Page 13 of Shackled to the World
If anything, his comments made her scowl deepen until she resembled a shriveled prune, which was surprising for one so young. It had to take years of practice to get that bitter. Just as she opened her mouth to protest, a sharp knock interrupted her. A smug smile lit Hopper’s face, and she turned sharply on her heels to answer the door. “That will be the coven.”
Annora didn’t take her eyes off Rufus, but his expression was inscrutable…until he winked.
She blinked at him, trying not to gawk, not sure she could trust her eyes.
Then the wink became moot. The door opened and two women entered the room. They seemed to suck the oxygen out of the air, their magic beating greedily against her, demanding entrance to her mind.
Instead of giving in to the urge to annihilate them, Annora locked the darkness swirling inside her down tight against their combined assault. Edgar placed a warning hand on her shoulder, and she shrugged him off. The last thing she wanted was for the witches to focus their attention on him.
As far as they knew he was just her mate.
Nothing special.
She was determined to keep it that way. She would not permit anyone to take him away from her to experiment on him the way her uncle did on her.
“Enough.” Director Greenwood’s gruff tone brooked no argument, the snap of command in the one word rippling through the room.
The witches stopped immediately, turning their attention to him. “Our apologies, Director.”
To her surprise, the witches weren’t old and wizened. They were sisters, no more than thirty years old. One had longer hair tugged back into a messy knot, her glasses making her appear innocent, but there was a cunning in her eyes. The other was slightly older, her hair cropped short, her face sharper, more no-nonsense.
Magic bounced between them like a feedback loop, building and growing with every exchange. While she sensed they used spells to keep up their appearance, it was more for little things like keeping their hair its original color and their clothes wrinkle free.
“Thank you for coming on such a short notice, Hetty and Suesette. I’m sorry we had to interrupt your day, but your young novice insisted.” Greenwood leaned forward and waved an arm to the chairs in front of his desk. “If you would, please have a seat.”
“It’s no problem,” the youngest murmured, taking her seat. “It’s our duty to come when summoned. Thankfully, we were in the area.”
Despite sounding accommodating, there was an underlying hardness to her expression, as if annoyed about being called like a dog to heel.
Annora studied them more closely, saw the way they tilted their heads the same way, and suspected they were able to read each other’s thoughts.
The older sister took her seat, her smile more natural. “Excuse us for getting right to the point, but there was mention of an ancient grimoire being discovered.” She leaned forward in her seat. “May we see it?”
Though she was more polite, she was no less ruthless. She might care for propriety, but she was fanatical in her belief in magic, a true believer, which made her even more dangerous.
Rufus cast Annora a glance, but Ms. Hopper scuttled forward with her pilfered phone. “The pictures were on here.”
Striking more quickly than any snake, the younger of the two sisters snatched the phone away, a moue of distaste curling her lips a second later. “You tried to use magic on technology. You destroyed it.”
Hopper opened and closed her mouth, then almost seemed to cave into herself. She bowed low in apology, scuttling backwards as if to get out of range. “My apologies, Mistress Suesette.”
The older sister, Hetty, dismissed the phone as unimportant. “If she’s correct about what she saw, the ancient book belongs in the secured section of the library.”
And once the book went into the library, Annora knew no one would ever see it again.
No one but witches.
“Actually, the book belongs to my family. Nothing in the book talks about the four devotions of witchcraft…unless you’ve been lying to the university, not to mention the supernatural community at large, and there are more.”
Camden inched closer to her, going into protective mode, as if he suspected the witches would try to kidnap her right then and there.
Greenwood’s attention sharpened at her accusation, but the witches didn’t react, as if she hadn’t just accused them of fraud.
The silence was deafening…and telling.
“The book is from my ancestors. It’s dangerous, and not for those who weren’t born to it.” Annora refused to back down. “I’ll destroy the book before handing it over to people who have no idea how to handle it. A single spell in the wrong hands once nearly enslaved an entire race and killed dozens.”
All three witches gasped at her in horror, Hetty rising to her feet in protest, her face beseeching. “You can’t do that.”
