Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
‘Well, I have no problem revealing names of obvious suspects,’ Getty piped up.
‘Names of people who you find obvious suspects,’ Gill emphasized. ‘You have no proof of their involvement. In fact, you had no interest in spouting names at all until others started throwing suspicion your way. Suddenly, you’re full of opinions. Deflecting, are we?’
Getty narrowed her eyes. ‘Where’s Mari, Gill? I don’t see her anywhere.’
Gill’s back went ramrod straight. ‘At home. She’s unwell.’
Getty winged up a brow. ‘Unwell, or uncaring what happens to those in this town? Anyone so uncaring probably has something to hide.’
‘It’s not enough that you accused both my husband and brother? Now you want to accuse my daughter as well?’
‘They were both involved in what happened to Emberlyn not so long ago,’ Penelope cut in, glaring at Gill. ‘She’s their family, but they didn’t care.’
‘Mari didn’t mean for Emberlyn to get’ – Gill paused and shook her head fast in exasperation – ‘Why are we even talking about that? It has nothing to do with the faction.’
Ethel folded her arms. ‘I want to know what Emberlyn thinks.’
Everyone went quiet, the entire room sliding their attention her way.
Emberlyn appeared entirely engrossed in her magazine, but Ripper knew that his woman had heard Ethel just fine. She was simply fucking with the faction.
Kerr exchanged a knowing amused look with Ripper and then gently nudged her.
Emberlyn blinked at him. ‘Hmm?’
‘Ethel wants to know what you think,’ Kerr told her.
A fine line appeared between Emberlyn’s brows. ‘About what?’
‘Surely you have some idea of who makes up the faction,’ said Ethel.
‘How can she have any real clue who it could be?’ Ward demanded. ‘She doesn’t know us all well enough to be able to weigh in on this.’
‘Let’s leave Emberlyn out of it,’ said Hank. ‘Lord knows we’ve dragged her into our messes far too often over the years.’
‘True,’ Ethel allowed, ‘but you’re only saying that because you’re in Ripper’s bad books and don’t much like it. Emberlyn, really, who do you think it is?’
Emberlyn gave a delicate shrug. ‘Can’t say I’ve put much thought into it. The faction doesn’t interest me.’
An almost unified gasp came from the coven.
Thad spluttered. ‘They’re causing mayhem.’
‘They’re causing pain. Anyone can do that.’ Emberlyn flicked a dismissive hand. ‘The faction isn’t worth your fear. They’re just a bunch of mediocre witches dabbling in things they don’t fully understand – they’ve proven that with how sloppy their spells are.’
Ouch, baby. That had to have stabbed some egos.
Some mouths tightened. A few heads lowered fast. A person shifted stiffly in their seat, their nostrils flaring. Offended because they were part of the faction, or annoyed that they’d allowed themselves to fear a group of people who in truth weren’t at all scary?
Ames blinked. ‘How can you say they’re mediocre? Look at all they’ve done.’
Emberlyn’s brow pinched. ‘They’ve “done” plenty. They’ve accomplished nothing. Reena is still High Priestess, I’m still alive, and the faction is now considered a stain upon the town that needs to be eradicated – everyone is out for their blood.’ She sniffed, an element of condescension in her tone as she added, ‘In their shoes, I’d be embarrassed.’
Oh, and now she was sinking the knife even deeper.
Paisley snickered around the lollipop in her mouth, her eyes dancing. ‘Agreed,’ she mumbled, to which many wolves nodded. That only seemed to annoy the coven more.
Ripper’s aunt leaned forward in her seat to touch his witch’s shoulder. ‘You’re truly not worried about them?’
Emberlyn glanced at Yvette. ‘I worry that they’ll keep harming Rabid and innocent people, but I don’t feel that these witches are at all noteworthy. They can’t be very powerful or they would confidently step out into the light and establish themselves as a separate coven. I proclaimed myself a lone witch and set up shop. It isn’t hard.’
A silence hit the room again, short and pensive.
Dez rubbed at his jaw. ‘You know, I never thought I’d say this at any point regarding anything at all, but I agree with Emberlyn.’
Getty looked at him, her brow hiking up in challenge. ‘Why? Because you think it makes you look less guilty?’
Dez clenched his jaw tight. ‘I’m not part of the faction, Getty. But I agree with every person here who’s swearing that you are.’
Tyra threw up both hands. ‘Can we all stop accusing each other already! It isn’t helping. Are we sure there’s even a faction at large? How do we know it isn’t just one witch working alone? A witch powerful enough and shrewd enough to do all this and get away with it, enabling her to cause divides within the coven and turn the clans against us? Does that not make more sense than for an entire faction to remain unmasked for so long?’
Picking up on the insinuation that the witch in question could only be Emberlyn, Ripper didn’t bother biting back a low growl of warning. ‘What witch would you be referring to?’ he asked, his voice daring her to be so fucking stupid as to finger his witch – who’d gone back to reading her magazine, ignoring Tyra completely.