by Emma Dean
Mavis wasn’t alone.
Corbin hadn’t explained who these people were exactly. All she knew was that ravens called this place an eyrie, that it wasn’t just a flock but a Collective. There were those in charge of various important tasks, and then these six ruled their Collective.
Much like a coven.
An older male walked out to meet her, and Mika held her ground, focusing her gaze on him.
Would he kick her out?
Corbin had gathered ravens for the Council meeting, but how many of them had been comrades who owed him a favor? Or had they been given permission?
“Mika Marshall,” he said, clasping his arms behind his back as he studied her. “The last witch queen.”
“Can’t be the last until I die,” she told him, not feeling any better about this.
He smiled slightly at that. “Death is merciful.”
Corbin had told her that once.
Mika tilted her head slightly as she used her new senses to get a reading on him. “I’ve seen death,” she murmured. “And I’m not afraid.”
That smile widened. “You certainly proved that at the Council building.”
So, he’d been there. Interesting.
“I am this Collective’s Commander,” he told her then. “My decision is final and cannot be overruled.”
His pause made her stomach twist.
“Except by you.” When the Commander bowed slightly that twisting grew worse, not better.
“What does that mean exactly?” she asked, feeling Corbin and Dagon at her back. The hellhound practically crackled with energy behind her.
“It means this eyrie and our flock are commanded by you as well as me,” he said, straightening. “We have much to discuss.”
Mika studied the ravens behind him including a witch and a fucking banshee.
And the witches thought they were so powerful in the paranormal world, selling magic – gifting it to those they favored. All the while the ravens and the coyotes and the foxes had an entire world that existed on its own.
With their own witches.
“I have people who need to stay here with me,” Mika told him. “I have…things.”
“Our eyrie is yours.”
Her eyes snapped to the Commander’s. “Just like that?”
He shrugged and never once looked at Corbin. His unwavering gaze was intense. “It may seem simple but it’s not. To you it’s ‘just like that,’ but to us this is our way of life and has been since the Morrigan created us. To serve you is why we exist.”
That twisting grew worse until she thought she was going to throw up.
Mika didn’t want this strange sense of servitude. It was one thing to hold onto their old ways, and another completely to blindly follow.
She’d deal with that later. Right now, she needed to get her people into the eyrie.
Mika glanced back at Dagon and he nodded before disappearing.
“What exactly do you expect from me?” Mika asked, glancing at the others behind the Commander again. What did they think of all this?
“We can discuss everything and answer all your questions,” the Commander promised. “But first you should settle in, get cleaned up, and rest.”
All six of those administrators studied her from head to toe. Mika knew they saw Corbin’s feathers in her hair, the trinkets left by the goddess, the blood on her face from both the Morrigan and Cassandra, as well as the armor that matched Corbin’s.
Mika wouldn’t be able to sleep, but she could do everything else.
Then she pierced her finger with her thumbnail as she knelt, drawing a blood rune into the stone.
A single word as she stood and everything that had been in the circle at her mansion manifested in front of her. Mika walked around it as Dagon reappeared with Lucien and Ethan. “Show me where my people and I are supposed to go.”
The Commander gave her a tiny smile before falling in step beside her. “We are your people now, Morrigan.”
The name felt like a slap and Mika stopped to stare at him, feeling the eyes of all the other ravens on her back. She ignored them and focused on the Commander. “Maybe we should discuss that before everything else.”
He glanced at one of the females and she was gone before Mika could ask anything. Then the Commander gave her his full attention once more. “Corbin has explained that you don’t know much about being a blood witch.”
She could practically feel Corbin’s wince.
Mika clenched her teeth together as she tried to process. All she wanted was to find her footing but every moment something new tripped her up.
Dagon was back with Malachi and Audrey before disappearing just as quickly as he’d appeared. Lucien’s eyes gleamed and he grinned before punching Corbin in the arm. “This is fucking cool.”
It snapped Mika out of it, and she couldn’t help the small smile.
“Let me take you to your quarters,” the Commander said gently. “Get settled and I will send someone so we may converse on the matters at hand. I will answer any questions you may have then.”
More ravens descended upon her stuff and started bringing it into the eyrie before she could respond to the Commander.
Just like that.
Mika took a moment to absorb how easily the ravens had taken this transition. Her thoughts felt slow and sluggish and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept.
Maybe she did need a nap.
Audrey cleared her throat. “Mrs. Jenkinson insisted on staying with Chuck and Callie. She’s, um, scarier than she looks.”
Dagon shrugged awkwardly and Mika almost laughed.
She most definitely needed a nap.
“It’s okay, now let’s go check out our new home.”
2
The rooms the ravens had given her were larger than she’d anticipated based on what she could see from the landing deck outside the gates. Mika had taken a quick shower and then changed into some black jeans, comfortable boots, and a grey knit sweater that would keep her warm against the chill that never really eased, even inside the eyrie.
Wind cut through the hallways and Mika’s bedroom connected to a main room that had others shooting off of it in a strange curved direction like the eyrie was a hive full of tunnels. Somehow there were enough rooms for everyone, even though she’d said multiple times some of them could bunk – no one had really listened to her.
Corbin had his own room somewhere else in the eyrie with his family.
When she’d heard that, Mika had felt like a total asshole.
Of course, he had a family, and never once had she asked him about them. It wasn’t like she hadn’t had a lot going on but…still. He was there now, talking to his brother while they all got settled.
She stared out the window with her arms crossed as she waited for the Administration to summon her.
Not that she could really see anything.
They were in the clouds. Literally. All she could see was the rain and the thick grey fog. On a clear day she might have been able to see the forest Corbin said was below – ‘the ground,’ he called it.
Mika couldn’t look away from the grey. If she could get her fucking shit together, she could leap off that landing pad like any raven and fly…
What would that feel like?
Coasting to the ground she could shift to coyote—maybe the only thing that would keep them from tearing her apart like the savage scavengers they were. Mika could practically feel what the damp earth would feel like under her paws as she imagined it.
Shapeshifter.
One more title to add on to the rest of them.
She looked down at her hand and the long red nails that ended in stiletto points, her favorite style. They were slightly longer, slightly more feral. If she concentrated, she could see them extend and her skin shimmer slightly like it was trying to morph into something that might have claws.
“Mika.”
She jumped at Lucien’s voice, mentally kicking herself for get
ting lost in her thoughts. When she looked back at her nails, they were normal again and she almost felt like she’d imagined the tiny shift.
“You shouldn’t be nervous.” Lucien leaned against the wall beside her, wearing something relaxed and delicious that somehow still gave off that rockstar vibe. “The ravens aren’t as terrifying as the Council likes to pretend they are.”
She eyed the silver rings on his hand before watching the rain once more. “I’m not afraid of the ravens. Or nervous.”
“We trade with them a lot,” Lucien murmured, tugging on a loose strand of her hair. “They value honesty above everything else. I know you’ll be fine.”
Mika knew she would be. Like she’d said, it wasn’t that they were assassins.
“They welcomed me with open arms,” she told him. “I’d thought I was the first witch here since the last morrigan, but I was wrong.”
Did anyone else know the eyries had witches on the administrations?
“Ah.” Lucien’s eyes flashed gold when he understood. “Some fox dens take them in as well.”
“Is it because they’re mates?” she asked. “Ravens don’t mate though, so having a witch in the eyrie means they want her here.”
“Usually,” Lucien admitted. “But not always. Human born witches have a hard time of it. Sometimes we stumble across them and take them in.”
Mika tugged on the layered chains hanging around her neck as she considered that.
She felt so stupid and naïve, but she wasn’t the only one. It seemed the Council had turned a blind eye and the witches…
Well, Mika had always known living as a high society witch separated them from their brothers and sisters in a way that made it impossible to know anything about the rest of the world. Ethan probably had known, or witches he knew might have.
What else was out there that they didn’t know about, hiding under the Council’s radar thanks to their very narrow field of concern? Then again, what did they know, but kept to themselves?
Mika would have to ask Kenzie.
“They’re ready for you.” Corbin stood just inside the door of the living area or common room—whatever it was.
Being back home was changing Corbin – not in any way that really mattered, but Mika could see how this place was different for him than her world had been because he lapsed into terminology the rest of the paranormal world didn’t really understand.
Their culture was thick and mysterious.
It had also put Corbin on edge.
For the first time since he’d been her bodyguard and would-be assassin, Mika couldn’t sense anything from him. His emotions seemed to be off.
That couldn’t be good.
Lucien followed after her at the same time Ethan came out of his room, grabbing a jacket. Corbin shook his head.
“Just Mika.”
Ethan went to protest, and she cut him off before he could start another argument.
“Can you call Kenzie?” she asked him, silently asking with just a look to trust her. “I might need to meet with her soon. It would probably be safer if she came here. I’m sure Dagon wouldn’t mind bringing her.”
Not that she even knew where the hellhound was at the moment.
Ethan gritted his teeth but nodded. Lucien tugged on her hair again and then followed after Ethan, no doubt to reassure him as well. Out of all of them, this was closest to the fox’s world. His people and the ravens dealt with each other regularly.
Lucien would keep Ethan from freaking out, Mika wasn’t worried.
What she was worried about was Corbin and everything they’d never talked about.
As she followed Corbin through the curving hallways, taking tight stairs that wound up and up in a spiral that was so narrow Mika felt like the walls were pressing in on her and it was difficult to breathe. She couldn’t wield her sword in this hall and fighting with her knives would be almost impossible.
At least she had her magic.
“What’s wrong?” Mika murmured, staring at the tense muscles between Corbin’s shoulder blades. Clearly something was bothering him.
“I know you don’t want this,” he stated. There wasn’t a drop of emotion attached to the words either. “You’re not going to like what they have to say.”
That twisting in her stomach came back and she had to take a minute to catch her breath, which shockingly wasn’t because of climbing hundreds of stairs. Her thighs burned but her breathing was even.
“I already knew that.” Mika didn’t want to ask him what the Administration had planned when he wouldn’t tell her anyway. “Why does that bother you?”
Corbin led her toward a room with two doors and it gave her Council building vibes for a moment. When he stopped, he looked down at her with those cold eyes and Mika had to admit, she liked how they looked on him.
“Because this isn’t just my world. It’s also yours.” He didn’t wait for her to respond before pushing the heavy doors open.
Mika’s stomach flipped and she took a moment to steel herself against whatever this was going to be, and whatever Corbin meant.
Then she strode inside, blinking at the dim light that came only from candles. It took a split-second for her new eyes to adjust and Mika focused on the tall hell-forged iron table in front of her. It was a half-circle and sat everyone on the Administration at six feet high so even Dagon would have to look up at them.
Her eyes skimmed over each person, noting they were the same as those who’d greeted her. The Commander sat at the center. On his right was an empty chair and Mika had a sinking suspicion that was meant to be hers.
On the other side of the empty seat was one of the most beautiful women she’d ever seen, but she had a dead look on her face. Mika realized then that they all wore the same black, militaristic uniform. Each one had a different patch on the arm designating their positions.
Too bad she hadn’t thought to ask Corbin to explain each one.
But she was more interested in the old witch and the banshee on the Commander’s left. What was their purpose?
“Mika Marshall,” the Commander said softly, his voice carrying in the dark, windowless room. “Before we address your questions and discuss the matters at hand, I’d like to formally introduce ourselves and explain our positions.”
She narrowed her eyes as she studied each of the ravens, realizing why they all seemed so similar. None of them had their emotions on.
“I am the Commander of this Collective, or flock as you would know it, and as I said before I make the final decisions.” He cocked his head to the side ever so slightly and she could see the bird in him. “My given name is Torin.”
Without waiting for the order, the female on his right spoke next. “My name is Blaise, and I am the Diplomat. I handle all relations between our Collective—flock, and the others as well as the overarching Enclave and the Council of Paranormals. If something goes awry, I handle it.”
“Such as when your flock took a kill order to murder innocents,” Mika stated. “You worked for Bradley Davis.” Who’d raped her.
Corbin almost flinched at that.
Blaise looked as though she were sucking on a lemon at the reminder. “Yes. Thanks to my daughter, I was able to discover the truth of the situation and make reparations with the Bay Coven.”
The raven sat back, clearly done with the conversation. The male next to her glanced at Blaise and Mika wondered why he seemed different than the others. “I am Edgar, the Guardian. And Blaise’s husband. I train the fighting forces, protect the eyrie, command the armies, and deal with war. On top of that I am in charge of the academies where we train our assassins.”
She flicked her gaze between Blaise and Edgar, wondering how they were even together, but honestly it wasn’t her business. Mika was just trying to ignore the fact that ravens apparently had armies.
The Commander gestured to the woman sitting next to him, another raven. “I am Vera,” she murmured, and Mika did her best to hide her shiver. “I am the Spymaster.
I am in charge of all intelligence as well as the blood hunters…if we had them. At the moment we use the title for those forces underneath me trained in espionage.”
Mika couldn’t remember ever reading the term before. She’d have to ask Corbin to explain, or maybe have Armad show her the library. She sighed internally and wished they could get this part over with already.
“And I am Cordelia, the Daimona,” the old witch stated. “I’m two hundred and ninety-three this year. I am the resident ruling witch and I handle all witches living among the Collective.”
Mika couldn’t hide her reaction. Two hundred and ninety-three? This one had lived through the second slaughter of her kind, through the enslavement of witches to marriage.
Had they all sat here and done nothing? Or had they somehow not known?
“I am Sibyl,” the banshee told her. “My position is Seer. It can be held by anyone gifted with the Sight.”
“But you’re a banshee, not a witch,” Mika stated, crossing her arms over her chest. “Just so we’re all on the same page.”
The banshee’s eyebrows raised slightly at that. “Correct. To some degree I can read minds, similar to the night witches.”
So, their Seer warned them of the future and could ensure no lies were told.
Mika bit her tongue against all the questions she had. If blood witches had them all at their disposal, then why? Why was she the last?
“A few morrigans were found but they were few and far between. No more than one or two each generation,” the Commander said, answering her silent question. “After Eleanor Marshall’s sacrifice, it was impossible to find the blood witches as even they had no idea what they were.”
Mika turned the ring on her finger with her thumb, over and over as she thought and considered those sitting at their hell-forged iron table. “I assume you want me to take that chair there?”
“It is reserved for a morrigan,” Torin told her. “The position of Morrigan is equal to Commander. The witch is supposed to handle relations between us and the Witch Queen as well as other blood witches. The Morrigan seeks out orphaned and abandoned blood witches and trains them. She also commands the death knights.”
