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“If it’s all the same, I’d rather get it over with.”
Draven delivered a meaningful look in my direction.Yes, I recall saying the same thing on the dock, asshole, I thought at him. He didn’t bother to cover his immensely smug countenance. He’d warned me enough times to stop teasing him about Lyric.
“Do any of you know my mother, by chance?”
“I don’t,” Lyric answered.
“We never met but I know her name,” Draven stated. “I believe Brokk said it was Gilda.”
“Yes, that was a name she went by for a time,” Raven affirmed. “Her true name is Circe de Orum.”
“You gotta be shittin’ me,” Lyric twanged.
“Do you know her?” Draven asked.
“Not personally. She’s not hiding very well, by the way. Circe’s head of the most powerful coven in Earth Realm. She took over several and combined them. She’s a Dianic witch, right?”
“Yes,” Raven nodded. “And hiding wasn’t the right word. We know she’s in Earth Realm. As long as she doesn’t return to the Faelands, we don’t care where she is.”
“Asshole parents suck,” Lyric lamented. “Trust me, I’ve got one. Tell us what the she-devil did and we can compare notes later.”
“When I was thirteen my mother hired three Anuban witches to kidnap me.”
The Anuban clans had a fondness for dark magic. Circe may as well have thrown Raven into a tank of hungry sharks.
“They took me into the Borderlands and held me captive for almost a week.”
My jaw tightened. “To what purpose?”
“They were instructed to draw out my powers.”
Brokk rolled his shoulders, as if he could force his muscles to relax. When Raven didn’t elaborate, he took over.
“Raven hid her powers from her mother. At first, Circe had difficulty accepting that her daughter would likely grow to be more powerful than her. Raven sensed it and, from a young age, suppressed her magic to appease her mother. I didn’t notice the suppression, not for a long time. Neither did Circe. But as Raven got older, Circe began to suspect. She pushed Raven to use both sides of her magics, testing her. She told me she was worried and that Raven needed to reveal all she could do so she could learn to control it—all of which were truthful statements, they just weren’t the entire truth. Raven never did as Circe asked. She could see what I could not.”
Lyric shifted in her chair again. “And what was that?”
“That Circe was a danger to her own daughter. That she would either end up siphoning magic from Raven to harness as her own, or she’d use her as a tool to gain what she wanted.”
“What did she want?” I feared I knew the answer already.
“The wench wanted the fae throne,” Raven’s voice cut bitterly. “I think she thought if one of her children held the seat, she could rule vicariously. She’d never been quiet about Terek not being enough for such a powerful family and how Father was a fool because, after he’d killed Keane, he didn’t even attempt to take the throne.”
“Okay,” Lyric lifted her hands in surrender. “You win. Mommy Circe is far worse than Daddy Gabrian. My father never planned to use me to topple a sovereign so he could rule indirectly.”
“It’s not a contest I enjoy winning, but thank you for your disgust. Luckily, Mother’s plan didn’t work. The monsters who took me figured out pretty fast how much power I’d inherited and they decided they’d keep me for themselves. When the first one had some time alone with me, he tried to siphon my magic. I used his knife to cut his throat then to remove his head. It takes forever with a small blade, in case you were wondering.”
“Girl, don’t I know it.” The two females shared a solemn look of solidarity.
Draven side-eyed his mate and I wondered if Raven had the same merciless flair for violence as Lyric. I should have been disturbed at the notion. Instead, it made her all the more attractive to me.
“They thought because I was only thirteen and female I was harmless, when no being with offensive magic is ever truly harmless. I’m also guessing my mother didn’t bother to tell them who my father was.”
Brokk looked at Raven with pride. It was a little messed up, but if I had a daughter in the same situation I’d want her to fight like hell, too, and to kill if necessary.
“After that, the other two tied me up, thinking if my hands were bound I wouldn’t be able to wield a spell. Idiot Number Two attempted to forge a mating bond.”
The arms of my chair splintered under the pressure of my hands. Raven didn’t look at me, she kept talking.
