Page 66 of The Powerless Witch

I stopped at the edge of the room, catching my hands behind my back and smiling at them. Once, just standing in their presence and basking in their attention would have made me grin with joy, but now all I could feel was tension…and the urge to go back to my room and into Celeste’s arms.

“You called for me?” I said, looking at my mother first, then at my sister. I wasn’t sure which one of them had summoned me, but if they were both here, it wasn’t for my company.

“Sit down.” My mother motioned toward the empty space and I pushed down the urge to refuse, sinking between the cushions. She looked at the table overflowing with ale, nectars, and wine, but I just shook my head. “I have been made aware you have a guest,” my mother continued, running her thin finger over the edge of her glass. “Even though I was very clear when I warned her not to return. Explain yourself.”

‘It has been weeks,’I wanted to say, but kept the words locked behind my teeth as I glanced at my sister. She pretended to be more interested in the grapes she was eating, but she barely hid her smirk.

“I made a bargain with her that required her to stay,” I said softly, returning my attention to my mother. “She does not stray from my palace, so you’d have no reason to meet her before she’s gone. Not unless you purposely seek her company.” I looked at my sister again, and my mother followed my gaze. Amantha gave me an innocent shrug, popping another grape into her mouth. “She is my guest and my responsibility. Chasing her out now will break my bargain and cause more harm than help. Besides—”

“Make her leave,” my mother interrupted, her voice growing as sharp as a knife. “Now.”

My sister paused with another grape at her mouth and we both looked at the Queen. I studied her hard expression, her relentless eyes, her stubbornly raised chin,finding no hesitation. She really was ordering me to break my bargain. Or was she telling me to leave with her? What exactly had Amantha told her?

“No,” I said, holding her gaze. She blinked several times as if caught by surprise, then moved to sit up, her drink sloshing in her glass with a few drops flying out.

“No?” she repeated. “Are you disobeying my order?”

“Yes, Mother,” I replied, trying to keep my smile on even when her eyes flared with anger. “As a member of the Fae, our bargains are binding. Command me something else, if you will, but I will not chase or let any harm come to Celeste as long as she is my guest. I’m sure you understand, since this is a law you swore to rule by.”

Her eye twitched in annoyance as she slammed her glass on the low wooden table. The crystal shattered from the impact, but she didn’t even look down.

“This isn’t just about her!” she hissed, getting to her feet and circling the table. She moved as if to approach me, but then thought better of it. She was a tall woman, lean and straight like an arrow, but she was no longer at the peak of her power. Unlike me. And while I had no desire to ever lift a hand against my kin, she still feared me. Just like my siblings had. “She is trouble, boy. Everywhere she goes, calamity follows. The balance broke when she awoke and now things are changing. Having her here is putting the Fae at risk. Do your people mean less to you than the life of a soulless witch?”

“That soulless witch hasn’t hurt a single being since she came here,” I retorted, getting up as well. My mother tensed but refused to back down even as I stepped toward her. “The balance you speak of has not broken because of her. Her kind shattered it when they turned on the others and you are delusional if you think we can stay away from this confrontation for long. I obeyed your order to retreat that night out of respect, not because I agreed. If we had stood together back then, we could have saved more people. We could have remained united and restored the balance without so much bloodshed. But it’s too late for that now and sooner or later, we’ll have to choose a side. If you haven’t done so already.”

The Queen’s lip curled, her eyes holding mine even while she strode back to her seat. I allowed myself a quick look at my sister, but she was staring at our mother, so I couldn’t exactly see her reaction. There was something amiss, though, something between them that had prompted this meeting. I hadn’t cared before, but now…now I needed to know if I wanted to keep Celestesafe.

“Celeste stays until our bargain is complete,” I declared, straightening my robes as they looked at me. “Any attack on her, I will consider a personal one.” My eyes lingered on my sister, who had dropped all pretenses of amicability. “Touch her again and you will answer to me.”

“Is that a threat?” Amantha asked through gritted teeth.

I didn’t bother replying. Instead, I walked out of the hall and headed toward the grand doors of my mother’s chambers, wondering what was wrong with me. I strode past the guards and down the hall with a swift pace, stopping only once I was outside and the cool evening air wrapped me in a calming embrace. I leaned against one of the trees, allowing its shadows to soothe me, sinking into the familiar touch of the forest until my heart settled.

In over five hundred years, I had never dreamed of threatening my family, not even when my own brother held a knife to my throat. I was ready to die for them, just so they could be happy and content; I was ready to burn the world, remake the continent so the Fae could live in peace and harmony. Yet tonight…tonight I threatened them because of an outsider. Because of her.

I wasn’t sure if it was my urge to protect Celeste or hearing about her family who had loved her and died for her without asking for anything in return, but something had awoken inside of me. Something new, something powerful, something that wanted to be heard. It had felt good to stand my ground, to say what I meant and not what they wanted to hear. Even if it upset them.

The feeling was terrifying, and at the same time, oddly freeing.

I pushed myself off the tree when I noticed a figure descending the steps. I paused on instinct, watching my sister stride down with a purposeful look on her face, passing by me without even noticing. A few of her guards moved to follow, but she stopped them with a sharp wave of her hand.

Just where exactly was she going alone, at this time of the night, and with that look on her face? If she was going after Celeste again…

I followed her without thinking, keeping enough distance the entire way so as not to alert her. Even as we passed by my palace and continued toward the barrier surrounding the grove, I couldn’t stop my feet from moving. Curiosity gnawed at me and the farther we went, the hungrier it got.

I hung back when she stepped through the glamor and continued through the empty park, her step never faltering, as if she knew exactly where she was going. Ikept to the trees and made sure the earth swallowed my steps and the wind stole away the rustle of my robes. When she stopped, so did I, watching as another figure approached.

It took one look to recognize the creature, especially with the magic oozing off of her in waves. Dark hair peeked out of her winter hat, her face pale and soft, but those eyes spoke of more years than her appearance suggested. She extended a hand toward my sister, shaking it gingerly while the smile grew on her face. I was too far away to hear them and didn’t want to betray my presence by changing the wind’s direction, so I wasn’t sure what they were talking about. I did notice, however, that the witch stopped smiling when my sister spoke. I tensed, half expecting their conversation to turn into a fight, but then the witch just sighed, nodding her head in what looked like disappointment.

I was just taking a step closer, determined to catch at least part of the discussion, when I sensed a movement behind me. My first instinct said it might be another witch—somebody who had accompanied the one meeting my sister—but then the smell of smoke and sulfur tickled my nose and I raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“You still haven’t fixed that stalking habit of yours, I see,” I said, glancing over my shoulder. I wasn’t sure if they had heard me or sensed him—or if they had already concluded their meeting—but my sister and the witch were gone. When I turned back to where I had caught the scent, a man was standing in the shade of the nearest tree.

The faint moonlight slid over his tanned skin, reflecting on the tattoos slinking around his exposed neck and disappearing beneath his shirt. He stood with his shoulders back and his head cocked to the side, almost as if looking down at me, although we were about the same height. But while I knew I was the opposite of intimidating, his aura was menacing, at the very least. Even those beautiful dark eyes couldn’t hide what he was. He also wore just a tight black T-shirt and a pair of jeans without showing a hint of discomfort—another tell that he wasn’t human because the weather was freezing in the human world.

“It’s been a while,” he drawled, pulling his hands out of his pockets. “You are a hard man to get hold of, Mal. Busy?”

“I’ve been occupied lately.” I smiled, watching him prowl toward me. “It’s good to see you, Beleth. How are things in Hell?”

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