Katherine scoffed. “You’re approaching dictatorship fast,Mr. Khatri.”
“I’m acting within the rights of my position.”
“Tell me the part of the rulebook that lets you decide what’s right for everyone.”
“The whole thing, Katherine. That’s the point.”
She stared at him a moment, saying something under her breath that sounded suspiciously likemotherfucker. She paused, taking a deep breath as she stared at the window. He was mesmerized by the sun’s reflection off the flecks of green in her eyes.
“Silas,” she said as she looked back at him, her voice measured. “In light of all that we shared, please consider lessening your sentence. My coven didn’t do anything wrong. I did. Punish me, not them.”
He looked her over. “Katherine, you care so little about yourself that I’m not sure there is a way to punish you without punishing them. The only thing that will hurt you is your actions hurting other people. And right now… I need you to hurt.”
The words slipped out of him, any ability he had to hide his emotions burned away by the look on her face. She was looking at him just like she had that first night—like he was nothing. Like she was disgusted with him. Like he wasn’t worth being in her presence.
And didn’t that cut him right to the core.
“You won’t break me, Silas,” she spat. “I’m sorry for what happened, and I’m sorry for lying to you. But if you want to destroy me for it, you’re not going to succeed.”
She pushed her chair back, standing and storming toward the door. She turned around before leaving. “I hope you find peace.”
She walked out, the door slamming behind her.
Silas cleared his throat, blinking away tears. And then he sucked in a breath and told his assistant to let in his next meeting.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
On the night Katherine would have been tried for Lily’s death, Los Angeles was finally cooling down.
Katherine stood outside the door to El Sereno Coffee, enjoying the brisk night air. She didn’t know what to expect. If anyone had even bothered to show up. If those who had would accept her leadership or laugh her out of the room. If she could even do this, or if she would collapse under the pressure.
She was a ball of anxiety. She’d been restless with it for the past few days, rushing from place to place, trying her best to make the right choices in an increasingly hard-to-navigate world. She had never been more stressed, more exhausted, more afraid.
But it was a beautiful night. A clear sky, with a few dots of light in it, either stars or airplanes. Katherine decided to believe stars.
It felt like the type of night that could have magic like that.
She pulled the door open.
And people were inside.
Not everyone, Katherine noticed, but there were still a few dozen witches crammed into the small space. Henry, Casey, and a few of the other witches from Aestas. Fiona and Tess, whispering to each other as they prepared the speech on old magic they’d be giving in an attempt to offer a balm to the lack of spellbooks. And a handful of witches from Libertad.
Not a permanent joining of covens, but a moment of togetherness. A shared fight to rebuild what they had all lost.
Katherine waved at Fiona and Tess, getting a quick wave in return before they turned their attention back to each other. Henry didn’t look up as she walked by, and when she saw his face, she realized why—Aestas’ Bookkeeper was already fast asleep, lightly snoring in the second row.
She reached the front and sidled up to Niles, who had his back to the group as he fiddled with the cups next to the percolating coffee maker. She bumped him with her hip, and he turned to her. His face, like all of theirs, was showing the stress of the past few days, his normally bright eyes sunken and surrounded by dark circles, his forehead etched with worry lines. But he still smiled when he saw her, pulling her into a hug.
She was endlessly grateful that he had forgiven her when she told him everything that happened with Sylvia. Forever indebted to him for not rubbing it in her face that he had never trusted Sylvia; that had she listened to him, she could have stopped it. Katherine knew that wasn’t true. Sylvia’s actions were her own. Of course, Katherine was going to have to spend quite a lot of time in therapy to fully internalize that, but hearing it from Niles helped.
“People came,” he said.
“They did.” She glanced behind her, surveying the crowd. “How are we going to do this?”
“Carefully.” Niles reached into his pocket, pulling out the small spellbook and setting it down on the table between them. “But at least we have this to offer them.”
Katherine’s heart twinged at that small reminder of Silas. She’d still been reeling from the heartlessness he’d shown her when Niles had first pulled out the spellbook Silas left on his doorstep. It was such a contrast—the good man that had been hiding inside, even when she thought the worst of him, and then the worst that was living in him now, rooted in his soul by Sylvia’s mistakes.
