Page 61 of Witch's Fate

“Sofia,” he said as she went through the door. She turned to look at him. “Thank you for saving me.”

Her brow creased. “Of course.” She turned and left.

Malcolm scrubbed a hand across the back of his neck. Bloody hell, winning her was going to be hard. She was so skittish. He sighed, then headed to the shower.

Fifteen minutes later, he headed down to the kitchen. His brother and Aurora were at the stove making bacon, from the smell of it. Esha and Warren were pouring coffee, her dark head bent near his blond one. Inara stood at the island, scooping scrambled eggs onto plates.

Felix turned and asked, “Feeling better?”

Malcolm nodded. “Thank you for coming to get us. All of you.”

Esha lowered her cup from her mouth. “Not a problem. I enjoyed it. Nothing like a little battle.”

“Aye. I don’t get out often enough,” Warren said.

Sofia walked into the kitchen, Kitty trailing her.

Aurora turned from the stove, her golden hair gleaming. “Morning. I’m Aurora.” She pointed at her sleek black familiar who sat at her side, gnawing on a piece of bacon. “That’s Mouse.”

“I’m Esha.” She pointed at the big, scruffy tomcat who gazed longingly at Mouse. “That’s Chairman Meow.”

“Warren.” He nodded at Sofia.

“Nice to meet you,” Sofia said. “Thanks for getting us out of there.”

“No problem,” Aurora said, then glanced at the stove. “Bacon’s done. Let’s eat.”

They all collected plates and sat at the kitchen table.

“My enchantment never worked, so why did you help us?” Malcolm asked Inara before he took a bite of food. It didn’t make any sense.

“I had my reasons.”

“You’re going to have to expound upon that,” he said.

She sighed and put her fork down. “Or what?”

“You won’t like the consequences.” Her knowledge might threaten Sofia. He’d stop at nothing to eliminate that threat.

She glared at him. “Fine. I hate the Salem Coven. I joined when I was young. Two years ago, I fell in love. He ran afoul of the coven. A month later, he was dead. I could never prove anything because they kept it quiet, but I know it was my coven mates. I know it. I can read auras. It’s one of my gifts. I read guilt in theirs. When you came and wanted to steal the book, I thoughtwhy not? Neither of you have evil auras, and I wanted vengeance.”

“You aren’t worried about what we’ll do with the book?”

“No.”

Her expression was a bit strange, but before Malcolm could ask why, Sofia spoke. “What does the coven know about me? Why were they so interested?”

“Ah.” Inara’s gaze dropped, as if she didn’t know how to phrase her next comment. “Well, you see, your position is fairly well known amongst the most powerful covens.”

“What do you mean?”

“The High Witches have a really sweet deal worked out with you and your line of Bruxas. You bring the tributes or they destroy your village. Did you ever wonder how that came about?”

“Not often, no. It’s always been part of my life. And my mother’s and grandmother’s before me.”

“Well, it’s an unusual situation. Most Mythean groups don’t do things like that—at least not on earth and not anymore. Going to another group of Mytheans—or in your case, a village—and threatening war and destruction is frowned upon. Like, really frowned upon. Organizations like the university in Edinburgh or the Grand Council of Witches or the Weres’ Consortium usually lay the smack-down on that kind of large-scale potential warfare. If it were allowed, there’s no way we could stay secret from mortals. Not if everyone were off fighting big old battles.”

“I know,” Sofia said. “But I just assumed my situation was older—established before the rule of law.”

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