Page 64 of Destiny of the Witch

I nodded. ‘I don’t intend to bury it.’ Instead, I’d use her as the poster girl of what would happen to you if you turned to pain and torture to fuel your magic. Power really wasn’t everything. But the worst of the news was still to come. ‘But there’s more. I’m sorry to saythat when Ria started talking, the leader of the evil Coven killed her.’

Henry stilled. ‘Ria’s dead?’

I nodded. ‘I’m sorry.’

Henry’s eyes filled and painful silence stretched. Jacob and Ethan both reached out to touch their son. Henry’s lip trembled. His jaw clenched and he dashed angrily at the tears that fell from his eyes. ‘I know she drugged me and did bad things but we grew up together. She was my first—’ he looked at his parents ‘—kiss,’ he ended lamely.

‘I know. I’m sorry,’ I repeated.

‘Why? You didn’t kill her.’

‘No,’ I agreed, ‘I didn’t. But I’m sorry for your loss all the same.’ I’d told them the truth about Shaun in that I’d said he was the leader of the evil Coven, but I hadn’t said that he was my father. That felt private and it wasn’t something I wanted to spread around. My business was my own.

Henry scrubbed at his eyes again. ‘It’s okay to cry,’ I said suddenly. ‘No one will think any less of you.’

He gave me a wobbly smile. ‘I think I’m in shock. I don’t know what to feel. I need to talk it over with someone. Can I go and see Sarah? Can I tell her about all of this?’

Inodded. ‘Do what you need to do to process it.’ I looked at his fathers. ‘If it’s okay with your parents, of course,’ I added hastily.

‘It’s fine,’ Jacob said softly. ‘But come home tonight. We’ll talk more this evening, as a family.’

Henry excused himself and gave his parents a quick hug. When he had left to spread the bad news, I turned to Ethan. ‘Obviously, as Crone I can no longer maintain the position of Coven Mother.’

He nodded tightly, but I could see tension in the lines of his mouth. Not so long ago, I would have been thinking of Meredith or Hannah to replace me, but Hannah was dead and Meredith would be grieving the loss of her daughter for some time. The last thing she needed was a Coven to run. And besides, some of Jeb’s griping had struck a chord with me. Bar his gender, Ethanwasthe right person for the role; he’d been doing it for weeks.

I cleared my throat. ‘I would like to ask you to become the first Coven Father.’

Ethan froze then his eyes welled with tears. Jacob let out a sob and barrelled into his husband’s arms.

‘I—’ Ethan started. He shook his head and buried it in Jacob’s shoulder for a moment. Finally he took a steadyingbreath. ‘It would be an honour,’ he said. ‘Thank you, Coven Mother. What about the application process?’

I shook my head. ‘Your appointment has been ratified by the Coven Council. If you want the job it’s yours, no application process needed. Frankly, you deserve it. I can think of no one else who would better lead our Coven.YourCoven,’ I corrected myself, giving his arm a squeeze. ‘I’m packing up my flat now and I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I can.’

Ethan smiled at me. ‘Thank you for this opportunity, Crone. I promise I won’t squander it.’

‘Of that,’ I smiled back, ‘I have no doubt.’

We had a small party in the Coven common room. I let Ethan handle the announcements – better to start as we meant to go on. After a brief show of my face, I excused myself to carry on packing.

Even with Benji, Bastion and Frogmatch helping, it took longer than I’d expected to pack up my whole life. Nevertheless, in a few hours, we were back on the road again. Despite the late hour, we decided to drive back to Edinburgh,mostly because I didn’t want to step on Ethan’s toes but also because I wanted to start living my life with Bastion.

Edinburgh, that siren of cities, was calling me home.

Chapter 57

We had returned home in darkness and tumbled into exhausted sleep. Benji and Frogmatch were ensconced in a guest room each. Bastion’s home had five bedrooms so there was more than enough space for us all. Which was good, because I’d promised Benji would live with me. Luckily Bastion had been more than happy with that arrangement, for now at least.

When I woke, Bastion was already up and exercising. He’d had his home privately warded by Kass, and on top of that it had a state-of-the-art security system which was being monitored by one of the griffin security companies that Shirdal ran. All that security meant that Bastion could relax here in a way that I hadn’t seen before. He was actually willing to leave my side, which was nice, but I also found I missed his steadying presence.

I showered, runed and dressed for the day. I sat in front of the mirror to say my affirmations, but found that today I didn’t need to say them. Ididhave a familiar, and I was a strong and successful witch. I did need someone though – more than one someone. I needed Bastion, I needed Oscar and my Mum, and I needed Benji and Frogmatch. And none of that needing made me any the weaker – if anything it made me stronger. What a shame it had taken me forty-two years to realise that friends and family are a strength in life, not a weakness.

I squared my shoulders and re-framed the thought. I was grateful that I’d discovered friends and family were a strength.

Anyway, I had a new affirmation. ‘I am a strong, successful witch. With my friends and family beside me, I am unstoppable. Iwillchange this world for the better.’ I smiled. It was true, and I was working towards it every day. I was going to build this Coven Council up into something I was proud to be a part of, and then I was going to go evil-witch hunting. Between me and Voltaire, we’d weed out those last five. And I’d make damned sure no one else thought that joining the evil Coven was a good idea.

I made my way down to the kitchen where I stopped abruptly. One wall of the kitchen had been made into ahuge mug shelf. It hadn’t been there when we’d left for the Home Counties Coven yesterday, but here it was. Neatly painted, it was a whole wall of little individual cubbies for each of my mugs, and Bastion had already unpacked them and set them in their new homes. I gaped at it. It was like a bookshelf, but for mugs.

‘Do you like it?’ Bastion murmured from behind me.

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