Page 29 of Tamhas

11

Tamhas

Well?” I asked once we were out of earshot.

Alan frowned. “Do you even have to ask?”

My stomach dropped. The dragon roared loud enough that I could hardly hear anything around me. Even the ever-present buzzing of the generator and the lights faded into nothingness when compared to the strength of his rage.

“You don’t mean what I think you mean.”

Alan’s jaw was clenched tight. “What other choice do I have? She has to die.”

“You can’t do that.”

His eyes narrowed. “What gives you the idea that you can tell me what it is and isn’t in my power to do? Have you forgotten who was unanimously accepted as the leader of the clan in Gavin’s place?”

“Gavin wouldn’t have killed her.”

Owen sighed. “What do you think he would’ve done, Tamhas? She’s a Blood Moon Priestess. She bears the mark.”

My thoughts raced as I scrambled for a way to defend her. There had to be something I could say that would get through to them. “Tell me: didn’t the coven go extinct once the rift occurred? That was what we always believed. Is it not?”

“Aye,” Alan acknowledged with a slight nod. “And now, it’s clear that we were wrong.”

“What if we weren’t wrong?”

“Oh, come now.” He looked at Owen and Dallas, who both snickered.

“I mean it,” I pressed. “What if they went extinct? Simply stopped practicing their magic?”

“What difference does it make?” Dallas challenged. “She’s still a witch.”

“Aye, what if she doesn’t know she is one.” I believed this to be true.

“Would you please stop making up excuses for her when you know not whether they are the truth?” Alan sounded defeated, exhausted. “If you hadn’t been foolish enough to bring her into your life, we wouldn’t be having this argument. Somewhere along the line, you forgot how dangerous the outside world can be. I suppose we all did. I can’t blame you for things which occurred prior to the kidnapping.”

“What?” Dallas spat, glaring at Alan in disbelief.

“I said what I said,” he maintained, returning Dallas’s stare with quiet confidence.

Dallas backed down, but looked resentful when he did.

Alan continued, “We were all lax in our way. Perhaps we were foolhardy, believing that so many centuries passing without incident meant we were untouchable. I know I was guilty of this. Gavin was, as well. He didn’t find it necessary to lock our security down as tightly as it could’ve been.”

“Yes, and look what happened as a result,” Owen muttered. “No one should’ve been able to find us. No one. Even if Tamhas had carried on an email correspondence with the lass, she shouldn’t have been able to trace us as she did.”

“She didn’t trace us,” I reminded him. “Her friend did.”

“A friend who might very well be a Blood Moon Priestess, as she is,” Alan murmured half to himself, as though he were just coming up with this on his own.

“You don’t know that,” I argued.

“No. I don’t.” His stare was cold. “And neither do you.”

“You’re really planning on going through with this?” I asked, dreading the answer. Knowing the answer. I didn’t want to hear it, but I had to. I needed to know for certain what he was going to do.

“Aye,” he nodded. “We have to put her to death.”

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