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Her eyebrows rose. “Why does this surprise you? It’s not as if there would be any benefit to your High Council—and others—becoming fully aware of them.”
Suggesting the council might have at leastsomeawareness of them, even if their knowledge was scant.
“What was the purpose of them?”
“What is the purpose of witch covens?” she countered.
“We gather for ceremonies, rituals, and/or celebrations.” Though, in truth, few royal blood witches actually took part in such gatherings. It was mostly the province of the three lower witch houses—or commoners, as they were often rather disparagingly called by the three “royal” bloodlines—or half-bloods.
“In our case, it was also protection. A safe place in which the newly spawned could grow and learn control over both their bloodlust and their magic.”
“Not all vampires are magic capable, though.”
“Those born within covens were.”
“Born” meaning their death as a human and their rising as a vampire, although the actual process of becoming a vamp started well before death. According to the information we’d gleaned from the library Belle had inherited from her grandmother, the process involved injecting the blood of a vampire into your system once a week over a course of five weeks and then letting said vampire drain you unto death.
In my opinion, you’d have to be extremely keen on eternal life to put yourself through such an ordeal. I knew from experience that a vampire’s bite was decidedly unpleasant.
“That suggests covens deliberately sought out people who were either dark witches or blood sorcerers.”
“They sought out those who were magic capable. It was never practical to seek out those well-versed in using magic—aside from the fact they were difficult to mold, very few would willingly give up their freedom or power for the greater good of the coven.”
“You make it sound like some kind of cult.”
“In some respects, I suppose it was.”
“So, what happened?”
Her eyebrows winged upward again. “With my coven, or our covens in general?”
“Both.”
“Ah, well.” Her gaze moved to the dark glass, a cool smile touching her impossibly red lips. “In most cases, it came down to the nature of the beast.”
Meaning, no doubt, that vampire covens were just as afflicted by egos and power seekers as witch councils,Belle said.
Where there is power, there is always corruption. The two seem to go hand in hand.Hell, my father was a good example. While he’d never been corrupt, per se, he’d also never been above manipulating people and situations for the good of the family. His days of doing that, however, appeared to be over. His magic had been ripped away by a wraith intent on bloody revenge, and the few people he’d consulted couldn’t say if or when it would ever return.
I hoped it never did. Those who worked for—and with—the family’s businesses would be far better off now that my mother was fully in charge.
“Meaning egos or the quest for overall power became a destructive force?”
“In most cases, yes.”
“But not in the case of your coven?”
She smiled her unpleasant smile again. “In our case, I would say it came down more to a matter of direction.”
Her expression suggested she wasn’t going to explain what those directional differences were—not yet anyway—so I didn’t bother asking. “Then why would your maker now be hunting you?”
“Because she was our coven’s elder and because, for many centuries, she was also my lover.” She paused, her gaze distant and her expression holding a warmth that often came when reflecting on fond memories. “I broke both.”
I blinked. That statement didnotgo with her expression.
At all.
“Intentionally?”
