Devon walked up to him and took his face in her hands. It was such a motherly thing to do. She sighed and shook her head. “Haven. I see you now. You look exactly like I remember you, just bigger. I’m so sorry. I don’t know how we didn’t see it before.”
“Thank you, Bishop family, for acting normal—as requested.” Tegan rolled her eyes. “And you didn’t see it before because Ruth put a glamour spell on him as well. She specifically made it so that anyone who knew him would not recognize him.”
Henley cursed and shook her head. “It must’ve been a crazy strong spell.”
“It was. So is this.” Tegan walked over and held the blue sippy cup out to Henley. “This is the potion Tenn was supposed to get but didn’t. Hope did.”
Henley frowned and unscrewed the top. She held it up to her nose then closed her eyes and leaned away from it. “Whoa. That is intense.”
Tegan took the cup back, then walked over and handed it to me.
I frowned and took it from her. Then sniffed. “Oh shit.”
The smell was…was…indescribable. It was acidic, metallic, citrusy…and everything else under the moon. It burned my nose and made my eyes water. I coughed and handed it back to Tegan. She sighed and sat down on the stone ledge next to me.
I felt cold and warm energy brush over my face. When I looked up, I found Tennessee watching me.
His eyes were broken. “Can you reverse it?” His voice was a throaty, shattered kind of whisper.
My heart plummeted. Why me? Why are you looking at ME? Tegan was our mastermind. Henley was her mentor. Everyone here knew more about magic than I did. But he was looking at me. I had no answer for him. His mother was known among our species as a spell master. A woman who could create anything she wanted…and he thought I could reverse her work?
But I couldn’t say that to him. Not after everything he’d been through. We barely knew each other, but Tegan was my sister and that meant this terrifying, intimidating guy was my brother now. So instead of voicing my fears, I licked my lips and nodded. “I’ll do my best to help figure it out. I promise.”
Tenn nodded and looked down at the ground, which was so out of character for him.
“All this time.” Constance sniffled and wiped her eyes. When she pulled her hands back, her blue eyes were bloodshot. “I’m sorry. I just… I can’t believe it. This whole time…Timothy…”
Tenn’s face scrunched up. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. Tegan vanished into bubbles next to me then reappeared at his side. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face to his chest.
Braison whistled under his breath. He leaned back against the couch and draped his arm around Paulina’s shoulders. “Man, if he knew you were his nephew, he wouldn’t have been such an asshole to you.”
I think he knew exactly who Tenn was.
Everyone spun toward me with wide eyes.
My stomach turned. “Oh, great. Said that out loud, didn’t I?”
“Why do you—” Tenn licked his lips and shook his head. His eyes held a wild sparkle, but his voice was low and dangerous. “Why do you think that?”
Shit. Look what I did. I cleared my throat and wiped at my eyes. “It’s just…we talked about you—”
“You asked him why everyone thought he hated me,” Tennessee said in a low, flat voice. “You never said what he said, though.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks. I squeezed Jackson’s hand and prayed I wasn’t about to make our Leader more upset. “He said…he said… ‘the Emperor is a really good guy, and one day he’ll make an amazing Leader.’ Then when I asked if that was why he supposedly hated you, he said, ‘I don’t hate him. Far from it, actually. I will gladly hand over the crown…when he’s ready. But he isn’t ready yet. People think I hate him because I’m hard on him. Harder on him than I am on anyone else.’ And then…”
“And then what?” Tenn asked through clenched teeth.
“He said ‘He’s a good kid, and if he continues this way, he’ll be a great man. I’m hard on him to make sure he always has that reality check Julian never got.’ Then I asked him point blank if he cared about you and he said, ‘I do. You will, too. Everyone does. And for good reason.’ And he said, ‘I have many regrets, Bettina, but doing my best to make him the man he was destined to be is not one of them.’”
Tennessee closed his eyes then spun away from everyone. He scrubbed his face then tugged on his hair.
Jackson cleared his throat. “He always spoke very highly of you to me, as well.”
Tennessee cursed and looked out the window, though I doubted he saw anything.
Deacon leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. He looked to me and frowned. “Tina, not to play my Devil Card here, but why do you think he knew who Tenn was? Timothy could’ve felt those things— Why are you shaking your head?”
I am? Oh, oops. I tucked my hair behind my ears. “I understand why you’d think that. Nothing I just said is concrete evidence…but it was just…you had to be there. You had to hear him, see his face when he spoke about Tenn. It was just the two of us. He let his guard down…and I saw pain. The kind of pain that time doesn’t erase. I didn’t understand it. And then I saw him when he told me the story. When he spoke about Ruth, and her two kids, Haven and Hope. It was the same face, the same pain. I’m telling you, he knew.”
I watched his face contort in his reflection on the window. He shook his head.
“He did know,” Bentley said from the love seat, where he sat next to Emersyn and Deacon.
Tenn’s spine straightened, and he froze in place.
Bentley cleared his throat. He gripped the Hierophant’s locket tight in his hand and took a deep breath. “Cassandra figured it out last year.”
Everyone gasped.
Tenn spun around so fast he wobbled. Tenn actually wobbled. “What?”
Bentley’s cheeks flushed. He shrugged. “She left me notes in the Hierophant’s locket, told me I wasn’t allowed to tell you. It’s my duty to listen to what they have left for me—”
“What did she say?” Tenn growled, his eyes wild and his cheeks flushed.
“She put the pieces together.” Bentley tugged on the locket. “She said Timothy knew, and he wanted you to be raised by Kessler. Not him.”
Tenn groaned and ran his hands through his hair. “Why?”
Hunter cringed. “He probably felt like he failed…Ruth…Julian…everyone. He didn’t stop your parents, and people paid the price.”
Bentley nodded. “He was afraid of how you’d be treated as the son of the people who killed others. He knew your mother took your memories to protect you, and he wanted to hold up to that.”
My breath left me in a rush. I knew he knew! “I wonder if he knew who Hope was.”
“He did.” Bentley held his hands up. “Cassandra didn’t figure that out yet, but she said Timothy told her that Hope was safe.”
Tenn growled and the window behind him shattered. “I have a sister out there, and he didn’t think to let me know that? What was his damn plan? Let us be separated our whole lives? He knew how close we were—" He slammed his mouth shut. Tears brimmed in his mismatched eyes. He balled his hands into fists.
Bentley shook his head. “No…he told Cassandra that he was going to tell you the truth when you were ready to become Leader. He was going to step aside so you could Lead, and then he’d tell you…because then no one could hurt you. Then he was going to bring you to Hope.”
“Hope has the locket!” Tenn yelled and then stormed off.
The front door slammed shut, and the walls rattled. Three more windows shattered, and the falling pieces of glass sounded like rain trickling down.
Cooper jumped to follow after him, but Hunter stepped in his way. “Son, no. Let him be.”
Royce cursed. “We gotta find that locket.”
I rubbed my chest to try and soothe my pounding heartrate. “We have to find Hope.”
I looked to Tegan, expecting her to race after him. In
stead, she pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.
She shook her head then turned to me and pointed to the sippy cup she’d left beside me. “Which means we need to figure out how to reverse that spell.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Jackson
I paused outside Tennessee’s door and took a deep breath. I felt like I was about to poke a hibernating bear. No one wanted to disrupt the guy right now, but we needed him. And not just because he was our Leader. This was his sister we were searching for. We couldn’t move forward without his approval. Even if it meant interrupting his grieving.
And no one else wanted to be the one to do it. Bettina couldn’t stop herself from crying every time she looked at him, so she was clearly not the best person to get him. Which was how I found myself stalling outside his room. I was the only one who wasn’t as emotionally invested in him.
Bloody hell, Lancaster. You know he can feel you out here. Just do it.
I exhaled and rubbed my sweaty palms on my jeans. Then I reached up and knocked as nonchalantly as possible.
The wooden door flew open. A wall of thick, tense silence slammed into me. Inside was dark except for a faint orange flickering light. I waited for him to invite me in, and then a gust of wind hit my back, pushing me over the threshold.
I stumbled inside…and my eyes widened. I’d never been to the third floor to see the Leader’s quarters, but bloody hell he had a nice setup. Granted, I knew Tegan was behind most of it. Until Tenn was crowned Leader, there had been two penthouse suites up here that sat vacant because neither Timothy nor Constance had wanted to move into them. Tegan hadn’t hesitated to use her magic to really deck the place out.
And, for a moment, I forgot why I was there and let myself look around. There was a massive king-sized bed off to the left. To my surprise, the sheets were white and not Tennegan’s trademark black. But I was not surprised that the sheets were a balled-up mess. I turned to my right, toward the only source of light, and found a large fireplace roaring with flickering orange flames…and Tennessee sitting in front of it. He sat on the floor, leaned up against a leather sofa as he stared into the fire. He didn’t look up at me or even register that he saw me.
But I knew he did. I felt his magic in the air around me.
Now that I was here, I wasn’t sure what to say, or if I should. He looked absolutely destroyed. His face was tight, and in the dim lighting, it made his cheekbones look sharp—like he’d lost twenty pounds since the last time I saw him. His eyes were bloodshot, and there were dark bags under them. And that hair was a disaster. But it was the pain in his stare that really stopped me.
Like a Band-Aid, Lancaster.
I cleared my throat. “Hey, Tenn…I know you’re hurting right now, and I cannot even fathom this moment for you but…but…”
Tenn sighed so hard I felt it. I didn’t see him move, but in the blink of an eye, he was standing upright. I expected him to look me in the eye like he always did, but his gaze never left the ground.
He nodded and strolled forward. “It’s okay, I know. I’m coming.”
I stepped aside and let him lead the way down the stairs. Neither of us said a damn thing as we descended the three flights of stairs, but I felt his energy grow tenser with every step. As we got to the first floor, I heard soft voices, but they must’ve felt Tenn’s presence because the whole house went eerily silent.
Tenn rounded the base of the stairs into the living room—then froze.
I knew what he was seeing, I just wished I knew what he was thinking. Feeling. This might’ve been too much for him, but we all just wanted to help him find his sister. As a result, the living room looked like a detective’s workshop. The tables were covered with maps and papers, and even more were taped to walls.
I stepped up beside him and stopped. “We’ve tracked the path of the river, and we assume Ruth—I mean, your mother—wouldn’t have sent Hope far.”
Great. That wasn’t awkward at all, mate.
No one else spoke. I snuck a glance around the room and found everyone watching Tenn with nervous faces.
He nodded and looked around at all of our research, but there was a certain level of blankness in his eyes that told me he wasn’t ready to process this yet. He was trying, though.
Tegan marched around the corner then stopped short. Her eyes widened.
Tenn didn’t even look up at her.
He always looked when she entered a room.
My pulse quickened. This was too soon. He wasn’t ready. It was too much.
Tegan dissolved into water bubbles then reappeared beside him. She wrapped her arms around his and looked up into his face. “We’re going to figure out what happened. I promise.”
He nodded.
“Come on.” She tugged on his arm then stepped back. “We need to go see Myrtle.”
Tenn’s eyes widened. “My great-grandmother several times removed.”
“Oh.” Tegan blinked. “Holy shit, that’s right. You’re both Proctors.”
Tenn groaned and shook his head.
Tegan snapped her fingers, and a portal opened in the middle of the living room. She glanced over her shoulder. “Henley, it’s time.”
Henley jumped up off the couch and hurried over…and right into the portal without a moment of hesitation. I wondered how long that level of trust took to create.
Tenn took one last glance at the map of the river where he’d lost his mother and sister, then turned and disappeared into the portal.
Tegan grimaced. “Just keep doing what you’re doing. We’ll be back as soon as possible.”
And then she was gone, taking the portal with her.
Silence.
“So, now what?” Royce said softly.
Everyone shrugged and shook their heads. Cooper stared at the wall.
It was in that moment that I realized none of the adults were in the room. And neither was Bettina. I frowned and slipped out of the room. I made it to the corner when a fire exploded in my chest. I gasped and stumbled around the corner. Bettina was leaning against the wall chewing on her thumbnail. She had her other arm wrapped tightly around herself. Her blonde hair was a wild mess and her eyes were brimming with tears.
She looked up, and my heart sank.
I walked over and pulled her into my chest, then wrapped my arms around her. “Talk to me, Moonshine.”
She shook her head against my chest.
I pulled back, then took her beautiful face in my hands. “Love?”
“I don’t know why this is hurting so much,” she cried. She wrapped her hands around my wrists and squeezed. “I just feel so bad for him.”
“I know. Me too.” I pressed my lips to her forehead, then whispered against her skin, “All we can do now is try to help him find her.”
She groaned. “How do we do that?”
I shrugged and wiped the tears off her cheeks. “No idea, and they just left to see Myrtle. But let’s go find Kessler and see what he wants us to do.”
“Okay.” She sniffled and wiped her face. Then she stepped back and dragged me by the hand toward the back door. “I saw him go out here a little while ago.”
Our world was scary and crazy, but just being able to hold her hand as we walked made my heart soar.
But then we stepped outside, and that brief bubble of happiness popped.
Kessler sat on the ground against the house, with his face buried between his knees. He rocked and his shoulders shook. Mona was crouched beside him on her knees. She had her thin arms wrapped tight around his big shoulders. She rested her head on top of his and whispered things to him that I couldn’t hear from where I was, nor did I want to.
My jaw dropped. I took a few steps backward. We weren’t supposed to be out here witnessing this. I was so caught off guard that I didn’t even see Hunter until he turned and strolled over to us. He led us back to the door then stopped.
“Is he okay?” Bettina whispered.
Hunter shook his head. He looked over t
o his brother and sighed. “Guilt can tear a soul apart.”
We were all falling apart over this, but I couldn’t imagine what they were feeling.
I licked my lips and ran a hand through my hair. “We just came out to get some direction on what to do now… Tenn and Tegan left for Crone Island.”
Hunter pursed his lips and frowned. “All right, well, it’s been a rough day, so go tell everyone to get some sleep while they can. But you two take first patrol.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Warner
I never wanted to be in The Coven, but I wanted to at least be part of the action. If there was a fight to have, I wanted to be in it. And shit, did we have one hell of a fight to have. Joseph and his monstrous son needed to pay for their crimes…and I wanted to help deliver that.
Or at least watch while someone else did.
Trey.
One of my best friends.
That bastard.
I still had a hard time believing it. I didn’t understand how he could do this to us. How much of the last decade was a lie, or was it all a lie? I kept going over everything in my head, searching for some kind of clue, but I couldn’t find one. When I moved to Eden from Texas, Trey had been my first friend. He’d shown me the ropes. Then Jackson arrived, and the three of us had done practically everything together since. Sure, Jackson’s skill had quickly surpassed mine and Trey’s—almost immediately—but he was a Lancaster. We all knew he would. Is that why Trey hung around? Was he planning to feed us to his father even back then? My stomach turned and my magic surged inside of me. I wanted to punch something. To break something. To do something with this pain trying to choke me. How could he do this to us?
I groaned and threw myself down on the plush velveteen pink couch in the Dallas Major’s home. The Coven had benched everyone else. I got it, I really did. I just didn’t want it to apply to me. Which wasn’t fair. I was no one special. Just a Sword with a thirst for vengeance. This was literally The Coven’s job. I needed to shut up and play my part. Which for now was keeping the panic at bay in Dallas. Apparently everyone knew I was best friends with Jackson, and that I’d moved into Coven Headquarters. To them, I was as close to a Coven member as they could get. I was happy to be here for support, but I was about to lose my damned mind. I was a Sword. I was made to fight.
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