Page 29 of Destiny of the Witch

A clash of dark and radiant light

So heed the hidden prophecy spun

Of time, protectors and battles won.

The Crone shall rise like the sun

To face her father, darkness undone.’

Mum cleared her throat. ‘Okay, so what does it all mean? Well, first it meant I had to take a hard look at your father. All those evenings he’d been away for work suddenly took on a sinister tone. I hired a PI who took photos of him doing terrible things, horrific things. Don’t look at the photos, Amber. Get someone else to look for you, if you have someone you trust.’

She bit her lip. ‘I really hope you have someone to trust. If you don’t, you have my word that you can trust the griffin known as Bastion. I swear he has your best interests at heart.’ She paused, clearly warring with herself.

‘He’s your familiar, Amber,’ she blurted out. ‘I’m sorry, I’msosorry. Maybe I did wrong keeping it from you … but a creature as a familiar? It hasn’t happened in centuries, and every single witch in history that’s had a creature familiar has turned into a black witch. I’m sure that won’t happen with you, but I’ve taken steps to make sure that the bond with Bastion won’t be known to you during your formative years. You already have so much to overcome. You don’t need this too.’

She took a deepbreath. Lucille frolicked around her feet, kicking up her little legs as she ran around mum’s chair. Mum watched with a soft smile on her face. It faded as she sighed again.

‘You deserve joy like this,’ she said, gesturing unhappily to Lucille. ‘I don’t know if I’ve made the right decision, but I swear I’m trying to do everything right by you. When I found out what your father had done, I had to take steps to protect us from him. I needed something to ensure he wouldn’t ever harm us.’

She paused dramatically. ‘Amber, I found out that his black Coven had made a harkan.’ A harkan was an object of power. It was made by collecting one drop of blood at a time from a murder victim then crystallising the drops through magic. The bigger the crystal, the more deaths were required to make it and the greater the power it held. Rumour had it that the owner of a harkan crystal never needed recharge in the Common realm.

Her voice filled with horror. ‘It was so big, Amber.’ She shook her head. ‘I hired a wizard to help me get in and out of the Coven and steal the crystal.’ Her wry smile suggested it had been far from easy. ‘But we did it. And then what? I had the harkan, and I knew the black Coven would come for me – come for the crystal.’

Shesighed. ‘I consulted with Grimmy. He told me the only way to protect the crystal was to bind it to me and my bloodline. If they tried to take it, it wouldn’t work for them the way they wanted or needed. And if they tried to use it there would be dire consequences for them.’ She said that with grim satisfaction.

‘I made sure that Shaun knew only you or I could use it properly. He will have to keep us both safe – or you, at least. He’s not the leader of the black Coven at the moment, but the prophecy said he will be. He’ll work his way up the ranks so he can protect us and, by extension, the harkan.

‘Don’t get emotional about his motivation, Am. He wants power.’ Her voice was bitter. ‘You can’t do what he’s done if you don’t crave power. So I stole the harkan, and with Grimmy’s help I bound it to me. And to you. To do that, I gave it sentience.’ She hesitated. ‘To bind it, I had to add to it.’

I stared at the screen, aghast. To add to the harkan, my mumhadto have killed someone. I felt sick. Not only had my mum added to the harkan, Grimmy hadknownall this time?

She licked her lips. ‘I’ve hidden it. To bind it to me, I had to give it part of my mind and my soul. I can already feelthat I am – less. I suddenly find I need to make notes all the time, and my memory can’t be trusted. With time – and if the harkan is used – the effects will worsen. I don’t know how long we have.’

She shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, I truly am. I had your mind cleared. I couldn’t risk that you might have seen your father do something dark, that he’d already started grooming you to become a black witch.’ Her voice softened. ‘And I wanted to ease your hurt, baby girl. You were crying for him so much and it killed me because hechosethis. Hechoseto hurt and kill people for power.’

‘Don’t waste your tears on him, Amber. All the time he had us, he had another family – another wife, other kids, Rebecca and Edward. Half-siblings I have no intention of ever letting you meet. They had a third child, but he died. Shaun’s other wife is a black witch, too. She has embraced the darkness just like he has. I sometimes wonder if the child died of illness – or something far worse.’

She grimaced and tightened her lips. ‘I rue the day I ever met Shaun Bolton. I will protect you from him until my dying breath, Amber. And now, he will do the same,’ she said with grim satisfaction, ‘because only you or I can fully wield the power of their Goddess-forsaken harkan. And the black Coven knows it.’

Chapter 22

I suddenly remembered Becky – Rebecca – telling me that her father had ordered the Coven not to harm me, and that he’d been furious when she’d tried to bomb me. At the time I had thought he must still feel some sort of paternal affection for me, but in truth it had all been about the harkan crystal.

My father was protecting his investment, not me. Placing Jeb in my Coven to woo me, to win me over to the dark side, was just another ploy to get me to help him. I felt sick.

‘Hey,’ Bastion murmured. ‘Come here.’ He lifted me out of the chair, sat down with me on his lap and wrapped his arms around me. He didn’t utter any empty platitudes about how everything would be all right; he just let me fall apart, his solid presence promising he’d be here to help me pick up the pieces.

I let Bastion look at the pictures and he agreed with Mum’s assessment that I shouldn’t see them. They were an extra source of blackmail, nothing more.

There was also a data file with Shaun’s date of birth, National Insurance number and all his previous addresses. Mum had compiled a full family tree, outlining three generations of relatives. She’d noted who his friends were, though there was a small NB from mum that she couldn’t assume any of them were evil witches.

Bastion showed me one photo, a picture of Shaun and his other wife with Becky and Edward as kids. I didn’t recognise the wife but I did recognise Edward. The name and his cursed actions should have been a clue, but for some reason I hadn’t realised that Edward was my half-brother until that moment.

I frowned. ‘But he’s a wizard.’

‘So is Louisa.’ At my blank expression Bastion clarified, ‘The wife.’

Crikey, Shaun sure liked to surround himself with Ls:Louisa, Luna and Lucille.

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