Page 123 of A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums

“So you’ve heard that a time or ten. I wasn’t insulting you. I was asking a legitimate question.”

“Do you know… you know, what I am?”

Smiling, I nodded. “You’re a Lilium. Like me. Like Lily Joy.” I pointed to Lily Joy conversing with one of the witches. “Like Karro.” I pointed him out, along with the two others he talked with. More were on the way. I felt it. I felt our connection.

“Lilium?” she asked. “What exactly is a Lilium?”

“A direct descendent of Lilith,” I replied. Alexis’s head jerked again. I loved this part. “Go join Karro. He volunteered to fill in all our new cousins who arrived. The two he’s talking to showed up maybe ten and thirty minutes ago, respectively.”

She let a tentative smile replace her shocked expression and slowly made her way over to Karro, who threw his arms out with a welcoming, “Girlie… let Uncle Karro take care of you.” He enveloped her in a hug. She melted against him and I felt okay to get back to my business.

Connor sidled up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist as he rested his chin on my shoulder. “How’re you doing?” he asked.

I sighed. “I’m okay. Relieved Luc is working with us and not against us.”

“One of us said that would never happen. Can you remember who that was?”

“You have to admit it looked bad for a while.”

“So what’s next?”

“I like that subtle change of topic. Smooth, Baghest.”

He pressed a kiss to my neck. “I have my moments.”

“I’m waiting for more witches and Lilium to show and then I’ll address the room. Since I’m winging this, I have no idea if it’ll work or not.”

“Winging it, my ass. I hear the thoughts spinning in your head. You have a plan.”

“A tentative one, I guess. I studied business and finance at community college, not battle strategies and the art of war.”

“Babe, Lilith put you in charge for a reason. I like Sim, but he’s following your orders like the rest of us. Lilith putyouin charge.”

“What if she made a mistake?”

“Don’t start second-guessing yourself now. My Simone is a strong, badass woman who knows she’s the shit and will kick any ass that gets in her way. Including mine.”

I chuckled. “I have other plans for your ass.”

“When we’re done with this, I’m keeping you naked for at least a week. I don’t care if your grandmother shows. She’ll get an eyeful because I won’t stop for anything.”

“It’s a date.” I meant it. I wanted that more than he knew. Me and Connor bumping uglies like couples should on their honeymoon. We’d earned a honeymoon. And when we came back, we’d throw the biggest reception anyone had ever seen.For me and Connor, for Sim and Madigan, and for anyone else who had a reason to celebrate. A smile crept over my face as I closed my eyes, picturing our life post-possible apocalypse—no. It was our job, it wasmyjob to make sure this never reached apocalyptic proportions.

The hearth glowed purple from the flames as it expanded to allow more pots to appear and bubble over the fire. More loaves of bread magically widened the bread oven. Ramakins of butter materialized onto the tabletops along with condiments. The archives knew where our witches visited from. I saw diced raw onions, cilantro, fresh lime, and a few salsas on the table by the witches from Mexico. Then over by Shafira, who’d tracked down her sister and nieces—they’d be staying at one of Luc’s safehouses during the fight—the table produced sumac, dried limes, and a sauce that looked like a thick, spiced yogurt sauce, among other things.

I let the room of mostly women eat and settle in a bit before dropping the heavy on them. The door at the top of the stairs cracked against the wall. That unmistakable sound reverberated down to us, catching all our attention. Then throngs of witches and Lilium flooded into the archives, which just kept expanding to hold them. The door clicked shut again and a disheveled, very injured Victoria Rivers stumbled into view. Connor and I rushed to her.

“Weik was hit…” She stopped to catch her breath. “I don’t know… how they found us…”

Weik was hit? How? She’d had wards up all over the building to keep the undesirables out.

“Lily Joy, Shafira,” I shouted, but the women were already moving through the throngs of bodies to get to us. They, along with other witches, jumped in to assess the situation like a group of EMTs.

At this point, the smartest option for me was to step back out of the way and let them help. They knew how to heal. My natural inclination to manifest her better felt like it would hurt us all in the long run. I saw visions of me trying to use manifestation to heal people rather than focusing on the fight and becoming overwhelmed because everyone just expected me to take care of it. And I knew in an instant, even though I held that power, that I couldn’t.

Every witch or Lilium in this room had their part to play—a destiny to fulfill. I couldn’t go against the universe and deny them their destinies, as scary as it might be. I didn’t want to lose any of them, and they surely didn’t want to die, either. But who was I to play God?

“You can’t save them all, babe. I hear your thoughts. They know the danger witches face out there. You’ll tell them the risks. Some may opt out of fighting, but my guess, they’re here because they have people they love. People who need protection.”

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