by Moni Boyce
One of the Elders spoke up, trying to reason with her. “It was set in place for a reason. All the supernaturals agreed. It was done for your own good...”
“For my own good?” Her voice lashed out like a whip.
Before she could launch into a further attack on The Council, Eli grabbed her hand. She looked at him, a little hurt, but feeling responsible for the mess they now found themselves in. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Maybe for the same way you’re acting now.” His face twitched into a smirk.
Was this what Phaedra had been trying to warn her about? Her eyes skittered over to the hard woman, but she wasn’t looking at them.
Why didn’t I listen?
Was he really making jokes right now? “This is serious, Eli. I can’t let you do this. I won’t. Just take it all back. Tell them you’re sorry. Say whatever you need to say to stay out of trouble.” She turned towards The Council again ready to tell them they were not together. “He’s lying...”
He yanked her into his chest and dropped his voice so only she could hear him. “That would be telling a lie. I won’t do it. I know I may have said that I love you for the first time in that hotel room, but Willow I loved you long before that. I fell in love with you probably after the first year of watching you, but I lied to myself and I tried to bury it away. I won’t live like that again.” He swallowed as he stared into her eyes. “Whatever the consequences are, I’ll take them.” He turned back to The Council. “I have broken the Protector’s Commandment and I have broken the law. I will answer for my crimes.”
She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, in frustration over his stubbornness and also out of fear. He still held her hand. She moved closer and wrapped her other arm around his.
“So be it.” His father’s voice sounded weary and regretful. It was clear he took no great pleasure in what he was about to say. “You are hereby removed from your position as head of The Protectors. Phaedra will now take over. As the final consequence for your action you will no longer have access to the ancestors. You will be stripped...” Although she couldn’t see his face fully, she noticed the last statement had a visceral effect on him.
She heard the other Protectors gasp in shock.
What does that mean? I don’t understand.
“What does that mean? Tell me what that means.” She begged him, but he was still trying to recover from the shock. Two witches materialized from out of the shadows and were about to seize him.
“Give me a minute.” He didn’t ask. He made the demand calmly and the witches who’d come to take him away halted.
“What does all of this mean? Why didn’t you tell me about this stupid law?” Her lip trembled as she tried not to cry. She was trying to be brave like he asked her to. “I would have never pushed you...”
“You didn’t push me into anything.” He cleared his throat. “Remember I told you magic comes at a cost?” She nodded because her throat was clogged with unshed tears.
“Well sometimes love comes at a cost too.” Tears stood in his eyes. “I will gladly pay the price.” He stepped towards her and cupped her face in his hands. His eyes held hers and his thumbs rubbed her cheeks. She couldn’t stop the flood of tears. “You’re worth it.” He whispered into her lips before he pressed his lips against hers in a searing kiss that let everyone know how he felt about her.
When they pulled him away after a few seconds, she tried to grab onto him and Mathilda and Zoriana rushed to comfort her and keep her from running after him.
“Mathilda what’s happening?” She tried not to be hysterical as Eli was taken from the room. She wanted to yell, stamp her feet, punch someone or something, run after him and make them bring him back.
Zoriana spoke first. “He’s no longer a Protector.” Her head jerked back like she’d been punched. He’d worked so hard his whole life for that designation. “But... I just thought he wouldn’t be the leader anymore.” She said weakly. “But where are they taking him. Silas said stripping.” She looked around at their faces.
“Stripping is a form of punishment for witches found practicing black magic and for breaking certain supernatural laws.” Morgana’s voice was hollow when she spoke.
“He’s going to be stripped of his hereditary magic.” A tear fell down Mathilda’s cheek.
“What?” She said barely above a whisper. She was breathless now.
Max came over and hugged her. “Everything’s going to be okay.” She let herself be held by Max. Normally, his proximity would have calmed her, but right now her heart and her head were in turmoil. Morgana stroked her hair and Mathilda and Zoriana were both close by rubbing her back.
She didn’t have to look at Phaedra to know the woman blamed her. She’d come to her today and asked her to call things off. Why hadn’t she made her understand? This was all because of her. She couldn’t let him do this. Not for her. Before she allowed despair to swallow her whole, she thought about Cora. She was the real head of The Council. She would go to her and beg her to put a stop to this. She probably had no idea what was happening.
She broke out of their grasp and ran from the room.
“Willow.” Zoriana tried to stop her. She didn’t slow down. For a minute she worried someone would chase her down and try to stop her from going where she was headed, but no one followed her. Up the staircase she ran. The whole time her head full of thoughts.
Cora is the Chief Elder. They have to listen to her. She can reverse this. She can make them let Eli keep his magic.
When she burst through the door a nurse was taking the woman’s blood pressure. If the situation weren’t so dire she would have been astonished to find someone in the woman’s bedchamber, but right now she was too upset. The nurse seemed ready to try and stop her from reaching Cora, but the old woman waved her away and she dropped back to the shadows.
“Cora, please do something. You have to do something. They’re going to take away his magic.” She sobbed into the old woman’s lap.
Cora patted her shoulder. “There, there child. It will be alright. He still has magic. It’s just not as powerful as it was.”
Slowly, Willow sat up. “What?” She gave the crone an incredulous look.
“I said he still has magic. It will be okay.”
How could... How could Cora know who or what she was talking about, unless... “You did this.” The accusation nearly choked her when she said it. Why did she think this woman cared? Because she shared some things about her mother and gave her some letters? She felt like the biggest fool.
“It’s the law. I’m afraid it’s out of my hands.” The woman didn’t look the least bit apologetic over Eli’s fate.
She swiped the angry tears away and left the room with Cora calling her to come back.
Despite getting lost twice because her tears kept blinding her and she refused to take anyone’s help, she finally found her way back to Eli’s and collapsed on the sofa. She gave way to her emotions and wept until she passed out.
CHAPTER 14
Eli
He should probably care about who called The Council. Who was so bothered by their relationship that they had to alert them? Not that they wouldn’t have found out eventually. He was never trying to keep it hidden.
Repeatedly, he’d lied to himself that the consequences wouldn’t be that bad. That he would receive a slap on the wrist. His way of thinking hadn’t just been because his father sat on The Council. He just didn’t think it would matter so much, but the law was the law, especially when it was a law controlled by the Congress of Supernatural Beings. It could be worse. The Council could have given him over to Congress and let them mete out punishment. Instead they chose to deal with it internally. He knew they would be satisfied with his pound of flesh.
What could be worse than losing his tie to his ancestors, losing his hereditary magic would feel like losing a piece of himself, but it couldn’t be worse than having to let Willow go. He might as well cut out his heart.
The two w
itches that flanked him led him to the stripping chamber. They hadn’t used the room in years, since the Black Magic Rebellion had been put down.
He didn’t want Willow to blame herself for this. It was his decision.
As they walked him through the square, he could see the curious stares and hear the whispers of gossip people exchanged. He held his head high. Stripping scared him, but he would face it. The witches led him into the room and left. He’d never been in this chamber. No magic could be performed in this room. He clenched his fists and looked around the room as he paced nervously.
The room resembled a surgical viewing room at a hospital except it was circular and this viewing room gave you a three hundred and sixty degree view. The windows that encircled the top of the room for viewing were shatter proof. The air in the room tasted old and stale from disuse. There was another scent that lingered in the air that he couldn’t decipher. It was the energy within the four walls that disquieted his spirit, almost as if he could feel the acute loss that others had suffered in the room.
Soon The Council would file in and fill the space in the viewing chamber so they could perform the stripping.
In an area of the room he saw a metal table with hand and ankle straps. He fingered one of the ankle straps.
“That’s there for those that won’t accept the stripping and try to fight.” The old woman’s voice was strong and belied her years. He looked up into the viewing room. Cora hadn’t been there a moment ago. “I’m sorry my sweet boy. If I could save you from this I would.”
Somehow he knew that Willow had begged her for mercy. “She came to see you?”
She nodded.
It made him smile to think of her fighting for him.
Moments later, the other Elders filed in and took their places.
“Are we ready to begin?”
Everyone nodded in answer.
“This will hurt a little. Don’t try and fight it. You’ll only make it worse.”
He found his father and when he saw his face he was shocked to find tears in his father’s eyes. His father never looked away as they began the chant that would remove his connection to his ancestors and strip him of his hereditary magic. “Maiorum, audierit a senioribus. Est autem repleti sunt ut indignus te et potestatem spirituum. Auferte hereditate sua tacere et audire non possunt vocibus et industria.
The minute the first incantation concluded and they started the chant again, he understood why they called it stripping... and why it was painful.
The only thing he could find to compare it to was having part of his soul ripped from his body. Though that had never happened before, he was certain this was exactly how it would feel. The bond that tethered him like so many others from the Walker coven was being stripped away piece by piece and soon nothing would remain. He would no longer have the link. Over the years, he and his father had had their differences, but he knew by the look on his father’s face no matter how much they may have fought or he disagreed with his choices, he knew how much his father loathed the chore of stripping him. He was here doing his duty as an Elder, but he took no joy or pleasure in it.
He ground his teeth against the torment, but despite his attempts not to give into the pain he screamed.
CHAPTER 15
Willow
Someone was pounding on the door. When she opened her eyes and looked around she realized it was the next morning.
What time is it? How long did I sleep?
She was still in her clothes from yesterday and had slept on the couch. The knocking came again. If she slept on the sofa last night, that meant that Eli hadn’t come home. There was someone at the door, but she ran to the bedroom first just to be sure he wasn’t there.
The bed was made up. She looked into the bathroom. No Eli. She dragged herself to the door worried about why he wouldn’t have come home. The knocking at this point had grown incessant. She threw open the door, ready to bitch at whoever was on the other side of it. She was in a foul mood and worried that Eli hadn’t come home because he didn’t want to face her.
Zoriana and Morgana walked past her into the living room the minute she opened the door. She bit her tongue and huffed.
What do they want, the Judases?
She was salty with them over not informing her about this heinous law and their lack of action yesterday in trying to stop the stripping thing from happening to Eli. The rational side of her brain understood they couldn’t go up against the Elders or this Congress of Supernaturals that was mentioned, but it didn’t keep her from being pissed. Eli was one of their own. He was their leader. “What do you want?”
All she wanted to do is to go find him and try and make sure he wasn’t angry or didn’t resent her and want to break up with her. She remembered everything he said before they took him away, but what if he was feeling differently afterwards?
“We came here to cheer you up and to let you know that Phaedra wants to head to Egypt the day after tomorrow.”
I’ll bet she does. She couldn’t wait to be the one running things.
She folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not going anywhere without Eli.” She glared hard at Morgana then Zoriana to make sure they got the message.
“Listen, we know you’re upset...”
Before she could launch into her rant, the door was kicked open. Phaedra and Ulrik held Eli between them, his arms slung over their shoulders. He was unconscious. She rushed forward to help them.
“Let us get him to his bed. Then he is all yours.” Ulrik offered.
She took a step back, but remained on their heels. When they laid him back against the pillows she could see his face looked haggard and ashen.
“Ladies, I’m sorry to hear about what has happened to our friend here. He is an honorable man.” Ulrik gave her a sympathetic look before he turned to Phaedra. “We’ll talk later about plans for Egypt.”
Willow waited until he left. She knew that Morgana and Zoriana lingered in the living room so she pushed the door closed so they wouldn’t be overheard. “What plans for Egypt? I’ll tell you like I told the two of them. I don’t go unless he goes...” She sneered at Phaedra. “You just couldn’t wait to call the shots. You’re ready to take off...”
“Don’t you dare.” It was the first time, besides the battlefield, that she’d witnessed Phaedra’s emotions. She was seething with rage, although she still managed to hold it in check. The woman was such a closed book she never knew where she stood with her or what she was feeling.
“Elias is my best friend. I warned him, I begged him to let you go. I came to you to get you to let him go. Don’t tell me how I feel.” Her nostrils flared as she glowered at Willow. “I don’t care about being head of The Protectors. It never interested me to be in charge.” Phaedra advanced on her until her back hit the wall. “The only reason I’m making plans to head to Egypt is because it’s where the book is located, so says you. I know it’s what he would want if he was still in charge because he cares about you and he would want to move as quickly as possible if it meant keeping you safe.”
Willow wished she could eat her words. It was too soon to try and apologize. She’d let her own anger keep her from seeing the pain that everyone else was in.
“It goes without saying that I wouldn’t leave on the mission without Elias. Protector or no Protector, he’s like my brother and I would never betray him. He knows that and now that I’ve educated you on the matter I’m going to leave. You can tell him I will check on him later and discuss the mission with him then.” She didn’t wait for Willow to say she was sorry or anything else, she left the bedroom. The door in the living room shook with the force of her slam when she left Eli’s apartment.
She felt like an ass for accusing Phaedra of wanting Eli’s position. She’d just been so angry over everything she hadn’t been thinking clearly. The woman had laid her life on the line for her more than once and that was how she repaid her. She had to make it up to her somehow. Her eyes looked down at Eli once more before sh
e turned out the light and shut the door to the bedroom.
Zoriana and Morgana were great at pretending they hadn’t heard any of what happened between her and Phaedra.
“I’m sorry I was rude to the two of you earlier. It wasn’t fair. You’ve only ever tried to look out for me and I acted like a bitch. Now I have to find some way to make it up to Phaedra.” She sighed and looked at them. “Forgive me?”
They both came over and hugged her.
“Of course we do. Yesterday was hard on all of us.” Morgana was being very understanding.
It was her first smile since everything had happened. “I really appreciate you guys coming by. Now that Eli is here, I think I’m going to shower, change and make some food in case he’s hungry when he wakes up.”
“No problem. Call us if you need anything.” Morgana offered before she headed to the door.
Zoriana lingered for a moment. “I know I haven’t exactly been available...” She looked slightly embarrassed, and Willow’s heart went out to her. “I haven’t been handling this rift between Mathilda and I very well, but if you or Eli need anything please don’t hesitate to reach out. I mean that. Eli’s my nephew and you’re...” For a minute she seemed uncertain about whether she should say the next line. “You’ve become family too, okay?” She squeezed her hand and then left before Willow could respond.
Zoriana’s comment left her dumbstruck. It touched her deeply that the woman considered her family. It had been so long since she had one. The Protectors may not be blood related to her, but they were certainly starting to feel like the closest thing to family she had in a long time.
She went back into the bedroom and tried not to stand their watching Eli like a stalker. When would he wake up? How would he feel when he woke up? Would he still want to be with her? All these questions swirled around her head. She was about to head into the bathroom when someone else knocked on the door.
