She flickers her fingers again and the hologram changes. A book appears, floating and turning slowly in the light.
“This is the first Blackwood spell book in existence. Created by the first coven. It has some very old and powerful spells.”
Samara steps forward and Kiara follows, both of them staring at the book spinning in the light.
“They gave it to Henry.” My mother pauses. “And we’re bound by the same laws as the Bailey coven. Magic given freely can only be returned freely. We can’t take the book back. He has to give it.”
She kills the hologram. The light pulls back into her fingers and the room goes dim again.
Tiana frowns at our mother. “How long have you known about this?”
She shrugs. “A while.”
Amir steps in. “We discovered this while Damon was retrieving the Book of the First to take down my sister Aya.” He tilts his head toward Damon. “Selene, Damon’s mate, was part of Henry’s assassin ring before it fell.”
Tiana gasps and then her face twists into something sharp. “You’ve known all this time and you didn’t tell us?”
“Oh please.” My mother puts her hands on her hips. “I have been doing my best around here, but I’m spread thin.”
Kiara looks at her. “Is that why you formed a coven with Carla, Anora, and Josiah?”
“Sort of.” My mother shrugs again.
Damon pushes off the pillar. “Selene and I have been tasked with retrieving the book from Henry, but it hasn’t been easy.” He shakes his head. “Henry has mastered the art of eluding us. Every time we get close, he’s already aware—we locate him and he’s already moved on.”
“No locator spells?” Tiana asks. “Nothing?”
She sighs. “Carla is literally a goddess and she can’t even track him.”
Tiana lifts her chin. “That’s because she’s bound by the laws of Mother Fate. A goddess cannot interfere in the human realm. Even we know that.”
My mother’s eyes brighten and she grins. Samara giggles behind Tiana’s shoulder and murmurs, “Tiana covets ascension.”
Tiana hisses at her sisters. “Shut up.”
She turns back to the room. “So nobody’s going to address what we just watched? Eric walked through a portal with a man who has our family’s magic and was never supposed to keep it, and you’re telling me we can’t even find him.”
Damon turns to her. “Henry isn’t interested in returning anything.”
“Then what is he interested in?”
“Power,” Amir answers. “Henry has spent centuries building networks, accumulating influence. The assassin agency Selene belonged to was only one of his operations.”
“So Eric just walked up to the one person who can give him access to dark magic without earning it,” I say.
He nods.
“Henry knows what Eric wants,” Damon says. “And he knows what Eric is willing to do to get it. That makes Eric useful to him.”
Nobody says a damn thing. I guarantee Eric thinks he’s the one running that deal.
I step forward and Mara pulls away from my back. I reach for her hand and grip it because from now on, we’re doing this together.
“So what now?” I ask.
“We should destroy the Glen,” Amir says. “There is nothing that can be done to help them.”
My mother holds her hand up at him. “You are only saying that because you don’t want to do your job.”
