Page 11 of Destiny of the Witch

I blinked. ‘Huh.’ I toyed with the pendant at my neck. Edith – one of my Crone predecessors – had known how to kick butt. She’d taken over my body to save me with a spot of knife fighting and it seemed I’d also inherited some of her other skills.

‘That was unexpected,’ Bastionnoted.

‘You remember when Tristan attacked me?’

‘How could I forget?’ he growled.

‘He had a knife. I asked my sisters if anyone could help me. A lovely witch called Edith took over, kicked his ass and shoved him into the pentagram.’ I paused. ‘Then you ran in and killed him. But it looks like some of Edith’s skills have been left behind.’

‘Whether you have her skills or not, you still need to practise. You won’t be comfortable using them if they’re not embedded in your own body and mind,’ Bastion counselled.

I nodded reluctantly. I’m not a huge fan of exercise, and I have the cardiac fitness of a cursed slug. But things were heating up and I was determined not to be the weak link. He was absolutely right. It was something to work on.

‘Ok, I’m game if you are.’

‘Always.’

Bastion held up the cushion. ‘Again.’

Our impromptu training session had felt surprisingly good. My arms ached a little with all of the punches that Bastion had made me throw, but I was pleased at how far I’d come on. Goddess bless Edith. It helped that I was probably the first young Crone to be appointed in recent years, and that was another advantage I had. I was physically, and magically, still at the height of my power – if I trained right, I could be a force to be reckoned with. A prophecy hung over me, and I was all too conscious that I really needed to be a force to be reckoned with.

‘Thank you for my training.’ I kissed him. ‘And thank you for the brunch too.’

‘You’re welcome. What are your plans for the rest of the day?’

‘I need to speak to Ethan and do some general Coven-keeping. Now I’ve been awarded the role of Crone, we need to start the process of finding a new Coven Mother.’

I got out my laptop and fired off a few emails, then summoned an acolyte to take Lucille’s potion for testing.I was surprised – and impressed – when Sarah Bellington was the first to volunteer.

Moments later she was at my door and hustling off to the seers, potion vial in hand. It had seemed mean at the time but demoting her to acolyte because of her poor crystal ball safety had clearly been the impetus she’d needed to push herself. I gave myself a mental pat on the back for my excellent leadership skills.

I sent a few more emails before Ethan knocked at the door. He and I weren’t friends – or even friendly – but we had a decent working relationship that did the job. Though I always felt he was bristling to attention every time we spoke.

Bastion let him in and came to stand by my side; he was in guard mode and he let Ethan see it.

Ethan ignored any implicit threat and got straight down to business. ‘The discovery of a black witch—’

‘Evil witch,’ I corrected.

He went on without missing a beat. ‘A necromancer no less, in our Coven! Well, it’s going to cause issues.’

I raised an eyebrow. ‘For whom?’

‘For all of us,’ he huffed. ‘As if it isn’t bad enough being known as the Hula Coven,’ he muttered, pacing in front of my sofa.

‘The salt rings are sensible,’ I started to argue.

Heraised a hand. ‘I have no issue with the practice, just the disrespectful nickname.’

I smiled. ‘You know how we deal with disrespect.’ A curse a day keeps the idiots away.

A smile flickered across his stony visage. ‘Well, yes.’

‘Then let them be disrespectful. They’ll only do it once.’

Ethan sat on the edge of the sofa. ‘Jeb,’ he said tightly. ‘I still can’t believe it. We’ve worked together for years. I feel like I can’t trust my own judgement.’

I knew exactly what he meant. ‘We can’t let them undermine us. Jeb acted a part for years. It’s not our fault for taking him at face value.’

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