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All the humor and playful conversation between us had vanished. “Give us a few minutes.” Was all Theseus said to his brother, who just nodded and left without another word.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“Politics,” he replied, moving to his closet. “When our family took over these lands, we were at constant war with the Wiccan. Wars we won. Father gave them an ultimatum. They could leave, die, or stay upon their ancestral lands, practice as they wished, with no fear of retaliation so long as they let the vampires upon our lands be and accepted that it was now our land.”
“The ones that stayed are Wiccans of the Vyara?” I asked, getting out of bed myself.
“Yes and no. The Wiccans of the Vyara is a title. They are a sort of council for their kind. They represent Wiccans from the covens that stayed in Ankeiros. In meeting them, you cannot let them know anything about yourself. Especially your gift. They only know for sure the gifts of Father, myself, and Arsiein.”
“Are you sure I should be going to this?” I didn’t know anything of these people or the history of them beyond what Theseus had just told me, and I doubted that even began to cover the whole story.
“No, I am not sure.” He placed his hands on my arms. “But Father has already ordered it. We must do as we are told and play the part of the mighty royal Thorbørn family.”
“Right, you all are royalty here.”
“We all are Princess Druella.” He kissed my forehead. “You are a Thorbørn now; these are things we must tend to.”
Chapter 32
When we came down the stairs, Melora was already there in all her glory. Atarah stood in contrast to Melora’s more edgy style, wearing a bright pink floral sundress. They both looked from their phones to us. The bright red hair I’d seen Atarah with on the first day was now changed to a sliver-blond, shoulder-length set of curls. Melora was the first to move to the bottom of the stairs.
“The Wiccans of the Vyara were just attacked. Four of the six are dead,” Melora announced.
“We only just heard of them coming? And now they have been attacked? By whom?” Theseus questioned.
“Father would not have anyone wait. He sent Arsiein and Hinrik to the hospital to see the one who survived, but the humans will most likely rush her to surgery before they catch up.” Atarah took a step forward.
“Four are dead. One is on the way to the hospital. That makes five. Where is the sixth?” Theseus asked, looking between them.
“Missing,” Atarah replied. “And Father is not pleased.”
“He’s gone to the crime scene with Ulrik; however, the local police have already deemed it a mere car accident,” Melora added.
It had only been ten minutes since Arsiein came to our door. Theseus had done his best to fill me in on as much of their history with the witches as he could during that time. He’d even told me how I should act around them. But now, that didn’t seem to matter. Vampires moved fast by nature, but for them to leave so hurriedly—without explaining to Theseus and for both Melora and Atarah to be so quick to fill him in—like a rapid response team to the death of mortals, meant this wasn’t a small thing.
“Besides the missing one, how do you know this wasn’t just a car accident?” It might have been a stupid question, but I still wanted to know.
“Because they are the Vyara.” Atarah answered me exactly as one would a stupid question.
“What she means is,” Melora clarified in a less sarcastic tone. “Those in the Vyara are not just any Wiccan; they’re the heads of covens. To be a head coven witch, you must be the strongest. A car accident shouldn’t have been able to kill any of them. Someone would simply cast a spell.”
“The most suspect is the timing,” Theseus replied, pulling out a phone from his pocket. “They were coming to see us with no prior word, and on their way, they are in an accident which prevented them from doing so.”
“What could the Wiccan have to tell us that would cause their own deaths?” Atarah asked. “It’s not as if we’re allies.”
“She’s right.” Melora nodded, crossing her arms. “If whatever news they brought was so important that blood would be spilled for it, the Wiccan would have kept it to themselves.”
“Unless they themselves needed our help,” Theseus replied and checked his phone. There was a message from Ulrik with only one word.
“Come.”
He looked at the phone and then to me with worry in his eyes.
“What?” Why was he looking at me like that?
“You worry too much, Theseus. She’s fine here. Go.” Melora nodded at him. “Besides, Father said we should remain with her and take her back to the library to work on her magic.”
“She just recovered from his last task.”
