Heir of the Coven (Daughters of the Warlock 3)

“I hope I have been of some help,” he said with a regal bow of his head.

“More than you know.” I gave him the biggest smile I owned.

The king escorted us all the way to the gates of the city, kissed my hand, and said goodbye to my father and Tavlor. We walked away, unscathed.

“Well, that went better than I thought it would,” I said to them with a grin.

My father laughed and shook his head. “He liked you, Ava. Without that simple fact, things may have gone very differently.”

“Thanks, Dad,” I said, but I wasn’t sure it was the case. These Fae were not true Fae, in my opinion. They had no magic, no beautiful world, no good food, or homes.

They were in trouble, and only someone with a lot of power, and influence, could help them.

But was it worth the price I would have to pay?

Chapter 13.

AS MUCH AS I WANTED to have made a final decision about what I was going to do with the information we gathered, I couldn’t. I was still debating if restoring power to realms where it was taken away unjustly by the Council was enough for me to give up my freedom.

At least my father had magicked us away to the comfort of his office, food already waiting for us.

We sat in my father’s Council offices, eating warm soup and meats and defrosting from the cold day we’d had in the Fae realm.

“I still can’t believe what the Council did to those people,” I said, shaking my head, and then took a sip of my hot chocolate.

I looked up at my father. “If you’re trying to convince me to be the High Warlock, that was definitely a good start.”

I wanted to help those people, to right the wrong. I couldn’t stop thinking about the things I’d change if I had the power to do something. All those children. They didn’t deserve that life. They were being punished for something they had nothing to do with. And yet...

My father smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m not trying to convince you either way, Ava. You need to see both sides of what the Council is capable of. What they will do to their enemies. What they’ve already done.”

He sighed as he put down his plate on the table between us. “From the outside, the High Warlock looks like he has it made. A great home in a secure realm, money, power, influence. But throughout my life, I have been nothing more than a ... powerless puppet, a figure head for the Council. Through my reign I have not helped anyone, I have not fixed any past mistakes. I have been horrified by the Council’s actions and done nothing. I tell myself it’s because I’m unable to do much of anything, but I know better than that. I know I haven’t actually tried the way I want to try. Because I am afraid.”

I couldn’t imagine that to be true. Saying he’d never helped anyone seemed like an over exaggeration. But I didn’t want to make assumptions about his time here. I didn’t want to do him the disservice of putting words in his mouth.

I almost reached out and hugged him, but he sat too far away. “You still have time, Dad.”

And he did. Decades.

He smiled. “I do... and with you by my side, I believe we could do great things. And irrespective of your choice, I still want you here. Helping me, advising me, until my time comes to stand down. But I also want you to go into this choice with your eyes wide open. There is a lot wrong with the realms the Council oversees.”

“I can totally see that.” I took a long sip of my hot chocolate, staring at the coffee table in front of us with food scattered about. Once my mouth was empty, I looked up at him. “How many realms do they control, exactly?”

How many people did they have power over? How many people had they hurt?

My father glanced to the side, as though thinking. “Nineteen, I believe. Five magical, eight Fae, and six with shifters and other people, not including the humans.”

Woah.

“That’s a lot, more than I expected,” I admitted. I grabbed a flaky chocolate croissant and took a bite of the pastry. Once I finished the food in my mouth, I looked back over at my father, seated across from me. “Are the others peaceful, or are there more like the Fae realm we just visited?”

I could imagine that there would be a lot of people who didn’t like the Council, if the last realm was any indication.

“They’re all... peaceful. So to speak.” His lips twisted with irony, so I took that to mean that the version of ‘peace’ was as forced as the Fae realm. “However, over the generations there have been many wars, uprisings against the Council. But the Council has always emerged victorious, or so it has been written. There are attempts, but none have succeeded. It is why most don’t try anymore. What’s the point, if they are just going to lose anyway? Why lose lives over a victory that will never be achieved?”

Well, the proof is in the pudding...

“So, people are still extremely unhappy?” I asked, almost un-necessarily. But I wanted Tavlor to keep talking. Explaining things to me.