Page 29 of The Soulless Witch

“That you are a witch!” Lily grinned, shaking her head. My heart dropped. “You don’t have to be ashamed. We’re all fine with it. It doesn’t change anything, I promise! I think it’s super cool!”

“Lily, what are you talking about?” I asked, letting a pulse of my magic spread through the house in search of danger. It came back whispering of an unfamiliar person with the Martens in the other room, and two more outside in the yard.

“Your Aunt Regina told us. She even showed us how it works! It was really—”

I didn’t bother listening to the rest of her excited blabbering as I ran into the living room, searching for myaunt. I found her sitting on the sofa by the fireplace, while the rest of the Martens had fanned around her, watching her with quiet fascination. A pleasant smile appeared on the witch’s face when I entered the room. Tiny wrinkles formed around her eyes as she smiled wider—the only sign of age on her smooth, unblemished skin. Yet those eyes…they held too much depth to belong to someone as young as she made herself look.

“Hello, Celeste.” The unfamiliar woman smiled, getting to her feet. “You are late.”

Chapter 16

Celeste

“Kevin,Julia,takethekids upstairs,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. Julia laughed awkwardly, staring at me with a question in her eyes, but Kevin was already on his feet, motioning for his children to go. “Now!”

Julia flinched, moving at her husband’s beckoning, but before either of them reached the door, the blonde witch spoke.

“Oh, by all means, stay. You know too much already.” She sat down, picking up her teacup. Julia and Lily seemed inclined to stay, but Kevin was holding his hands outstretched as if he planned to pick them all up and carry them away. “Wouldn’t it be better for them to stay somewhere where you can see them, Celeste? This way, you can focus on the conversation instead of wondering how my witches can harm them.”

I narrowed my eyes at the woman, wondering if she was threatening me or reading the thoughts that must have shown on my face. Straightening my shoulders, I motioned for the Martens to sit down, striding to the window facing the backyard. I spotted the two women by the back door, their magic dancing leisurely around their fingers, even though my wards sensed no ill intent coming from either of them. They had to be extremely well-trained if they could fool anIntention spelllike that. The fact that they looked calm while standing in front of Nym suggested they weren’t strangers to fighting, either.

My familiar sat in the middle of the backyard in his cat form, his fur bristling in annoyance. There was light spilling from the windows of the nearby houses, human voices laughing in their own spaces, completely unaware that there was a monster just on the other side of their wooden fences. I had ordered Nym not to reveal his true form unless he or the Martens were in mortal danger, afraid of the reaction his appearance could provoke in the humans. Especially the Martens. So if he was still in cat form, that meant he didn’t consider the two witches a real threat.

Nym’s eyes moved to the window the moment I stepped into his view, his tail rising. I gave him a sign to be ready, turning back to face the other witch.

“Regina, is it?” I said, meeting the woman’s piercing eyes. “Bold of you to march into my house and bring others into my territory. Not to mention messing with these humans’ emotions. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t let my familiar dine with your little witches while I rip your throat out.”

A surprised gasp came from the Martens, but I didn’t allow myself to look at them. They were charmed not to be scared or surprised by anything I did or said, so this meant at least one of them needed their spell recast. I just hoped they’d keep their mouths shut until I dealt with Regina.

“First, you are the one who barged into our territory,” she replied. “This part of the city belongs to the Coven of the Hallowed Goddess, and as its Head Witch, I have the right to go wherever I please. Second, my witches are not as weak as you think, and they can handle a single familiar.” I scoffed, wanting to tell her that Nym wasn’t a normal familiar, but kept my mouth shut. No need to show my cards until it really came down to fighting. “And third, I only touched on their emotions since they got quite excited by our conversation. I was surprised you hadn’t told them. The only other alternative was erasing their memories, and I figured you would like that even less. So I just…calmed them, like your spell did.” She finished with a beaming smile. “There is no need for violence. I just want to talk. Your awakening always causes a great stir in the world, Celeste. The hunters grow stronger, the witches grow weary, and the other supernatural creatures always look for ways to gain power. As a Head Witch, it’s my job to keep an eye on all the major powers, especially when one of them is living on my land. I’m sure you understand.”

I strode past the couch, sitting on the armrest next to Lily, who still wore that awed expression as her eyes darted between the Head Witch and me. Part of me was glad that she didn’t look frightened, but another part was worried about what she might do with all the information we were divulging. There was a reason the supernatural world went to such lengths to hide its existence from the humans, and Regina telling them with such ease felt…off.

Did she do it to force my hand? With the Martens knowing about us, I only had two options—silence them or claim them. And if I went for the latter, I’d be admitting I cared about them. If I was a little stronger, I could have killed her and her witches and resolved the issue, but I was not. She ought to be over one hundred, which meant she had a lot of magic stored inside that misleadingly young body of hers. Way more than what I had right now.

“So now that you’re here, Regina, what is it that you want?” I asked with an exasperated sigh. “To warn me not to cause trouble?”

Regina gave me a lazy smile, her eyes pausing on each of the Martens as if she was memorizing their faces. I didn’t like that look one bit, even if it didn’t hold any hostility.

“You misunderstand my intentions, dear.” Regina shrugged innocently. “I’m not here to threaten you or your humans. I’m simply here to make sure that we both get what we want.” Before I could ask what that was, she continued. “Peace.”

I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms while she rose to her feet.

“We don’t want the hunters’ attention any more than you do, so I would like to make a deal with you if you plan to stay in my territory.” Her smile turned wider, tiny wrinkles forming around the edges. “I can offer you sincere friendship and freedom to live as you please and, in return, all we want is your strength, should we ever need it.”

My smile dropped and I let my hands do the same.

“You want my power? How surprising.” I spat, but even before the words left my mouth, Regina was shaking her head.

“No, Celeste,” she said, stepping closer. “We do not want your power, we wantyou. I know you don’t hold witches in high regard, but we’re not all the same. We do not wish for you to serve us. We do not want you to give us your power, as you did with the Coven of the Silver Flame. We want you to be our sister, for we are all children of the Hallowed Goddess and already have enough enemies as it is.”

I prepared to tell her no, but she raised her hand.

“You don’t need to answer me now. Take your time to consider and join us for Samhain. Maybe this time around, you don’t have to die alone. Maybe this time, we can be strong together.” Regina lowered her head in the first show of respect I had seen since I arrived, then stepped toward the door. A loud meow from outside told me the other two witches were on the move as well. “I’ll send the invitation and hope to see you there.” She didn’t wait for my reply, just turned toward the Martens, giving them another gentle smile. “I apologize if I disturbed you. Thank you for your hospitality. May you all be well.”

We watched her slip out of the room until the sound of the front door closing filled the house. Then everyone turned to me and started talking at the same time. I took a step back, overwhelmed by their voices, when the dog barged into the room, barking in alarm. Nym strode after it, stopping to rub against my legs while the dog hid behind Kevin and whimpered.

I looked at each of them before calling my magic.

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