Page 7 of Familiar of the Witch

Mack continued to drag me forward. I let my body droop and my feet slow a little, making him drag me all the more viciously.

I caught sight of Jeb, Ethan and Jacob across the hall. What on earth were they doing here? That wasn’t part of the plan! Who was running my damned Coven in their absence? Then I saw more of my Coven: Melrose, Venice,John. Half of them were here. Had Frogmatch cajoled them in the early hours of the morning, or had they come in response to my Coven-wide email. Were they here to support me or to condemn me? I hoped the former, but my self-doubt whispered the latter.

Angry mutterings sprang up as the crowd took in my tousled hair and clothing and the way in which Mack was manhandling me. ‘What is the meaning of this?’ Willow asked loudly. ‘Why does Amber look like a prisoner? Why on earth is she wearing magic-cancelling cuffs?’

Tristan frowned. ‘She killed Hilary. She is dangerous.’ Crikey, nothing like being innocent until being proven guilty, hey?

‘She killed ablackwitch!’ Willow countered.

‘Soshesays!’ Tristan batted back.

‘We have already heard from quite a few other witnesses this morning who also say so!’ Willow responded sharply.

‘DeLea’s driver and bodyguard is bound to support her,’ Tristan bickered. ‘He didn’t see the killing blow, and Rosemary didn’t see anything directly either. Nor did Benjamin Cohen, since he had been powered down byherhand.’ He stabbed his finger at me.

‘Even so, all three were on the chair of truth and all three swore that Hilary confessed to being a black witch. Unlessyou’re suggesting that they could somehow circumvent my runes?’ Willow glared as she challenged him.

Tristan backed down a little; even he wasn’t foolish enough to suggest her runes weren’t effective. ‘I’m saying those witnesses could be mistaken but stillbelievethey were speaking the truth.’

I was suddenly quite pleased not to be a part of the Council. Frankly, this sniping in front of everyone was embarrassing.

Jasper clearly agreed. ‘Enough!’ he called. ‘Bring Miss DeLea to the chair and let the questioning commence.’

Mack continued to haul me forward before depositing me on a chair that was placed on a pentagram. The pentagram was unconcealed and filled with truth-compulsion runes. Lovely: I was about to spill my guts about anything they asked me. I hoped they wouldn’t ask too many questions and that I didn’t incriminate myself with my answers. I had to think carefully about my responses; I would need to keep a level head under the choking weight of the truth runes.

Easy.

‘I’ll go first,’ Bastion said loudly as he strode onto the hall’s floor. He lifted me effortlessly out of the chair and sat down on it instead.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked out of the side of my mouth.

‘Saving you,’ he murmured. He inhaled my scent. ‘You smell of vampyr, Bambi. Are you okay? I felt your fear.’ His voice was clipped and taut with anger; he hated that he hadn’t been there to save me during the night, though he was keen to remedy that now.

I hadn’t needed him to save me last night because my father was controlling the vampyr like a puppet on a string and he had stuffed his marionette onto my blade. I couldn’t have avoided killing him if I’d tried. My father had wanted the pugnacious vampyr to die and he’d used me to do it.

‘I’m okay,’ I reassured Bastion. ‘What’s your plan?’

He didn’t answer directly. ‘You have too many secrets to be questioned on this chair. Keep your game face on.’

I had no game face, but I did my best to summon – and maintain – my haughtiest expression.

Tristan was glowering at Bastion. ‘You have not yet been summoned to give evidence. You—’

‘Give it a rest, Tristan,’ Beatrice snapped. ‘Let the griffin say his piece and then we can hear from DeLea, if necessary.’ When Beatrice had been attacked and injured by a black witch masquerading asFelix, I had healed her injuries. It seemed she was warmly disposed towards me, which was a nice surprise because she’d always struck me as wholly glacial before this.

Tristan subsided and sat back sulkily in his chair. Bastion calmly and dispassionately related the events that had led to Hilary’s death: the fake text that said Abigay had confiscated dark artefacts in her rooms and Hilary subsequently tearing the place apart to look for them. Then Bastion explained that Hilary had confessed to being a necromancer and that she had summoned and controlled three vampyrs in front of him.

The hall was completely silent as the witches hung on his every word so silently you could have heard a rune stone drop. I held on to my haughty expression and waited for the punchline. To be honest, I had no idea where he was going with this because with the next few sentences he would say that I had killed Hilary. Regardless of his best efforts, once he uttered those words I would be questioned on that chair.

Bastion looked Tristan squarely in the eyes. ‘Hilary came to attack me. She drew a poisoned athame and she stabbed me with it. I killed her.’

I blinked. No way! There wasno wayhe should have been able to say that whilst sitting on so manytruth runes. He hadn’t killed her,Ihad. It took a huge amount of effort for me to remain impassive.

Tristan faltered. ‘You killed her?’

‘I killed her,’ Bastion lied firmly. ‘I sliced open her throat.’

What. The. Heck.

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