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And a few weeks ago, I’d been prepared to hurt anyone from the Frankfords’ faction who came near me. Ihadhurt my former tutor trying to get information out of him. I’d gotten those darker impulses under control, but I still wasn’t sure I should be trusted to heal people whose minds might be so fragile.
“It’s all right,” Thalia said, with a knowing look that made me wonder how much of my doubt she understood. She’d been living in the Hallowell manor during the worst of that time—she might have overheard even more conversations than I knew. “I have some training in the healing arts. And this will be more mental than anything else. I can help direct you. I’m not sure we’ll see a great effect very quickly, but over time—as much time as we have—I hope it’ll make a difference.”
“I suppose it can’t hurt to try,” I said, dragging in a breath. I glanced at the guys who’d accompanied me. “It sounds like maybe this is something that’ll go over better if it’s just us witches.” It’d been the consorts of the witches in here who’d manipulated them, enslaved their magic. My consorts were strangers to them, but it might be hard for them to completely relax for a ritual like this in the presence of any men at all.
“That makes sense,” Gabriel said. “I’m sure we can find some way to occupy ourselves that’s at least a little bit useful.”
He squeezed my hand, and Seth leaned in to give me a peck on the cheek. “I was thinking it’d be good to take a look at the demon’s course on a map,” the bigger guy started saying to the other as they headed off down the hall.
Thalia watched them go, her smile softening. “I wish my consort had held even half as much affection for me as yours clearly do for you.”
I hadn’t thought about the painful memories seeing us together might stir up for her too. “Now you’re free of him,” I said. “That’s something, at least. And if you take that step again, you know it doesn’t have to be with a witching man.”
“Definitely a pertinent fact to keep in mind,” she said wryly. Then she directed me back into the lounge room.
The witches looked up as we came back in, their expressions expectant. I got the impression that Thalia had already discussed her plan with all of them, and they’d just been waiting to see if I’d agree. They stood up from their seats, clustering around me with murmurs of gratitude and introductions from those I hadn’t met before. A lump rose in my throat as I responded to a series of sentiments that could mostly be summed up as, “Thank you so much for what you did.”
I was the one who’d exposed the Frankfords. It was thanks to me that these witches were freed from their awful duty. I’d been so caught up in worrying about the demon that the full impact hadn’t quite sunk in until right now.
Maybe I did have it in me to truly heal.
As she’d promised, Thalia took the lead. “We should form a ring,” she said, taking my hand in her smooth dry one. “As we soothe our sparks together, the healing energy can flow between all of us. We are stronger together, always.”
Yes, I thought, the sentiment reverberating through me. It echoed the way I thought about my consorts so well.
The other witches shuffled into a loose circle. Crystal, the young witch with a sickly complexion who’d already been here early this morning, ended up at my other side. A little shiver ran from her into me as she wrapped her fingers around mine. From what I’d gathered, she’d consorted young, only eighteen years old, and her consort and father had pushed her involvement hard over the six years since. She was nearly as shaky as some of those who’d been drawn in decades ago.
“We’ve had so much taken from us, it’s frightening to let any of our magic move through and out of us,” Thalia said. “But it’s only by releasing our magic that we can feel fulfilled in using it. It does no one any good keeping it bottled inside. Lady Hallowell will begin, just sending a touch of warmth through our circle. When you feel ready, add a little of your own. Let’s find our way back to the witches we were meant to be.”
I inhaled deeply, focusing on the warm glow of my spark inside me. It danced at my attention. With a gentle circling of my thumbs against the hands I held, I drew that warmth through my arms and urged it on into my companions. A soothing glow with nothing but kindness and compassion in it for these scarred but not broken women.
More warmth tickled against my palm from Thalia’s hand as she tapped her forefinger to guide her own spell. The growing stream of it coursed through me and on toward Crystal. Another wash of it eased over me from the other side. And around the circle, the witches’ faces were starting to relax. A glow lit in them too as they worked their magic without fear or compulsion.
A smile curved my lips. Iwashelping. Even if they could mostly thank Thalia’s comments, her direction, my being here and starting the cycle had gotten them on the right path. Tremors of anxiety reached me here and there, but the warm glow quickly melted them away.
There could be a formidable force in this room, if we mended all the wounds these women had been dealt.
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before Thalia bowed her head. “I think that’s a good start,” she said. “We can’t push recovery too quickly. You’ve all been very strong today. Thank you for standing with me.”
“And thank you for standing with me,” I added. I might not have been afraid of having the magic in me stolen, but this ritual had left me feeling even more centered, even more resolved.
“I’ll talk with the others later this evening to see how they’re feeling,” Thalia told me as we moved back toward the door. “Maybe you could come back for something similar tomorrow. I know it means a lot to them just seeing you.”
Suddenly I felt embarrassed again. “I didn’t do that much. It was mostly you.”
She shrugged. “We wouldn’t be here at all if you hadn’t found the strength to stand up to the Frankfords. None of us is ever going to forget that.”
I swallowed hard. “I’ll keep doing whatever I can, then,” I said. “You’re right. We’re stronger together. And we’re going to need an awful lot of strength to push that demon back.”
Chapter Five
Kyler
Iwas so absorbed in scanning the words on the laptop’s screen that I jumped in my chair at the click of the door. Rose peeked into the small office the Assembly had given to us.
“Hey,” she said as she slipped inside. Her gaze found Seth where he’d ended up crashing on the sofa behind the desk about an hour ago, and her voice dropped lower to avoid waking him. “How’s it going?”
“I’m seeing a lot of things,” I said with a grimace. “I don’t know if any of them are going to help us in our current situation. It seems like the Frankfords always figured that if the portal was compromised, they’d be around with their witch-slaves to fix it before anything got far. I’ve been taking notes of things that might be worth looking into further, though.”
