Sisters of the Coven (Daughters of the Warlock 1)

Almost twenty years... my mother had visited the High Warlock once more after Courtney was born. She never spoke of it, but she’d borne him a fourth child. A son. Who had died at birth.

My brother.

Mother refused to speak of him and I only had a vague memory of the night he was born. But every now and then, I would hear her in her room late at night, when all three of us were supposed to be sleeping, crying. At the time, I didn’t understand why and thought she was ashamed by my lack of magic skills or perhaps Bella had been blunt again and she’d a reaction to it.

But now I knew.

Ever since my brother’s birth, my mother had never visited the magical realm again.

“I wanted to meet you.” I said simply and the smoke around me billowed green. I couldn’t help but stare at the smoke. I shifted with discomfort. I didn’t like that he had cast a spell to get to know me better.

He smiled kindly. “Well, that is very nice.” He said. “But I don’t understand the urgency of the visit. Is it to tell me of your mother? Has she... passed away?”

He knew...

Had someone told him, or...

I took a step forward. “You can feel her, can’t you?”

He glanced down as though embarrassed. “I can feel... a lack of her, if that is possible.” He twiddled his fingers, his cheeks slightly red. I never expected that my father, the High Warlock, would blush for any reason.

I nodded, my heart clenching at the show of emotion that flickered across the otherwise calm Warlock before me.

“Yes, I understand what you mean,” I said softly. “My mother was everything to me, and her death has left a gaping hole in my heart where she used to be.”

I did not tell him that Mother and I butted heads more often than not. I did not tell him that I never felt good enough for her. I was honest, I did miss her, but the complicated nature of our relationship was kept to myself.

He smiled gently. “I can imagine. She was a very vivacious woman. She could light up a room.”

“She certainly could.” I laughed as tears filled my eyes and I wiped them away again. It was too soon to be thinking about how much I missed my mother. It was strange to talk about her in the past, as though we would never experience her warmth – when she offered it – again. She had only died a day ago. It still felt as though an eternity had passed. Talking about her in the past tense felt so sudden.

Far too soon.

I wasn’t used to it.

“When did she pass away?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. His fingers grazed a stand that held a glass vase. Or maybe it was crystal. I didn’t know, but it seemed valuable.

I swallowed hard. “Yesterday.” For the third time, my eyes began to water. I nearly cursed myself at how easy it was for me to cry. I was decent at controlling my emotions. Mother made sure of it. And yet, speaking to my father, to a man I barely remembered, I was more emotional than I realized.

His eyebrows rose high on his forehead. “Oh my... you poor thing.” He dropped his hand back to his side. “Well, I can only imagine you have something vastly important to ask for you to seek me out at this time. How can I help you, Ava?”

I opened my mouth and stopped. How on earth was I going to say what needed to be said? Especially since I’d promised Aunt Alison, I wouldn’t reveal who I was.

I laughed nervously. “I have gone over this moment so many times in my head, but now that it’s here, I... I don’t know what to say.” Or how to say it.

He took a seat and frowned. “I don’t understand.”

I couldn’t believe he wasn’t even asking who my father was, or anything about my paternity. Didn’t he feel the connection, the magic flowing around the room?

He didn’t realize I was his daughter, even with his elicit relationship with my mother? Was he in denial? Was he naïve?

“Don’t you know who I am?” Surely, he could see it? In my face, my height? Something?

The palm I cut to make my vow with Alison pinched a little in warning, though it was vague- as though stifled somehow. I clenched my teeth together, keeping anything more to myself.

I guess I’d assumed he would just know once he saw me, but apparently, that wasn’t the case. My heart sank with disappointment but I pushed the thought aside. I wouldn’t dwell. I couldn’t. It would only distract me.

He frowned. “I’m sorry Ava, but if you’ve been led to believe I’m anything special to you, then you’ve been mis-informed,” he said, matter-of-factly.