I rolled my eyes. Yes, she had told me. And I hadn’t believed her. More fool me.
The thing was, my mother was bossy. I was always expected to listen because she was my mother and she knew way better than me. But it was difficult to trust someone when they had been keeping things from me my whole life.
And now, when it would be nice to have someone to talk to, she decided to remind me how right she was and how wrong I was.
“I know, Mother,” I snapped, playing with the chain of the locket and debating whether or not I should remove the necklace. “You don’t need to keep repeating the same thing over and over again.”
She had been right, obviously, but I had innocently and rather naively thought that the Council would accept me when they met me. And of course, once my father stood up for me, and stood beside me. He was the High Warlock after all. He had the power to get them to do whatever it was he wanted. Sure, the Council had some power, but if my father backed me, certainly they would as well.
But he hadn’t, not at all. And in consequence, they wanted me dead.
All because my father was the key to the Council’s power, and they didn’t want that power going anywhere but to a person of their choosing. A person of their breeding and make up. Not a person like me.
I was not their choice. I was a wild card. So, despite my own magical power that was allegedly unsurpassed in their realm, they wouldn’t accept me.
And that was the part that didn’t make sense. I was powerful, more so than I’d realized, so obviously a powerful High Warlock was not what they craved. They wanted my submission. My obedience.
Unfortunately for them—and for me, to a degree—I was my mother’s daughter, and that was never going to happen. I would never bend the knee to them when they were so obviously corrupt. Maybe my father chose to do that, but I wouldn’t.
Which made me a threat, in their eyes. A threat they needed to remove.
Well, my mother said, interrupting my thoughts, how is your training going with the Fae mages?
The Fae mages were the only people I’d met in the Fae realm. They were the only reason I held onto my sanity. If I had been left alone with no one but my mother for company, I would have gone insane.
“It’s going well,” I said.
My mother’s laugh filled my head as the locket around my neck buzzed with her energy. I sighed, flaring my nostrils. There was nothin
g funny about what I said, and yet, this subject always amused her.
I never thought the Fae would help a witch.
I almost rolled my eyes at her total lack of understanding and bigotry. She was nearly as bad as a lot of the magical creatures back in the magic realm.
“They’re not that different to us, Mother,” I reminded her. I was tired of repeating the same thing over and over again.
Except, they are immortal. And that makes them dangerous.
“Maybe, but no more than the witches and warlocks I’ve met,” I pointed out. I stretched my legs under the small desk, leaning my back against the chair. “Plus, the Fae who have helped me so far have done so against their own safety and at great risk to themselves and their people.”
I still didn’t understand why they chose to help me when they didn’t have to.
Mother went silent and I let go of the locket hanging around my neck. I didn’t want to deal with talking to her right now. I didn’t need her judgment ringing through my head.
Footsteps approached and I turned in my chair to look at the doorway to my small cabin, and saw Abigail walking towards me. She was tiny, with braided dark blonde hair and an innocent look about her gorgeous face that was truly deceiving.
She was the one I’d gone up against in my trial. She’d been the one to accidentally uncover my power in front of the Council.
Despite her appearance, she was as powerful as me, and a hundred years older with that much more experience. I was lucky that she was willing to help me.
“Hey Abigail,” I said when she came into the living room. “Just sent a message to my sisters, to let them know I’m okay.” Her brow furrowed and quickly added, “Don’t worry. I took the necessary precautions to ensure it wouldn’t lead back to me.”
She nodded, chewing her bottom lip. “I’m glad they’re hidden and that the Council doesn’t know about them yet,” she said. “If they did...” She trailed off.
Dread punched me in the stomach.
“You think the Council would try and kill them too?” I asked. It was something I hadn’t actually talked about with anyone, probably because I didn’t want to think about it. But now I needed to know. I needed to understand just how much danger my sisters were in because of me.