Sisters of the Coven (Daughters of the Warlock 1)

The heir?

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. How absurd. I didn’t even know the man. More than that, my mother would have told me if I was that important.

I shrugged, not sure I was getting what the big deal was here. “So, what does that mean?”

“It means that, at the moment, the council has all the power,” she said, teacup in her hands as she leaned forward. “They have their hooks into the High Warlock, and no one challenges them. Not even him. The only way for anyone to even challenge their power would be... say, an illegitimate heir stepped up to claim the throne.”

No! Not me...

I shook my head, sitting up straight. “Wait.” I blinked once. Twice. I shook my head, then opened my mouth. I stopped myself from talking, then shook my head again. “Are you saying I have some claim to a throne I have never even heard of?” I stood up. The crumbs from the red velvet cake spilled onto the floor. “Why wouldn’t my mother tell me anything? Why would she keep something that important from me?”

“There’s a lot more to this—"

“No, Alison.” I whipped around so I could face her fully, my hands shooting out. “Stop defending her. Don’t you think I have a right to know these things?”

Alison put her hands up. “I’m not here to take sides, Ava,” she said. “I’m doing what your mother wanted me to do, I kept my silence. And my distance. But now that she’s gone, I’m answering questions you came here to ask.”

“So, you’re telling my I’m heir to this”—I wiggled my hand in front of me, trying to find the right word to describe it— “society of witches and warlocks?”

“You are.” She nodded. “But that doesn’t mean you should step up for the job.”

I opened my mouth to say something as I paced up and down the length of the living room carpet.

She cut me off, as though she knew exactly what I was going to say. “What I mean by that is, you don’t have to be. You can be exactly who you are without anyone knowing. You can be a regular witch who knows nothing about her father, not some threat to the Council.”

“Threat?” I hadn’t meant to shriek but I couldn’t help it. “But I don’t want any throne.”

She shrugged, leaning back in her chair. “It doesn’t matter,” she said nonchalantly. “If they found out who you are, who you really are, all hell would break loose. You would be seen as the epitome of everything they’ve ever been afraid of. An unsettling of the bloodlines. Challenging the laws of illegitimacy. And worst of all, if you were to become the legal heir to the High Warlock, you would grow to inherit his power and be the first High Warlock ever not controlled by the Council. You didn’t grow up in the magic realm and their power would mean nothing to you... would it?”

I scoffed, throwing my arms out like I didn’t have any control over myself. “Of course not,” I said, frowning, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Why would I listen to them?”

Some group of old, power hungry witches? No, thank you. Especially ones that seemed threatened by a no-name witch like myself.

She grinned and pointed at me. “That’s exactly right, and that is the main reason your life would be in danger if they found out who you really are.”

I dropped back to my spot on the couch. “Danger?” I leaned forward and grabbed a lemon cake. I couldn’t tell if I was hungry or not, but I felt like cake was the appropriate response to discovering I was a hell of a lot more important than I thought I was. “Why? I mean, I can’t inherit anyway according to what you said about the laws and their rules.”

I would have to be the daughter of his legal wife, and I certainly wasn’t that since Mother was dead. I didn’t remember my father at all, which meant he had to have left around the time Bella was born, or maybe even during the pregnancy.

Alison smiled ruefully. “Because if the Council found out you were the heir to the High Warlock, then you, my dear, would be on the assassin’s hit list sooner than you could say”—She held up her cup— “tea.”

Chapter 4.

I stared at Alison, dumbfounded by what she’d just said. No way. I picked apart the cake and stuffed each bite into my mouth, trying to process it all. I was some kind of illegitimate heir to my father, the High Warlock, also known as the most powerful person in the world. He was a mere puppet, controlled by the council and his heir was suppose to inherit his position and his power, then continue to be a puppet for the council.

But since his wife couldn’t have children and since

technically, I was his first child, that made me the rightful heir to inherit his throne.

“Are you serious right now?” I asked. I stopped ripping apart the piece of cake and just held it in my hands, giving her my full attention. “The Council would want me...dead, just because my mother managed to get pregnant by the High Warlock?”

This made absolutely no sense. I blinked rapidly. My face grew hot. My hands became clammy. I shoved the rest of my cake in my mouth, hoping my sweat wouldn’t make the cake soggy.

Alison narrowed her eyes at me. “You need to be careful where you say such things.”

She looked around. I didn’t know if someone could be listening or if she had guests upstairs.

A shiver slid down my spine. I rolled my shoulders back, trying to ignore it.