AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Viva." Zophia was blunt, so I decided to be the same way. "I'm sure they used their enemy's swords."
Zophia gave a tinkling laugh. "You know, you're right. I hadn't thought about that. Why waste a perfectly good blade when you can ruin the blade of a dead enemy? Men can be so bloodthirsty."
She sniffed. "Thank Hades we don't have to listen to them too often." She paused for a breath. "You're new here, aren't you?" She was enveloped by the subtle scent of roses. The perfume was like a warm balm on my jangled nerves.
"Yes, I am." I told her briefly about my arrival. Every few moments I stopped to inhale. The smell was better than wine.
"Ah, you're the witch." Zophia didn't seem bothered by the fact. "I went to the Council once, as a child. Well, in a manner of speaking. My father had business with them. He stopped the car just out the front, but he wouldn't let me step foot outside." She laughed. "He was terrified I'd be stolen and sold into slavery."
"I'm sure that wouldn't have happened," I said. I wasn't sure at all. If it happened to me, it could have happened a hundred times before. The Council wouldn't take in a shifter child. The shifters would probably go to war with them to get her back. The Council would more likely have killed her quietly and made it look like the work of humans.
"At any rate, I was only allowed to watch out the window." Zophia gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "I thought about running away, just for the excitement, but shifters are notoriously good at tracking. When they want to. Usually if people leave the Vault, it's not by their choice. Dex does the best he can, but people have to disappear from time to time."
I frowned. "There was a shifter. She accompanied me here. I think she was punished for not watching me closely enough. She wouldn't have been—"
"Possibly," Zophia replied. "Here, come and sit with me. Standing is so tiring." Now I looked, I noticed lines around her eyes. Was she sick? She didn't seem like she had anything contagious.
She waved me over to a stone bench beside a small pond. Trees drooped low to form a green veil over the bench.
"It's likely she was sent away," Zophia said. "To prevent her from spying on Dex. Well, the Vault as a whole, really. You said she slept with some guy on the train. That probably wasn't random."
"Izzy must know she'd be found out . . ." I stopped. Of course she had. She'd all but flaunted what she did for me and Bain to see. "I suppose she did. Why not just leave the Vault if she wanted out?"
Zophia shrugged one shoulder. "She wanted the Keeper to know she's working for another Alpha? Or with some other faction of paranormals. She was probably sent here as a message to the Keeper, as well as a spy."
"Is that normal?" I was aware of other pockets of shifters, and other paranormals out there, but I didn't know they shared the same animosity as the witches. The information was interesting. I filed it in the back of my mind, in case I could use it in some way later.
"Only for the last few thousand years," Zophia said with a short laugh. "Dex does the best he can to keep the peace for the Alpha, but he's stepping on hot, treacherous stones at times. Take your being here for example. Before he became Keeper, no one would have dreamed of a witch stepping foot in the Vault, much less living here. He's changed a lot of things. He's a little vague at times. He's sweet, but sometimes he pushes things a little further than some shifters are ready for. Of course, he wouldn't listen if anyone suggested that. I think it's something to do with being a Keeper."
I laughed softly. "That sounds like every leader I know." I thought for a moment and added, "Every man I know."
Zophia threw back her head and laughed. "You're right!" She chuckled for a while, then wiped tears of mirth from her cheek with a swipe of her finger. "Is it true that your Covener tried to sell you into slavery because he was worried you'd overthrow him?"
It was my turn to laugh, but only after I stared at the other woman for a good half a minute.
"Me? Overthrowhim?"The idea was hilarious, and absolutely what I would have stuck around for if it wouldn't get me killed. "Fuck no."
Zophia giggled. "I know I shouldn't listen to gossip, but that's what they're saying. Some contingent had a plan to replace him. Isn't that why you asked for asylum?"
"No." Strangely, it made a certain amount of sense. The Covener wasn't the most popular man, but to replace him with me? "I suppose that's the way of gossip," I said slowly, "there's just enough truth in it to make it plausible." If anyone would fight back against the asshole and his asshole son, it would be me.
"Yeah, that's true." Zophia leaned back and stretched out long legs in front of her. "So how do you like it here?"
"I don't know yet. It doesn't seem like there's much to do," I admitted. "Back home I had a lot of siblings, or other witches I either spent time with, or spent time trying to avoid." I had an equal amount of both.
"Some of them had children. Were those the only ones in here?" I nodded toward where the young ones had been playing. There was no sign of them now.
"One or two of the women have babies," Zophia replied. "The sanctuary didn't have any in here for a long time. The last Keeper was Dex's uncle. He and Calista only had one child and he died when he was barely old enough to walk. Anyone of his age is grown now. Dex likes children, so he's encouraged the women here to have them. He'd prefer to have a few of his own, but of course the next Keeper will be the Alpha's child anyway. It's nice to have the young ones running about, even though they can get noisy at times." She made a face.
"You've been here for a while then?" I asked.
"About a year." Zophia waved a vague hand in the air. "Have you seen the library?"
I got the impression she didn't want to talk about herself, and I wasn't going to press it. If the woman wanted to tell me anything, she would.
"There's a library?" I asked instead. That certainly got my interest.
"Of course there is." Zophia smiled. "Do you want to see it?"
