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)
‘What do you want?’ Emberlyn asked them, appearing bored. ‘I’m busy.’
‘We mean you no harm,’ the wolf said, the same echo in his voice that made it as indistinguishable as that of the goat.
Emberlyn shot him an incredulous glance. ‘You attacked the shield around my home, which is no different than battering my front door.’
‘We merely meant to get your attention,’ the wolf assured her.
‘Right,’ drawled Emberlyn, all skepticism.
The goat lifted her chin as she spoke. ‘We came here to invite you to join us.’
Emberlyn’s brow pinched. ‘Excuse me?’
‘As of this night onward, I will lead the coven. Join it. Be part of my inner circle. You will find belonging to the coven more palatable without Reena at its helm. We will have killed her before the night is over. Her time has passed. The old ways are dead.’
Oh, they planned to kill Reena? Good to know. She supposed the only reason they’d brought her here alive was so that Emberlyn would see what these people could do; that they collectively had the power to take down a powerful witch. It was a subtle threat, really.
‘So many in town have scorned you for the types of magick you practice,’ the goat said to Emberlyn. ‘Not us. We understand you. Applaud you. Relate to you. Join us,’ she pressed. ‘You need not be alone anymore. You can work magick alongside likeminded witches who accept you.’
‘You think I’m like you?’ Emberlyn chuckled. ‘That’s . . . that’s funny. Not in a million years would I show up at a person’s house wearing a goat mask, bloated on loaned power. It’ll leach from your system soon enough, but you won’t regain whatever parts of your soul you gave up in payment. And if you had to borrow power just to subdue Reena, well, can’t say I’m impressed.’
Reena almost smiled. Emberlyn sure knew how to deliver an insult in a way that put a true dent in a person’s ego.
There were more flutters of wings just before three more crows appeared, all settling on the porch roof, their beady eyes focused on the faction.
‘If you are not with us, you are against us,’ said the wolf, his tone clipped.
‘And you’re against me, in truth,’ began Emberlyn. ‘You don’t really want me to join your little cabal. You think to get me on side so that I don’t interfere with your plans. What you all truly want is me out of the picture. You’d turn on me the first chance you got, but you’d wait until you thought I’d never expect it.’
Agreed, thought Reena. The faction would likely seek to learn from Emberlyn first, but they would eventually get rid of her.
‘Our overture is sincere,’ the wolf argued.
‘If you do not join us, you will leave us no choice but to ensure that you meet the same fate she will meet,’ the goat threatened, gesturing at Reena.
‘Thanks, but I’ll pass . . . Penelope,’ Emberlyn added, her voice hardening. She flapped her hand and – that easily – masks began flicking off, revealing surprised face after surprised face.
Penelope. Ames. Bennet. Ethel. Thad. Getty. Ruben. And lastly—
Reena gasped. ‘Ward?’
Her husband glared at her, his expression sour. ‘Betrayal is like a hot blade to the heart, isn’t it? I felt it knife through me when I heard about you and Carver. A year you spent in his bed. A year.’
Reena stared at him, shocked. No, beyond shocked. He’d given her not the faintest clue that he’d learned about her . . . indiscretion.
‘You were so good at hiding it that I might never have known if it hadn’t been for Penny,’ he said.
The look he and her sister exchanged, the sheer intimacy in it, was indication enough that . . . ‘So you had your own affair. But that was not enough payback for you, it would seem.’
‘The position of High Priestess is the only thing that ever really mattered to you,’ Ward spat. ‘So now I’m going to make sure that you lose it.’
‘No,’ Emberlyn casually contradicted, ‘that’s not how things are going to play out.’
‘You’re outnumbered eight to one,’ Ames taunted. ‘Reena can’t help you – she can’t even access her magick right now.’ He cocked his head. ‘It’s funny. Grams mentored you but not me because she said that I had no real potential. Look at me now; look at what I can do.’
Emberlyn snorted. ‘You can only do it because you’re filled with borrowed power. That’s nothing to brag about.’ She swept her gaze along the line of witches. ‘You’re not scary. You’re not powerful. You’re not even a real threat. And if you had any sense, you would have let me be.’ Her expression hardened. ‘But you didn’t. That was a grave mistake, and it’s one that you’ll pay for.’
Shadows moved behind her as wicked little giggles sounded. Giggles that gave Reena the honest to God’s chills.