Page 38 of Wicked Ties
Beckett watched the exchange between the two of us and appeared just as confused as the rest of the people in the room. “What’s this about.”
“Yes.” My father spoke over him. “They are hers.”
“Right, does anyone who has psychic powers care to explain for the rest of us who bloody don’t?” Grayson rolled his eyes. “Like pulling teeth with you lot sometimes. I swear. Less faffing, more doing.”
I rolled my eyes. “The vials belong to the Crone. The Keres are collecting souls for her to feed off, much like how she feeds off soulmate marks. They keep her young. Tell me I’m wrong?”
My mother shook her head. “You’re not.”
“I would guess they’re doing this for her for a reason?”
My father groaned and ran his hand through his hair. “They collect souls for her in exchange for their own. The bargain was struck and a contract signed. When they’ve collected enough souls for her, she will give back theirs.”
“How could you be a part of this?” I growled. We were warlock, we operated outside the law, but this . . . disgusted me. “You run the Circus of Freaks, you let her hide there. How could you make it so . . . easy for her?”
For years my parents ran the Circus of Freaks. They gave her a place to live and hide out. I had no idea why. The Fallen despised the Crone, yet my parents served her. Why?
“Do not speak of what you do not know,” my father growled.
I turned to the rest of the room, ignoring him. “Then there is only one thing we can do. We have to get the Keres their own souls so they will give Tilly back her spirit.”
Tilly’s eyes widened. “And how do you propose we do that? The Crone is insanely powerful and old. She won’t negotiate with us and cut off her own source of immortality.”
I curled my hand into a fist, crumpling the paper. “Then we take it.”
“No, Mazerial. You can’t. Not like this.” My mother shook her head, pleading with me. “You can not.”
“Why not?” We needed Tilly’s spirit back.
This was the only way to do it. There was no bargaining with the Crone. At least not unless I was willing to give up something more precious to me than life itself. No. I couldn’t. We would take it, and we would do it by force. The warlocks and witches were the most powerful on the Earth after the Fallen and the Greeks. There was no reason we should bow to her or be afraid of her. Not anymore.
“Because we can’t.” My mother looked to my father. “Tell him.”
“Tell me what?” I glanced back and forth between the two of them. When neither of them spoke, I grew impatient. My soulmate was on the line here. We didn’t have time for this. “Someone speak or we’re leaving . . . now.”
My father rolled his shoulders. “You can’t because it will mean your life.”
“I’m not afraid of the Crone.” In truth, I wasn’t. if I died, then I died.
“Sometimes there are things far worse than death.” My mother shoved my father toward me. “Now tell him the truth. It’s time.”
My father licked his lips and shuffled from one foot to the other. “I loved your mother like no other.”
Not where I was expecting this to go. For as long as I could remember, my parents had never loved each other. Battled? Yes. Wanted each other dead? For sure. Had tried a couple times? Without a doubt. But love? Love was never in the equation.
“Sure.” Sarcasm filled that one word.
“Watch your tone,” he snapped.
“This is better than the daytime soaps.” Grayson leaned forward like he was watching a movie.
“I loved your mother more than anything.” He glared at me. “And in doing this, I made the biggest mistake of my life.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m a mistake. I got it.”
“Will you shut up?” My father scrubbed his hand down his face. “Listen.”
“I’m listening.”
