Heir of the Coven (Daughters of the Warlock 3)

He walked over to where Charity sat, straight as an arrow, her lips pursed like she’d sucked on a lemon.

He tapped his wand under her chin.

“What am I going to do with you?” he asked, though it was obvious the question was rhetorical.

I took a step forward, unable to miss the opportunity as it rose. “I’m not sure what your laws are regarding divorce, but I’d say that wanting you dead is as good a grounds as any.”

Matlock’s gaze shot back at me. “They wanted me... what?”

“Oh...”

Charity glared at me. “Don’t listen to her, Matlock, she’s the bastard of a whore...”

My father’s wand shot out at his wife. Her nasty mouth snapped shut and her muted screams could be heard from behind lips that appeared to be glued shut.

I shivered. “Thank you. It still kinda, hurts, the way she talks about Mom and me.”

And it did. I wasn’t a bastard... well, technically I was. But I didn’t feel like one. Especially not in the offensive way she spoke. And my mother was no whore. She hadn’t taken a lover in the last twenty years of her life. That certainly counted for something.

Matlock nodded once, his face still a mask of strength. “I agree with you,” he said. “She has no right to speak that way, especially to you. Now tell me what you meant by the fact she wanted to kill me.”

He was breathing hard, as though the news of this caught him by surprise and he didn’t know how to respond to it.

Tavlor stepped up next to me, and I was glad he did. I wasn’t sure how to explain exactly what had happened.

Tavlor said to my father, “Rasslor said that if Ava wasn’t guilty of treason, then you were. And they had sedated you from the moment you stepped into the room, to make sure you didn’t interfere with the trial. I don’t know what they would have done with you after that. Ava stepped in and took the spell off you.”

My father glanced at me with a look of wonder and surprise, as though he could not believe I had had the power to do such a thing. To be honest, I was surprised I was able to do it myself.

“And Tavlor conjured a shield that held the whole Council at bay,” I added. I wasn’t getting all the credit, not when I didn’t know where I’d be without him. “I couldn’t have done anything to help you, if he wasn’t here.”

My father’s face began to redden, his eyes hardening like sticks of flint.

“They did what!?” he asked. He didn’t seem to care who got credit for what, only that his own Council had conspired against him, had used magic to keep him under their control.

My father turned to the Council, sparkling light vibrating from his clothes and body as though he were glowing.

“You were going to try me for treason against myself? While under a spell that had me deaf, dumb and mute!”

He was practically screaming now, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling at the strength I finally saw.

When I’d met my father I’d been surprised, and somewhat disappointed, by how calm he was. How lacking in passion and strength he appeared.

Well, now it seemed like it had all been a façade.

Rasslor pleaded his case. “No! Matlock! We would never have conducted the trial with you in that state. The whole purpose of today was to determine if Ava was at fault, but her appeal was that she is the child of an illegal coupling, and that it is your fault, not hers.”

I rounded on the lying weasel. “You liar! How dare you—”

My father put his hand up, silencing me as he stepped forward.

“There’s an easy way to sort this out,” he said. His voice was strained, like putting a muzzle on a barking dog.

He pointed his wand at Rasslor’s head.

The weasel of a Warlock began to squirm. “No, Matlock...”

My father closed his eyes and I stepped over to Tavlor. “What’s he doing?”