Page 60 of Madness of Her Mages

Malvolia nodded. “She told me you would ally with me. If it wasn’t for her, I would’ve struck you down at Abyssus.”

Bile seared my throat while I intentionally avoided looking at Lady Vernonica, though I felt her stare on me. I wasn’t sure how I should feel about being indebted to Drae’s lover.

“Anyway, where were we?” Malvolia thoughtfully tapped her chin. “Oh, yes.” She pointed to Felicity and Cordelia. “Blue robes for witches with elemental magic.”

I pushed the thought of being indebted to Lady Veronica out of my mind. Rather than acknowledge my sneering Cousin Felicity, I looked Cordelia over. Like all the others, she was around my age, shorter than the rest with human-like ears, though she had a fierceness in her eyes. “What is elemental magic?”

“Earth shakers, wind shifters, tide summoners, teleporters,” Cordelia rattled off, her soft and sweet voice matching her small stature.

My eyes bulged. “And you are?” I asked her, then gasped when a breeze blew into the room and billowed my skirts. “Oh.”

Malvolia cut Cordelia a look, and the wind immediately died down.

“Red for witches with fire magic,” Malvolia continued, “which I must admit isn’t very useful when I already have anarmy of fire mages. It’s why I have no fire witches in my coven.” She gave the witches in her coven a questioning look. “What color am I missing?”

“Purple,” Felicity said, her eyes flaring as she looked me over like I wasn’t fit to clean the grime between her toes.

“Yes,” Malvolia said, “purple for witches with spiritual magic.”

“Spirit talkers?” I recalled Ember’s conversations with her ‘friends.’

“But we have nospirit talkersin our coven.”

I didn’t like how Felicity said ‘spirit talkers’ as if the words left a sour taste on her tongue.

I shot her a glare. “Why not?”

Malvolia laughed. “There are far too many ghosts in this castle. The spirit talkers are best left in the temples.”

“Far away from us,” Felicity said with a sneer before flashing me a smug smile, and I knew she knew about Ember’s magic.

Fucking bitch. If she didn’t watch her mouth, I’d make her eat her words. I recalled the blue and lavender dresses Malvolia had picked for the girls this morning and realized the colors matched their magic, which meant probably the entire castle knew about my nieces.

“Why far away?” I taunted. “Are you afraid of the ghosts in your closet?”

Felicity blinked at me and swayed on her feet before her pale cheeks turned pale red. “H-how dare!” she stammered.

“Enough talk of ghosts,” Malvolia interrupted, giving Felicity a warning glare.

I smiled triumphantly when Felicity clamped her mouth shut, her eyes flaring with anger.

“And the fire mages don’t wear different colored cloaks?” I asked in a sing-song voice, dominating the conversation once again.

Malvolia gave me a side-eyed look. “You certainly are hung up on mages, aren’t you?”

And she certainly had no regard for the male species. “I’m trying to understand.”

“Most fire mages have no magic beyond their ability to summon fire. A few can summon curse chambers,” she drawled, as if the very mention of the opposite sex was beneath her. “Those with other special magic like your mates are commissioned to serve my spymaster, and we don’t like announcing their skills with colored cloaks. Not that their wings would accommodate cloaks anyway.”

Lady Vernonica giggled behind her hand. “And how could we admire their beautiful muscular torsos if they were hidden by cloaks?”

Malvolia laughed so hard, she let out an unladylike snort. “Oh, Lady Veronica, you are so right.”

I saw my aunt in a new, unflattering light when she was with her coven. These junior witches were half her age or younger, and my aunt was their role model. Instead of elevating them by acting the sage queen, she set the bar far too low by disparaging the very mages who faithfully served in her army. I thought about how much my mates had admired their queen, and I wondered if they would still adore her if they heard her ridiculing their gender.

“And what about you?” I asked my aunt.

“Me?” She batted her lashes, looking like an innocent schoolgirl. I wasn’t fooled.

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