“Why not just inform them that because of Maria’s direct actions against your line you want to reassign me to take care of her first?”
“Because when they learn that the twins are helping you they will question our motives.”
“Thus causing the war we already know is going to happen.” Silver replied lazily. “Why not just declare it now and save us all this anticipation? I’m very happy about that if it means I get to take Ellamae’s head.”
“You know we’re not ready yet.” Kate rebuked. “As things stand they may figure out what we’re doing before we’re ready.”
“And we have a contingency plan in place; one that will work much better with two additional, powerful players in it.”
“We cannot know that. You should stick to the original plan.”
“I will not kill them!” Silver growled.
“Keenan, you must see that what she’s doing will put her in danger.” Kate beseeched the blonde haired man.
He turned his stony gaze on her and Kate wished she’d never spoken.
“I will never betray Silver or go behind her back. So stop wasting your breath.”
Gaillean shot her a look that said she wasn’t helping. “I am prepared to let you continue to pretend to hunt them, but they must leave here and return to hiding.”
“I swore to protect them against Maria.” Silver replied. “I won’t turn them out into her clutches when the solution I provided is more than good enough!”
“It won’t be good enough. We will have to admit our judgement hasty in regards to their sanity. Ellamae will jump on the chance to excise us from the Council.”
“You’re Ancients!” Silver retorted. “To be an Ancient is to be on the Council.”
“Yes, but to be on it we both still have to have our heads attached to our bodies.” Gaillean retorted.
“If it fails, start the war. You have those who you need on your side, any who come against you can be dealt with, and we’ll have two powerful extra wytches to aid us.”
It all sounded so simple when she put it like that, but Kate knew that Silver would never appreciate the need for subtle politics, even if she understood how to play the game herself. She would rather slaughter them, but Kate wanted to save as many of her siblings as she could. Unnecessary bloodshed was something she personally believed should be avoided at all costs when it came to the beings she had discovered the beginning of days with.
“We need more time, the only way to ensure that is with their deaths.” Gaillean replied.
“Then bring a glamoured corpse to them!” Silver retorted.
There was a hushed silence as Gaillean considered what she said. “We will stall as long as possible.” He said with a tone of finality. “There is a good chance none of them yet know of your cousins even having met you. If they call our bluff, there will be war. I suggest you make ready for it.” He turned to leave and though she felt his teleporting away, Kate did not follow him.
“I wish to speak with my granddaughter, alone.” She said boldly.
“What do you want with her?” Silver’s gaze could have cut with the feral protectiveness there.
“That is between her and me.” Kate dared Silver to deny her. Acting as if she were powerful enough to control Silver had become just that, acting. It would never do to inform Silver of how scared Kate actually was of her demonic power. As the eldest in the Council, Gaillean could probably go head to head with her and come out her equal; Kate was not so lucky, her powers had stopped growing long before his had even begun to.
“It’s okay Aunt Silver.” Asha said. “I like speaking with Grandma Kate.”
“Your grandmother has a way of manipulating people without their knowledge.” Silver replied. “I won’t leave you alone with her unless there is a responsible adult in the room with you to keep you from agreeing to anything you shouldn’t, and you will only communicate verbally, no mental contact.”
Asha looked between them, and for the first time Kate saw indecision in her features. Romana had actively encouraged her daughter to trust her grandparents, whereas Silver ordered a certain cynicism that, in her defence, had saved her life countless times.
“I can stay with you.” Keenan made the decision quickly, and Silver shot him a glare though Kate could tell she had been about to suggest the same thing.
After an infinitesimal pause that Kate knew stretched for ages between Silver and Keenan, the wytch nodded and stood up from her throne. She paused as she passed Asha, as if unsure what to do. Her hand went out as if to hug the child, yet at the last possible minute she changed her direction so she merely patted Asha on the head gently.
Everyone else filed out of the throne room after her.
The stone doors slammed shut with finality, and Asha jumped slightly at the sound. Keenan faded into the shadows behind the throne, no doubt attempting to seem less intrusive.
“How have you been, dear one?” Kate asked, walking up the steps towards her and drawing her into a hug. “What has your aunt been teaching you?”
“She won’t teach me a damn thing.” Asha muttered and Kate had to remind herself not to be surprised to hear that language coming out of her granddaughter’s deceptively young mouth. “She always says I’m not old enough, or if she agrees to teach me anything, there’s always an impossible condition before she’ll do it!”
Kate laughed softly. “She’s protecting you in her own way.”
Asha’s face turned serious. “When will I get my magic Grandma Kate? What will my powers be like? Why do I have to belong to both covens? Why am I not normal like the other wytchlings?”
Kate took in the sudden expression of anxiety on Asha’s face and for the first time truly began to comprehend what it must be like for her. Her mental development was at least twice as fast as her physical aging, meaning that her friends when she stayed with the Light Coven were all far less mature than she was and had powers specifically tuned towards the light side of magic. In effect, she was stuck in a body too young for her mind, a situation similar to Silver’s own after her reincarnation.
“Are you having trouble with your friends in the Light Coven?” Kate asked.
“You’re not answering my questions!” Asha sounded petulant.
Kate sighed. “You will get your magic when you mature and are able to deal with it without turning insane.” She spared the child the gentle talk that she had been given in favour of the harsh truth. “You belong to both covens as you are born of three souls, your mother, your father…”
“…and Silver.” Asha finished, her eyes turning wide. “Does that make her my mother too?”
Kate placed her finger to her lips. “Silver is trying to do the right thing, surprising as that may be to the rest of us. She refuses to intrude upon your relationship with your mother. If Keenan and Marten had not pushed her into it I doubt she would have forced her way into any part of your life. She would have stayed out of the way of your family and you would never have met her. It is important that you never let her know you know of her true relationship to you. And for the sake of your reputation you must never let anyone else know either. Keenan is the only person you can trust with your knowledge if you feel you must speak of it with anyone and I am not available.”
“But I think she’d be a really amazing mother.” Asha frowned. “Why does everyone hate her so much?”
“Silver does a lot of things people don’t agree with.” Kate informed her. “She was brought up during a vicious war and as such learned a lot of horrible tortures at a young age. She reacts to kindness with savagery more often than not and she does not trust anyone.”
“She trusts Keenan.”
Kate sighed. “Keenan is the first person to be able to claim he has the Silver Eyed Wytch’s trust in three millennia, child. Anyway, as I was saying, Silver is the reason one of your eyes is silver in colour, she is the head of the Dark Coven, and owns arguably the darkest of all wytch powers. Your mother is the head of the Light Coven.
There had to be a bridge between the two to ensure that their differences did not cause them to war with each other; that most important position falls to you.”
“I don’t want to spend my life as a diplomat.”
“You won’t be. Your existence is deterrent enough for such a war. Your destiny is different.”
“What is it, grandma? Why can you not just tell me what my powers are and what destiny I have?”
Kate sighed. “I cannot tell you for the simple reason that it would make you an outsider for the rest of your life. I want you to enjoy your childhood years.”
“So it’s something bad.” Asha surmised.
“No!” Kate was horrified that the child would come to that conclusion. “It’s just a very large burden to bear, and a lot of responsibility goes with it.”
Asha nodded solemnly, then her features twisted into a half smile. “Since I have a horrible power, can I ask you something?”
Kate shook her head, marvelling at the short attention span of children. “What, dear one?”
“Mama said if I wanted wings like Silver then I would have to make a deal with you. I’m ready to make a deal.” The level of seriousness on her face was almost comical.
Kate couldn’t help it, she laughed. Asha frowned. “I’m old enough!” She insisted.
“It’s not that,” Kate tried to keep the grin off of her face. “Have you asked Silver’s opinion of this request?”
She shook her head, her bronze hair swaying with the movement. “She’ll just set an impossible challenge before she’d let me!” The look in her eyes made it clear she thought Kate hadn’t been listening to what she’d been saying before.
“When we gave Silver those wings, it was as a duty and a leash.” Kate explained. “They aren’t for show.”
“But I’ve felt what it’s like to fly in my dreams!” Asha begged. “You can’t give me these memories and then bring me back to a world where I have none of the freedom that I had in the dreams! It’s cruel!”
Kate groaned. “Asha, I didn’t give you the dreams, they’re a side effect of your parentage.”
“I know, but please Grandma Kate, please!” She fell to her knees. “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it. I just want to fly again.”
“And where would you go? Do you think your mother would forgive me if I gave you the tools to run away whenever you felt like it?”
“I’d keep them a secret. Silver would keep that secret too. She could teach me to fly.” Asha suggested.
“You want to keep secrets from your mother?” Kate demanded.
“I already am!” Asha cried. “She doesn’t know how old I really am inside! She doesn’t know I can already do all the things that the scholars try to teach me. She doesn’t know so much about me!”
Kate looked at the sad little girl before her and groaned. “Consider this your secret birthday gift.” She informed the child, pressing her hands to the girl’s shoulders. The consequences of the act were not lost on her, but she hastily rationalised away what would happen to Asha after the wings began to grow. The girl was mature enough to handle the effects gracefully.
Instantly, Asha collapsed, doubling over with pain. Her screams echoed on the walls, and in an instant the stone doors burst open and Silver had a blade lined with pyro-demon fire levelled at Kate’s throat.
“What are you doing to my niece!” She demanded.
“Only what she asked.” Kate retorted, using a mask of calmly veiled anger to hide the fear she felt at being so close to the fire that could cause her true death. “She asked to have wings like yours.”
“And in your infinite wisdom, you decided to grant her request?! She’s only a year old!” Silver yelled as Keenan appeared and knelt by the writhing child on the floor. His hands fluttered over Asha, calling on magic that Kate hadn’t realised Silver had taught him. Asha stopped squirming as much, but her arms remained contorted as she struggled. Her hands grasping at her shoulder blades, trying to apply pressure to ward off the pain.
Silver gave Kate a burning glare. “Did you leash them to her emotions?” Kate swore she’d never seen a look filled with the promise of such a painful death before.
“No, of course not. That wouldn’t work on someone who is open about their emotions anyway.” Kate replied.
“Then what condition did you attach?” Silver’s eyes were flicking back and forth between Asha and Kate warily. “You Ancients never do anything without a price.”
“Asha is too young to pay a price, but the wings will have other effects.”
“What effects!” Silver yelled.
“You will see soon enough,” Kate replied, then teleported away without giving Silver a chance to stop her.
Chapter Ten
TWO DARK HORSES
When Asha woke, she was lying in her soft bed. Her head felt all light and fuzzy and her aunt – who she wouldn’t allow herself to think of as her mother, just in case the word accidentally slipped out and Silver learned the extent of Asha’s knowledge – was sitting on the edge of the mattress.
“You stupid girl!” She scolded the moment Asha opened her eyes. “You wanted your wings, well you got them, but you’ve lost your childhood in the process. How do you expect me to explain this to your mother?”
Asha was struck by the sudden realisation that her bed, and indeed everything else in her room, was suddenly a lot smaller than she remembered.
“What happened?” Her throat burned and her voice sounded different, slightly deeper perhaps?
Silver got up and fetched a hand mirror from the dressing table in the corner. She handed it to Asha with a grimace. “You grew up.”
The reflection in the mirror was of a young woman, easily in her mid-teens, with Asha’s copper brown hair and mismatched eyes. Her face had lost its childish roundness, becoming more finely chiselled, with high cheekbones that reminded her of Silver.
“I’m finally old enough!” Asha gasped, smiling.
“No!” Silver repudiated, “You don’t celebrate this till you tell me what you’re going to tell your mother! She was counting on having at least another eight years of your childhood, now you’re old enough to be immortal and learn magic.”
“And to fly.” Asha let out an awed whisper, even as she leapt out of bed.
However, her new, longer limbs refused to co-operate, and so her leap turned into more of a stagger as she fought to find her balance. She felt the magic of her wytch clothes respond to her desire, and change from the flowing nightclothes to her grey armour.
“Get back into that bed.” Silver ordered through gritted teeth.
But Asha wasn’t listening; she was feeling around on her back for what she knew was there. Then she found them, two long raised areas of skin running parallel either side of her spine. Her dreams had taught her to summon her wings a long time ago, and Asha called hers forth without a second’s hesitation.
She caught a glimpse of soft black and grey feathers before she was shoved, unmercifully onto the bed.
Silver was furious, her eyes lit up from within. “You are not going to fly today, or tomorrow. In fact, you won’t be flying at all until you tell your mother why you’re not coming home in a year’s time, and why you look about seventeen years older than you were when you left her arms.”
With those final words, Silver used her incredible speed to rush round the room, sealing passageways with magic as she went. When the door slammed shut, separating Asha from the rest of the world, she knew there would be no leaving this room to explore the freedom she’d asked for.
She ran to the door anyway, as best she could with her longer legs, and slammed against it.
“Aunt Silver, you can’t do this!” She argued. “It’s not fair!”
There was a sort of half-snort, half-grunt from the other side of the door, followed by a muttered curse as Asha slammed harder on the door, putting strength she didn’t know she had into the effort.
She banged against the door for a few minutes,
giving up after she realised the sheer strength of the magical shields that kept the wooden portal from opening. She paced away from the door, holding herself steady using a shelf on the wall until she was opposite her floor length mirror. Silver couldn’t stop her from examining her wings, even if she couldn’t fly yet.
She grinned as she saw her reflection. She had grown far taller, till she was almost certainly a little taller than her mother, and perhaps slightly shorter than her aunt, her hair appeared to have grown quickly as well and now reached down to her waist in gentle waves. Her body had transformed to give her an hourglass figure. Asha silently lamented the fact that she was fairly flat chested; even as her mind supplied that it would make fighting easier.
But it was a separate part of her mind noticing these things; her focus was mostly on her new beautiful and sweeping wings.
They reminded her of a heron’s; her primaries were jet black, but as her gaze travelled upwards she noticed that the colour faded to grey at her coverts and was a brilliant, startling white at the wrists and where they joined with the skin of her back. Her wingspan was larger than Silver’s, she noticed as she stood in the centre of the room and experimented with trying to stretch them out.
A single, experimental, flap caused all the paper in the room to fly around and she laughed with giddy joy. This was what she had wanted. When her aunt started to feel guilty for shutting her in her room, she’d finally be able to fly like she’d dreamed of doing for so long. Aunt Silver wasn’t really mad at her, not really, she was just jealous that someone else also had her power.
A single moment of blinding clarity interrupted her sulking. Silver would never let her out of this room out of a sense of guilt, and Asha had no clue how she was going to explain her sudden growth to her mother.
She sank to her knees, her wings folding close to her back and trailing along the floor.
“Damn it!” She cursed.
Surely her mother wouldn’t mind though, she wasn’t like Aunt Silver, she’d forgive Asha when she realised why she’d done it.
But Grandma Kate had specifically said the wings were a secret gift, and if she had said that then there must be a reason. Damn Aunt Silver! Why couldn’t she just make something up for her?
Asha's Power (Soul Merge Saga Book 4) Page 6
