Page 1 of Familiar of the Witch

Chapter 1

‘You’re under arrest.’

I stared at Tristan’s bodyguard, Mack. Magic-cancelling cuffs dangled in his hands. Glaring at him, I demanded, ‘Is that really necessary? We both know that I’m going to be cleared of any wrongdoing in relation to Hilary’s death.’

‘That is not a foregone conclusion,’ he disagreed gruffly. ‘However, I am willing to cuff your hands in front of you.’ He drawled it out like he was doing me a favour.

‘How very kind of you,’ I bit out snottily. ‘Has anyone ever told you that you’re the Monday of the human world?’

Mack’s lips drew back in a snarl. Bastion’s face was no less thunderous, but his rage was directed at the wizard trying to cuff me and he stepped towards Mack with violent intent. I sighed and held up a hand. ‘Don’t bother killing him,’ I said. ‘I need to deal with this head on. I’d rather nothave the cuffs on, but we always knew I was going to be tried. The black witches are pulling the strings here.’

Bastion let me push him back but the threat of violence simmered in his now-golden eyes. He wasnothappy.

Mack’s jaw tightened. ‘This has nothing to do with black witches,’ he spat. ‘This has to do with you. You killed a member of the Coven Council. It cannot be borne.’

‘She was a practising black witch,’ I pointed out with exasperation.

‘Soyousay.’

‘Soshesaid,’ I countered. ‘She confessed and I have a video of her confession.’

‘Then you won’t have any issue in the trial, will you?’ he sneered.

That was what I hoped, but I’d long since learned not to count my ingredients until they were in the cauldron.

Mack stepped closer, holding out the cuffs. Bastion let out a low warning growl. ‘I’ll do it,’ he snarled at Mack. ‘You’re not touching her.’

Mack blinked, but he didn’t dare argue with the hulking griffin who was seething with rage and exuding barely leashed fury. I was pissed off as well, but apparentlyI wasn’t anywhere near as intimidating. I needed to work on that.

I had been hoping to finish the final-defence potion for Bastion and Shirdal today; instead, it would have to remain under stasis until I came back. ‘Wait one moment,’ I said. My tone made it clear I wasn’t asking. ‘I’ll just put this in stasis so the potion isn’t ruined.’

Though I wasn’t asking for his permission, Mack nodded as if I were. ‘Fine.’

I leisurely paintedisaon the cauldrons to keep the potion base stable. I’d have one week before the rune work broke down, and hopefully my trial would be over by then. And if it wasn’t, I’d have bigger problems than just the final-defence potions.

I looked around and wished that Mack hadn’t seen my private lab; it is exactly that,private.But I’d gotten sloppy; I was so used to Bastion and I wandering in and out that I hadn’t secured the hidden entrance from my home office and Mack had just strolled in. It was an error I wouldn’t be repeating. Assuming, of course, that I was subsequently freed and able to make mistakes again.

I wished I’d taken the time to visit Mum this morning, but I’d planned to go in the evening. Who knew how longit would be before I was back in the Home Counties and could see her?

Oscar and I try to visit Mum daily. Oscar and Benji were with her now while I was safe in the Coven’s tower doing some potion work. Unfortunately, Mum’s dementia-like symptoms were worsening and she hadn’t been lucid once during the last five days. We’d been praying for a few moments of clarity so I could get the code to the CD she’d left me – but I also just wanted to talk to her. I missed her something chronic. She is a force of nature when she is present, and I miss her with all my heart.

And the CD was important because apparently it held blackmail material on my elusive father, Shaun. He was purportedly a black witch and everything I needed to find him was on an encrypted CD. All of that essential information was stuck behind a cursed passcode.

I’d tried everything I could think of to unlock it: my name, my date of birth, Mum’s familiar Lucille’s date of birth, Oscar’s details … all that and more. Nothing had worked.

Of course Bastion knew a hacker, but he wasn’t currently available. Bastion said that meant he was off somewhere doing some sort of black ops. We either needed the hackerto return or for Mum to have a lucid day, but so far neither had happened – now I was being arrested.

Impatience roared through me. I had so much to do and none of it involved dealing with this nonsense about Hilary’s death. People were depending on me. ‘I’ll just send a couple of emails,’ I said abruptly to Mack. Again, I wasn’t asking for his permission.

His mouth tightened but he didn’t stop me when I opened my laptop. I sent a quick email to Jeb, Ethan and Jacob, outlining the problem and asking them to take over running the Coven for meagain.Then I sent a brief Coven-wide email explaining about my arrest as briefly and unemotionally as possible. I said it was just a formality and I’d be back soon. I hoped I wasn’t lying.

‘Okay,’ I said to Bastion as I shut the laptop. ‘You can cuff me.’ I held out my hands. He was right: I’d rather he did it than Mack.

Anger radiated from every inch of Bastion’s body; I needed to distract my ferocious bodyguard or one wrong word from Mack would see his guts decorating my walls. And Jeb had only repainted them a couple of weeks ago.

Bastion gently secured the cuffs around my wrist, leaving plenty of room so they didn’t bite into my skin. I swayed as the cuffs closed and my magic was ripped awayfrom me. The feeling of emptiness was so sudden, so stark, that I struggled for a moment to hide my panic. Even when I was in the Common, the non-magical realm, I still had a tendril of magic but now I had none. The potion bomb in my pocket would be completely useless to me. I felt raw, naked and defenceless and I totally despised that feeling.

I raised my chin defiantly. I was without my magic but I wasn’t weak.

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