Page 59 of Destiny of the Witch

Apollinaire had made – or sourced – deliciously cooked seabass in some sort of white wine and caper sauce resting on a bed of buttery new potatoes and crushed minted peas, decorated with samphire. I gave an appreciative moan. ‘This is phenomenal.’

Bastion looked at me over the rim of his glass. ‘You’ll make that noise for me later.’

‘Promises, promises,’ I said a shade breathlessly.

He smiled. He knew he could deliver.

I smiled back. So did I.

Chapter 52

I woke aching in the best way as Bastion pressed a kiss to my shoulder. ‘Morning, Bambi. How are you feeling today?’

I considered. ‘I don’t know. We dealt a significant blow to the evil Coven last night, not just in getting my father arrested. The griffins were pretty slasher-happy. There were lots of dead bodies on the floor. We’ve cut off the head of the snake.’

‘With a poison like that, it’s not enough,’ Bastion noted. ‘We need to root it all out.’

I sighed. ‘I know. I’ve begun to realise why the position of Crone is one for life. I don’t think I’ll ever be done hunting evil witches. It’s like the Forth Bridge: by the time you’ve finished painting it once, it’s time to start painting it all over again.’

‘I have faith in you,’ he murmured, ‘but you can’t influence human nature. Some people just want power and they don’t care how they come by it.’

Once I might have been counted amongst that number. I’d wanted to be the Symposium witch member; I’d wanted to be remembered with such zeal that I might even have crossed a line or two. Things had changed now, though. I didn’t care anymore about being remembered; I cared about living my life in therightway, bringing about positive change for myself and those around me.

I still didn’t want kids, which was good because the Crone position didn’t allow for a family even though it allowed for a husband. Hmm, now there was a thought. ‘Do you want to get married?’ I asked Bastion as I trailed my fingers over his washboard abs.

He blinked. ‘Are you proposing?’

‘No, we’re discussing. Hypothetically, one day, would you like to marry me?’

He pulled me into his arms and kissed me thoroughly. ‘Today, tomorrow, any day,’ he promised. ‘I’m a fan of wedding cake. And wedding nights.’

‘I’m serious,’ I huffed.

‘So am I.’ Hepropped himself up on one arm. ‘I love you, Amber DeLea. And I’m more than happy to spend the rest of my life showing that to you.’

He kissed me again and this time he accompanied it with a big ball of love that he threw down our bond to me. He loved me, he wanted to spend every waking moment with me, he wanted to grow old with me and hedefinitelywanted to marry me.

‘Oh,’ I said when we came up for air.

‘Oh,’ he repeated with a grin. ‘For some reason, I find I can’t be without my irascible sassy witch. And I don’t want to be. I’m ready for forever whenever you are. Just say the word and I’ll put a ring on it.’

I grinned. ‘Not today. But soon.’

‘I’ll take soon.’ And that was the last we said for a long while.

Chapter 53

The Coven Council was in a flap. Not that I could blame them: we had nine dead evil witches, according to Wise’s list. With my father behind bars, that left at least five more in hiding in the Covens. The revelation of Beatrice’s true allegiance had been an understandable shock.

I was incredibly pissed off to see Seren was still alive and well, though frankly she was too dumb to be an evil witch. She would have tipped off her Coven in the first week by stealing too many hydration potions. She was a bitch – but that didn’t make her evil. More’s the pity.

‘We need to commence the application process for others to join the Coven Council,’ I said firmly. ‘With the deaths of Felix, Hilary, Tristan and Beatrice, we need to recruit urgently. We need a minimum of seven to convene the Council, and at the moment we only have nine. All we need is a bout of flu and we won’t have a quorum. I suggestwe invite Eleanora Moonspell to apply. Does anyone else have any likely candidates?’

I thought of Jeb’s comments about the inequality between men and women. What I wanted to aim for was equality. ‘We could do with some more men, if any can be encouraged to apply.’

‘I know a few who may be interested,’ Carl confirmed gruffly.

‘As do I,’ Isadora confirmed.

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