Page 81 of Heart of a Witch
“The carriages are ready,” I said, changing the topic and wanting us to get out of there before things could get any more charged.
Ambrose and I carried Corbin down the steps, who’d at least come around enough he could help hold up his own weight. Eva and Victoria walked behind us, and I swore before we left the room, I saw them all exchange looks, and in them was something almost sinister.
Who wouldn’t be furious after seeing what Father had done? I’d never felt so ashamed, mostly of myself because I should have put a stop to it a long time ago, instead of fooling myself into thinking it wouldn’t happen again.
I’d been wrong. And it had almost cost me my brother.
Twenty-Three
Victoria
I waited until Elijah and Corbin were both asleep before creeping to the kitchen. Cas poured himself and Alex a tea, who tapped her foot against the ground repeatedly when she saw me.
“What are we going to do about Damian?”
“Not kill him,” I said, holding my stare on hers until she relented. “We have a plan.”
“Corbin could have died today.”
“I thought you didn’t care about him.”
Her eyebrows flicked upward. “He’s nothing like the rest of his family.”
“Elijah cares about his brother.”
She scoffed. “Oh yeah, you can tell.”
Cas interrupted. “Now, now. Let’s not argue among ourselves.” He placed a tray of cookies on the table, and Alex snatched up two. “I think it’s time to enact the next part of our plan.”
I nodded. “It’s the perfect timing. Elijah trusts me, hates his father, but there’s only one problem. He won’t be at the house to see it unfold.”
Alex blew out a long exhale. “We’ll need to find a way to get him there then.”
“We don’t want the church hunting us,” I said. “Only him.”
Cas licked his lips. “We make it personal, use his sons against him. We have them here, at our house. He doesn’t have to know we won’t hurt them.”
Alex rolled her eyes. “Great idea, excepthedoesn’t care about them… genius.”
“He does,” I replied, “in his own very fucked-up way. He will especially protect them against witches.” I made a face, and she almost smiled.
“How will you protect yourself?”
“I’m going to make new jewelry. The spell on ours is wearing thin. He won’t be able to detect my magic with them on.” I grabbed a cookie and nibbled on the oat corner. “I’ll boil his blood should he attempt anything, and threaten his sons.” I gave Cas a creditable nod. “Now, we need to quieten our voices. We can’t have them know anything, which means no practicing spells under this roof. We risked enough performing some on Corbin.”
Alex held her stomach. “At least he’ll survive now. I wonder if his dad knew how close his son was to death. He wouldn’t have made it had we not intervened. I shouldn’t have let Corbin take my grimoire…”
“Your what?”
Cas growled. “He took your grimoire?”
“Well, it’s a long story but—”
“Does he know about us?” My eyes bulged, and Cas held his breath.
Alex licked her lips, slowly sitting at the table and entwining her fingers together. “He doesn’t know we’rerealwitches.”
Cas took the seat across from her. “Oh good, just the fake kind then.”
