take the first step alone. And when she did, I was ready to walk her the rest of the way.

Chapter 27

Isaac

Iloathed funerals more than I loathed witches.

Seeing the sorrow, the tears, the pained sobs, the goodbyes…I hated remembering those feelings, hated the reminder of the things I thought I’d locked away. Most of all, I hated how helpless they made me in the face of death.

No matter how strong I became, how hard I fought, or how many people I saved, it could never be enough. I knew that in my heart, yet I still…hated myself for it.

I nodded at another woman as she passed by, tipping her head in silent greeting while the procession of mourners filed out of the small cemetery. We had only lowered three caskets into the ground today, which, judging by how badly Daniel and Kai were hit, was nothing. Yet those were three more names on the list of people I couldn’t save. Three more family members taken away from me by witches.

‘Not witches. Enemies,’I tried to correct myself, but my mind refused to settle. It didn’t matter if they were witches or vampires or hunters or else—death was death. But there was a part of me, a huge chasm filled with hate, that was reserved for those wicked women. Hate I didn’t need or want anymore, but one that I didn’t know how to get rid of.

I caught sight of a familiar face and watched as Alice assisted one of the older women along the way, offering her something to drink—a tonic for the nerves, I presumed, since she was shaking and struggling to breathe between sobs.

I had my sister back—the sister I mourned and thought was lost. I had the answers I didn’t know I was looking for. I had…a mate. So much had changed in just a few months that I couldn’t cope with the feelings pushing to burst out. I couldn’t come to terms with the fact thatIwas changing, and I had no idea what would emerge after this shift was done. All I knew was that it was painful, confusing, and necessary.

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