Heir of the Coven (Daughters of the Warlock 3)

“Good morning,” he said to my father and although he didn’t seem embarrassed, there was tension in the air I couldn’t put a name to.

I looked towards my father, who had stiffened slightly.

We were both in quite unusual stages of our relationship. I was twenty-three years old, surely old enough to have a boyfriend sleep in my bed.

And yet Matlock had never had a daughter before, and I’d never had a father. Should I be embarrassed? It wasn’t as though Matlock could storm back into my life and start treating me like a child. And yet, I felt like I might have done something wrong, even though I knew I hadn’t.

The feelings were strange and uncomfortable.

“Tavlor.” Matlock nodded once. “Help yourself to some breakfast as well.”

I turned towards my father, desperate to move past the awkwardness. “Matlock, did you read much of mother’s journal yesterday?”

My father walked over to me and sat down on the opposite couch, his brow furrowed. “I did... most of it actually. I couldn’t put it down.”

I chuckled as I bit into one of the buttery, delicious croissants.

“Yes, she was quite dramatic, and entertaining with her writing, wasn’t she?” I asked. All feelings of odd tension were pushed to the side, at least for now.

Matlock nodded, but didn’t comment.

I’d found mother’s journal to be a roller coaster of emotions, and as a woman, I had empathized with her, but hadn’t gone down that hole too deeply.

I’d never love

d the way my mother had, nor lost. So, I’d kept my emotions in check while reading about her grief.

But my father would have read about her experience in a very personal, very confronting way.

“You know, if you want to know anything about her life with me. With us. You can ask. Anytime,” I said around another bite of the croissant. I reached for a grape when I finished and popped that into my mouth.

He nodded, his sadness showing in the lines of his lips.

“I will, perhaps after this is all over,” he said.

Fair enough. “Okay.”

I ate as quickly as I could, and all too soon my father was standing up and directing us through the door and towards the portals that would lead us to the trial rooms. I wiped my palms on my thighs, trying not to feel the butterflies in my stomach or the way my heart stuttered against my chest.

“Do you have any idea what’s going to happen today?” I asked him as we stepped between worlds.

He shrugged. “No. This is completely unprecedented. But I would keep your physical and mental shields as strong as possible. We don’t know what to expect, so we must expect the worst.”

My hand strayed to my stomach where my sister’s gift was tattooed to my flesh. I had forgotten about it, even while showering. I was protected. The spell Bella had cast had taken a lot out of me, but I knew I was protected, that I was as safe as I could be because of my sister’s magic. That, more than anything else, gave me confidence.

“I’m ready.”

Where they seriously going to attack us? Again?

When would these guys give up?

My hand moved to my neck where my mother’s locket should have been. I’d forgotten to put it on, and was now missing it. Her voice, though confronting and somewhat annoying sometimes, was a comfort I was beginning to long for.

Must be starting to forgive her for all this shit...

“Big breath,” Matlock said as he opened the door to the trial room. I did as he suggested and took a big breath as my pulse fluttered in my throat.

Then, all three of us stepped through to the room that would decide our fate.