by Emma Dean
There wasn’t a single star that she could see, not that the light pollution would have allowed for it either. Mika already missed Morgana.
What was she going to do if her grandmother died?
“Put your seatbelt on,” Corbin told her, reaching across her body to grab it himself.
It took everything she had not to slap him. “I think I can manage.” Mika yanked the seatbelt from him and clicked it in place.
“I’m supposed to guard you,” Corbin told her. “If you died in a car crash I would look pretty stupid.” Mika pressed her lips together to keep herself from saying out loud that he already looked pretty stupid.
Chuck slammed the door closed behind Corbin and then slid into the driver’s seat. Clearly, he didn’t like Corbin either.
But then the raven let her be. He was silent the entire time they drove through the city to the Marshall mansion. It was near the other wealthy witch clans – there before most of the city ever existed.
Her phone chimed and Mika pulled it out. A text from Audrey saying she’d gotten her note and a request for her to bring some food home. Mika switched over to her delivery app and started ordering Thai. It should be there before she had to leave and go back to Morgana.
“How was spring break?” Chuck asked, turning into the Marshall driveway.
“Quiet,” Mika murmured.
Her father and brother’s cars were still in the driveway.
Bile rose.
Why hadn’t her sister sold those already?
Her mother was an only child, so she didn’t have any aunts or uncles either. It was just her sister and grandmother in the house now, after everything.
Was Claire overwhelmed? Mika would have to ask. She would do whatever it took to get those damn cars out of her driveway.
The car slowed to a stop and Mika studied the mansion she’d grown up in.
It looked smaller.
Morgana was a lot larger of course, but this place was also no longer the center of her universe. The world had grown much larger and Mika was a different person – the same sarcastic bitch she’d always been, but there was bite to her bark now.
Chuck and Corbin got out of the car at the same time and Mika hid her mild amusement as they both blurred to her side of the car, trying to reach the door first. She watched them scuffle slightly through the tinted glass, knowing they couldn’t see her.
A squirrel and a raven shifter.
Never had she thought her life would be this interesting.
Corbin won with a jab to Chuck’s ribs. The smirk on his face as he opened the door begged to be clawed off, but Mika did one better and ignored him completely.
With her hearing charm she heard Chuck snicker.
But then the door was before her and the other sounds seemed to drift away as the quiet house loomed over her. The door opened before she could use her key and the housekeeper smiled at her.
“Welcome back, Ms. Mika.”
She kissed the older woman on each cheek, truly relieved to see Ms. Jenkinson. The woman had been taking care of her family for as long as Mika could remember.
“Grandmother?”
The thin line of Ms. Jenkinson’s lips didn’t bode well. Without a word she followed the housekeeper up the stairs to her grandmother’s suite.
It was dark in the house and quiet. The whole thing felt empty and abandoned. Parts of it were closed off and Mika felt like a stranger in her own home.
Mika’s hand slid over the familiar railing, not a speck of dust on the banister. Her bodyguard would follow or not, and she left that up to him. Nothing could happen to her here – not where generations of witches had woven protection spells into the house, into the very foundation.
Ms. Jenkinson pushed open the doors to her grandmother’s suite on the second floor and the sitting room was full of medicines, tinctures, potions – anything that might help a witch heal. It looked like the doctor had come and gone.
Through the sitting room the bedroom doors were open wide, and Mika could see her sister sitting at her grandmother’s bedside. Claire held her hand and stared at the sleeping woman with a sad look on her face that Mika recognized from the night their mother had died.
Without a word Mika went around to the other side of the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress. Her grandmother looked older than she should for a witch. Her hair was completely white now – no longer the platinum blonde that always graced at least one witch in their family every generation.
Brushing back a strand from her forehead, Mika knew without her sister saying a word. This would be their grandmother’s last night on this plane. She noticed the deep breathing that slowed with each passing minute until she had to be watching to see it at all.
Mika recognized the weary look on her grandmother’s face.
She’d lost everything and it had broken her. Mika leaned over and pressed a kiss to her grandmother’s forehead, whispering a prayer to her new patron goddess – the goddess of death.
“Morganna?”
The words were paper thin and raspy, barely audible. Mika wouldn’t have even heard her true name without her charms.
“I’m here, Grandmother,” Mika whispered into her ear, taking her other hand.
Their grandmother had lost her only daughter to heartbreak. It looked like they would lose her the same way. Mika wasn’t angry this time. The Marshall matriarch had done her duty and now she could no longer do the job.
It would pass to Claire now.
The woman who’d helped raise her had more than earned her peace and Mika would never begrudge her that.
“In my nightstand,” her grandmother whispered. “There’s a box.”
Mika was afraid to shift her attention and miss the moment her grandmother passed. But the grip on her hand tightened and Mika murmured comforting words in the Old Norse her grandmother favored so much.
Leaning over she opened the top drawer and saw trinkets, but she stopped dead when she saw the small iron box tucked in there. It was hell-forged if the shiny black was any indication. She probably would have guessed black gold before, but the iron was a sharp tang with her new senses, difficult to mistake.
What had her heart pounding though was the symbol stamped on the top.
Mika reached for it with trembling fingers. The iron was heavy in her hand and clinked against the silver bones. She rubbed her thumb across the raven’s wings, eyeing the pentagram woven through it.
With a horned moon above its head.
“Morganna,” her grandmother whispered again, beckoning with nothing more than her voice.
Mika was uncomfortable that her grandmother kept using her true name – but whatever this was…it was important. She leaned forward. “Yes, Grandmother?”
“Morganna,” she said for the third time, sending a chill up and down Mika’s spine. “Do not forget, my love.” A shuddering breath and Mika could feel Death hovering over her shoulder, waiting for her grandmother to finish this last, vital message.
“Witches were warriors once.”
And then she was gone.
3
Mika stood with the box in one hand, rubbing her thumb over the raven absently as she watched the coroner take her grandmother’s body. A few arrangements and she would be cremated and planted next to Mika’s mother in the garden.
So much death.
Claire stood beside her, quieter than Mika could ever remember her being. So much had changed over the last six months. “Are you going to be here for the funeral?” Claire asked.
“If it’s on a weekend,” Mika murmured, moving aside to make room for the gurney. Her shoulder accidentally brushed against Corbin’s, but for once he didn’t move away.
He’d seen everything from the doorway – heard the words her grandmother had spoken and seen the box before Mika could hide it. Even if she had managed to cover the top of it, her sister would have probably said something.
No doubt the assassin would have words with her later.
“I’ll make sure it’s on the weekend,” Clare said softly.
Neither of them mentioned she was now the matriarch of the Marshall clan. The ritual had to be done still, but it would be complicated. Only Mika remained. A clan so old and powerful it dated all the way back to the days of the Vikings across the sea.
Reduced to just her and her sister.
It would be up to them to replenish their clan. If they didn’t…well, at least there was still the Marshall clan in Norway.
“You should get back,” Claire told her. “I’ll take care of everything.”
Mika studied her grandmother’s suite and wondered what else she might have tucked away. Not that she could really look until she got rid of Corbin. “Would you mind waiting to go through her things until I get back from Morgana? I’ll skip this summer and help…manage our estate.”
Claire shrugged. “I can’t touch them anyway. She left everything to you in her will. As heir I receive the matriarch jewels, but that’s it.” Her sister’s voice was carefully neutral.
Well, that was…concerning.
“Which suite will you choose?” Mika asked.
As matriarch Claire could choose any she wished, even this one. But the huge house was empty. She could pick an entire floor and Mika wouldn’t even notice.
Her sister turned and made her way out of the suite that now felt stale and melancholy, glancing only once at Corbin. She didn’t ask questions – Claire never asked the real questions.
“I left a few boxes in your room. It’s all stuff from Jacob and Dad’s rooms. I figured you should have the chance to go through it. All the rest of their stuff I’ve sold off or donated.”
Mika followed her sister down the stairs, ignoring Corbin as much as she could for how much he hovered. His attention was fixated on the box in her hand – she could feel it.
“What about their cars?”
“I haven’t gotten around to it yet. I still have Mom’s and Grandmother’s as well.” Claire headed into the kitchen.
Chuck came in through the back door with a giant bag of Mika’s Thai food. He set it on the counter wordlessly and gave her a nod before heading back outside.
The housekeeper had left out tea and shortbread cookies.
Mika didn’t want to, but she should offer. “I can stay. I’m ahead in all my classes.”
Claire looked up from the teapot and shrugged. “It’s up to you. Do you want any of those cars before I get rid of them? I figured I’d sell them all and we can split the money. I’ll have to hire someone to help me take care of the greenhouse. The business is slowing down thanks to everything, but we’ll be okay with our other assets.”
They should just sell it all. Mika took the cup her sister offered and sipped, glancing at Corbin only once as he sat on the stool next to hers. “Is that what you want to do with your life?” Mika asked carefully, taking a cookie. “Because if there’s something different, now’s the time to try it. There’s no one to tell you no.”
Her sister studied her and then she looked at Corbin, really looked at him. “A friend?”
“The Council thinks I might be a danger.” Mika took a bite of the cookie, not bothering to lie this time. “So, what would you like to do with your life, sister?”
Claire shrugged, not even bothering to ask about the Council. She had a lot of her own problems to deal with. “I went to Morgana for potions and herbology. I still want to do that. But my green thumb isn’t quite as green as yours. The business could suffer, especially our poison garden. It’s not just up to me…sister.”
And there was that chasm that had always been between them.
They both sat at the kitchen island, a single light on in the massive place, making it feel small as the dark edges reached out for them. In this house of broken dreams and shattered hearts, Mika didn’t think there was kindness waiting for her in that darkness, but it felt welcome nonetheless.
Rain started pattering on the roof and she sighed, feeling settled for the first time in a week, even with the raven beside her.
Mika tapped a nail on the lid of the box and then slid it across the counter to her sister – a test.
Claire picked it up, studied it, and then slid it back to Mika. “There’s no seal.”
No obvious way to open it, but Mika hadn’t expected it to be easy. “A trinket I suppose,” she lied. “If there’s something of hers you want, let me know.”
“Grandmother always kept us at arm’s length,” Claire murmured, pouring more tea in their cups. “The matriarch jewels are all I ever wanted. I just wish all this could have happened differently.”
Corbin remained silent. Mika slid her cup of tea over to him. At first, she didn’t think he would take it, but then she saw his long fingers wrap around the porcelain in her peripheral.
“Hire someone to help with the greenhouse,” Mika told Claire. “I’ll come back as much as I can, and I’ll be here in the summer.”
“If there’s a summer program you want you should take it,” Claire told her, taking a bite of her cookie. “Not everything is offered every summer.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Mika said, finishing off her own cookie. She wiped the crumbs off her fingers with a napkin and then stood. “I’m going back to Morgana tonight. If you need me though, I can be here within hours.”
“I’ll keep the funeral small, like Mom’s,” Claire murmured, standing as well. She looked Corbin up and down again, and then she turned toward the back door. Claire had no idea if he was a shifter or a hunter – maybe if she knew she would ask more questions.
But Mika doubted it.
She and Claire had never really been close. It could have been worse, she supposed. They could have hated each other rather than being indifferent.
Mika handed the Thai food to Corbin and then followed her sister out the back door to the carport where Chuck was waiting for them. The iron raven pressed into her palm and Mika knew the moment she and Corbin were alone he would ask.
Then it would be her turn.
How much could she risk? Should she listen to that voice deep down telling her that she should trust him?
Chuck held the door open for her and Mika turned toward her sister.
Would Claire be a good matriarch? Did she have the power for it?
Because now that her block was gone and Mika knew what her potential was, she could challenge her sister for the position. Her grandmother hadn’t named her heir, but only the most powerful witch in the clan could hold the position. Was Claire still that witch?
Did Mika care?
“Saturday?” Claire asked as she hugged her. “I think I can get everything for the funeral together by then.”
“Just remember, Aconitum was her favorite flower,” Mika murmured, pulling away from her sister faster than was polite.
“Queen of All Poisons. Difficult to forget,” Claire said, smiling sadly.
Mika didn’t say goodbye. She slipped into the car and put her seatbelt on before Corbin could. He settled in next to her and put the food between them before closing the door. Chuck didn’t say a word, he just started driving.
Did she trust the squirrel?
If things went awry she trusted him to get word to Ash and Kenzie.
“Pretty little box,” Corbin stated.
For the first time he didn’t sound like he was trying to flirt with her, or tease.
“There doesn’t seem to be a lid.”
“Curious design.”
Mika turned toward the raven and looked down at the symbol of the Morrigan tattooed into his very skin. Clearly it meant something to him, something very important. “Do you worship her?” Mika asked, throwing caution to the wind.
Cat was already out of the bag in a way, thanks to her grandmother.
“Your sister?” Corbin asked, raising his eyebrow. “Or your grandmother?”
Mika narrowed her eyes at the assassin. So, he wanted to play a game.
“No,” Mika murmured. “The phantom
queen, the goddess of death and war, the raven queen…” She leaned over until her lips practically brushed the raven’s ear. “The Morrigan.”
Corbin’s eyes were glowing red when she pulled back. “All ravens do.”
Interesting.
What did they know about her? Did they know what the foxes knew? How could she ask without giving herself away?
“Do you?” Corbin asked.
Mika looked down at the hell-forged iron box and traced the pentagram that was laced into the raven’s form. The horned moon above it had sharp points and Mika paused. Was it really that simple?
Should she tell him? Would he know what she meant?
The Council was already watching her; nervous of whatever it was they thought she was mixed up in. But telling Corbin this…he could only tell the Council exactly what she told him.
Any speculation wouldn’t be considered valid.
She looked up into those glowing red eyes and decided to risk it. Mika could take care of herself. She’d learned that much over the last few months.
“I don’t worship her, per se,” Mika murmured. “But I am her daughter.”
4
Corbin was silent the entire way back to Morgana, but those eyes never stopped glowing red. They were scarlet, beautiful in a way, and also a bit terrifying. But Mika would be lying to herself if she said she didn’t think they made him even more attractive than he already was.
Once they were through the portal Mika shivered and pulled her coat tighter.
Slush remained, but it was officially spring. Frozen fog hovered over the ground and glittering frost clung to everything. Mika checked her watch – a gift from Kenzie once she’d heard about the raven.
It was nearly midnight, and still Corbin hadn’t said anything about what she’d revealed.
Mika couldn’t keep quiet anymore. “Do you know what I am?”
Nothing.
So, she started walking to Oleander House. Mika would drop off the food and then she would consider visiting a certain temple. It didn’t seem like a mere coincidence that they’d arrived back at Morgana just before midnight.
