Page 35 of Destiny of the Witch

I shut the door behind us. ‘Sit.’ I gestured to the edge of the bed.

Benjamin sat on the rumpled bed with a moue of distaste.

‘We need to talk about your Anti-Crea beliefs,’ I started firmly. ‘I cannot tell you what to think, but I can tell you what actions will not be tolerated.Whilst I appreciate that you were made in a far different time—’

Benjamin held up a hand. ‘Please stop there, Miss Amber. This lecture, though no doubt kindly intended, is wholly superfluous.’

‘Superfluous? I don’t think so! Conversations about bigoted beliefs are never superfluous. We are all guilty of cultural microaggressions now and again, but we have to consciously overcome those through deliberate action and thought. I—’

‘Miss Amber,’ Benjamin interrupted me firmly. ‘The lecture is not superfluous because it is not a worthwhile topic, but simply because I have already seen past my previous state of ignorance. I no longer believe or support the theory that magical creatures have less worth than their purely human counterparts.’

Now I was stumped. ‘Oh,’ I said as the wind was thoroughly sucked out of my sails. ‘What brought that on?’

‘Benji is defined as a creature,’ Benjamin said slowly. ‘As I reside in his body that makes me one too, and I have never been into self-loathing. But honestly? It was the first time in his flesh that did it. I watched all Benji did and – forgive me, my friend – I could even hear his thoughts. They are pure. He is the kindest, most genuine being I have ever met. He is far greaterthan me. Bound now as we are, I fear the effect my thoughts will have onhim.’

‘I’ve told you,’ Benji rumbled, ‘you mustn’t worry about that. Our thoughts are meant to be private. I don’t blame you one bit for what you think – I only measure you by what you say and do.’

‘And how do you find my measure now?’ Benjamin asked curiously.

‘So far I believe you have been in a difficult situation, forced to help others and to barter with their very life force to survive. Sometimes circumstances force us to make choices we wouldn’t usually make. But you’re not in that position any longer. Now you can make your own choices. Time will show what those will be, but there is no judgement from me for the choices you had to make before.’

‘He helped Mum bind her mind and soul to an evil crystal of death,’ I grumbled.

‘Miss Amber, that was at your mother’s insistence,’ Benjamin interjected. ‘I told her clear as day that she should seek another option. But time was pressing, so she did not.’

‘So that was not his fault,’ Benji added.

I blew out a sigh. ‘No, it wasn’t.’ In her prime, Mum had been a force to reckon with; trying to tell her no was like trying to make the sun rise at night. ‘Okay, well – good chat,’ I finished lamely. ‘Let’s go and see what the boys are up to.’

I walked back into Oscar’s cosy living room and paused. The atmosphere was tense. ‘What’s up?’ I looked between Oscar and Bastion but neither man would meet my gaze. ‘Well?’ I asked impatiently. ‘What is going on?’

Bastion finally turned to me. ‘After we cracked the CD, I copied it and sent it to Incognito.’

‘Your hacker friend?’

‘My hackeracquaintance,’ Bastion corrected.

‘Okay. And?’

‘And he just rang. He followed a paper trail for Shaun Bolton. A couple of years after your mum kicked him out, he used a few different identities. He was Grant for a while, then Toby. Then he went to meet with a high-end plastic surgeon and a low-end document forger.’

I swallowed. ‘Does Inc know what Shaun looks like now? What name he uses at the moment?’

Oscar stood and put an arm around me. He led me to his sofa. ‘Sit,’ he urged.

I sat.

Chapter 28

‘Just tell me,’ I demanded tightly. My phone chose to ring at that moment. For once, I swiped to deny the call and send it back to the Coven reception so it could be re-routed for someone else to deal with. I put the phone on do-not-disturb mode.

Bastion sat on the other side of me and took my hand. ‘John Melton.’

My vision tunnelled and I bent forward so that my head was on my knees. Bastion placed his hand on the back of my neck. ‘Push against my hand,’ he instructed quietly, ‘and breathe.’

Easier said than done. My father, the man I thought had abandoned me as a child, had built himself a new name and a new face and ensconced himself inmyCoven. He had never left me.

I felt utterly conflicted. John…? Spice Shoppe John? My mind couldn’t comprehend it. But now that I knew, I wondered if I could see the traces of Shaun in him: the red hair, certainly and the shape of his eyes. I thought about his voice, the voice I’d known as Shaun’s and now knew as John’s. John was urbane and civilised, like Miss Doolittle to Shaun’s Eliza. Shaun had transformed himself in more ways than his appearance; even the timbre of his voice was different.

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