“I don’t answer to you!” I blasted. “Even thegodsdon’t ask me to check in and answer to them for the powers they have given me. There is areasonyou have barely any information on those like me.” I gestured to Conrad. “You aren’t to be trusted with it. You aren’t my parent or family. Who are you to demand to speak with the guide the gods gave me?
“Do youhearyour ego? Your completely unhinged and hysterical demands? And I cannot handle myself? I need to be looked over? The power of your position has gone to your head—leaked over to your son’s, and you’re not even apologizing for what he did. You were turning over a new leaf and saw the man you had become—he had become—”
“Until he saw how powerful he could become after learning about Link,” Tracey muttered, swearing under her breath and understanding the full scope and problems now.
I gave a swift nod and decided to focus on the Reids for the rest since they were on my side but wouldn’t make me feel emotional like the Oliverias. “I don’t know about others like me. The guide wouldn’t answer that. I can only speak to my situation. He made it clear that I was… Baptized by Bé?inn—I don’t know the correct term.
“He couldn’t give me all of the answers because the gods don’t allow it.” I waited until Councilman Reid nodded. “But he made it clear that I’m different because I was blessed by other gods as well.” I nodded when he seemed skeptical. “Hecateherself blessed me.” It was hard not to smirk at Conrad when everyone gasped. “Several saw me plant the seed of magical life.
“That is not a power of Bé?inn. It’s Hecate’s. That’s what I was told. That my other powers came from other gods because of my being chosen by Bé?inn and the family I was born to.” I spun to face Conrad. “That a soul of those former noble families was finally born with the promise to give the magics of this world a chance—atest.”
“And clearly we’re failing,” Councilman Reid worried.
I turned back to him and shrugged, people not hiding their shock. I sighed. “Do you think the gods are going to give me all of the answers?” I snorted. “The guide didn’t even have them. I couldn’t even ask about the guide. I just know he said I’m a test because soon humans will learn about us and the gods don’t know we’re worth helping to survive that.”
“Okay, Bev, even I’m freaking the fuck out and I was already freaking, so I need you to slow down and explain that to me in crayon-eating terms while I try to remember how to breathe,” Tracey said from behind me.
I turned to face her and gave her a sad smile. “I can’t tell you it all this time. I was warned. Only my priest and any points of my star I mate. That’s it.”
She swallowed loudly. “What can you tell us then? That’s too big of a cliffhanger.”
I nodded. That was fair. “There are too many of us not to get found out. The guide said the gods…” I looked to Wyatt.
“Future generations of witches and warlocks will be exposed and the generations soon,” he said. “Whether they are able to thrive once the humans know or will have to hide in the shadows like the monsters will is up to them, but the gods are divided on if we are worth saving.”
He turned and pointedly stared down Conrad.
“And apparently, the biggest reason is how their previoushelphas been treated in our society,” he continued firmly. “Dead or be controlled—forced into a sexual relationship under threat doesn’t sit well with the gods when they bless one of us with gifts tohelpthe rest of us. Unless you’re too stupid to understand that basic, basic concept in your narcissism?”
I blinked at him a moment before noting how most there were giving him looks like they were impressed with the size of his balls.
So yeah, I was pretty sure I picked the right person to be my priest after all.
5
“If I may?” Wyatt asked me and I nodded, at my limit and more than ready to hand over how the meeting should finish since I’d said my piece. He moved towards the center of the room and protectively in front of me, making it clear that he wanted me out of their focus.
Fine, I stepped back closer to Tracey and she took the hint and came to stand next to me. Glad I read what was going on correctly.
At least for once.
“Bevin has given you the carrot,” Wyatt said as he glanced at the council members.
“Not sure the threat of cutting us off and punishing us by putting magic on our familiars could ever be considered the carrot, Professor Wyatt,” one of them drawled.
Wyatt turned and met his gaze head-on. “Maybe not, but here’s my threat. Handle this as youshouldand so it never happens again, making sure all of the council members pull their heads out of their asses and behave as they should or I will take Bevin to my brother for his help and protection.” He raised an eyebrow when people went pale so fast a few looked faint.
I was one of them. Quinn jumped up on my shoulder and snuggled with me.
“He won’t ever do it,” the familiar assured me. “Derek would rather die than ever walk back into that family just as you would. He does this to scare them and protect you. Trust him.”
I could do that, doing my best to swallow down my fear at what he was saying.
“You can’t possibly think to—” Councilman Moon started to object.
“Is this better?” Wyatt demanded, pointing to Conrad and those on his side. “I don’t think so, and Iloathemy brother. At least I know him and his limits. More than that, I know Jean Shaw has been in love with him for years and years. They would make an alliance that wouldthrill herif Bevin and I both came into the fold.
“How would you stand against the Wyatt and Shaw houses combining? My brother might not be the most powerful, but he ispopularbecause he is of the same mindset as Jean. They might combine anyways if they put their pride aside and stop with the games, but if they hadus?Learned the truth of her and her real power—what then?”
