“It is one of the most fascinating I’ve ever come across.” He chuckled. He was so amused that he even unfolded his arms. “It is times like this when I remember that despite how old I am, there is still so much I lack knowledge of.”
“What did you see, Father?” Melora asked, sitting up now excited, along with Ulrik. “What makes her so fascinating?”
He looked us all over, clearly building the excitement. “Her mind contains two.”
“What?” I asked, unsure what he meant, and it was clear I wasn’t the only one.
“Hinrik,” Sigbjørn called, and a door above us opened as Hinrik stepped out. “Well?”
Hinrik nodded. “She is the same, but there is another.”
“Father! I’m lost!” Ulrik huffed like an impatient child.
“No, you are impatient,” Sigbjørn replied.
“The witch has strong threads or ties, but two of them stand out,” Hinrik said as he came down the stairs. “The first one is similar to the one we all have with Druella. It’s golden, same as ours, so it is protecting her.”
They all looked at me.
I lifted my hands in defense. “I don’t know anything about it…still.”
“And the second one?” Theseus asked, getting the attention off me as Hinrik reached the bottom of the stairs and took a seat on his mate’s lounge.
“Another golden thread leads out of her. The witch is protecting someone else, but I can’t see the end of that thread, but it is far from her, and it is draining her.”
“Jason?” I asked. “She’s trying to protect him, even still? So that means President Waban Swan hasn’t killed him.”
“Of course, he wouldn’t. He wants to understand the secret of the Omeron Coven. After all, they are in his lands and now his biggest threat. But to do that, he needs Jason to talk...” Theseus trailed off and looked to his father. “Two minds?”
Sigbjørn nodded. “The witch wishes to save him. Waban is having him tortured, trying to break him to tell what he knows of the Omerons. So the witch has locked away his mind in hers. She’s split her energy and magic to protect him.”
“But aren’t all the Omeron witches spellbound?” Atarah asked softly.
Once again, Sigbjørn nodded. “They are, and she is.”
“She is using what is left of her magic to do this?” Jabari questioned.
“And it is clearly killing her,” Rhea said and looked up at the door. “When this Jason was exposed, her coven must have turned on her for breaking the rules, and she escaped. The fact that she’s managed to hold on this long is a testament to her power.”
“But why would she run here?” M’kena questioned, and because I understood that, I wondered what else did she forget to add.
“True, simply coming to yell at Druella and Theseus seems a waste of strength,” Jabari mused. “If she had energy, she should have—”
We all stopped as we smelt the magic, and it wasn’t coming from me. The upstairs door burst open, and with a gush of wind, moving faster than any mortal, was Adelaide, her hands reaching for my neck, the smell of poison on them.
“You! Ah!” she cried out, falling to her knees in front of me as she reached for my head.
“Witch, you are in my home. You will not attack my family,” Sigbjørn stated as Adelaide fell to the floor, crying out in pain.
“I would also like it if she did not destroy the décor,” Rhea snapped as she glared at the woman.
No one had moved, not even me. I didn’t even move to protect myself. She was fast, but I had seen her coming, and because I could see her coming, I knew everyone else would, too.
“You…” she sneered, still looking at me, and then she winced. “Ah.”
“If I apply any more pressure, it may sever your protection of your lover. Is that what you wish?” Sigbjørn questioned.
She was still for a moment before shaking her head no.