“The top-tier families would win and walk all over us with the new Wyatt-Shaw head leading it all,” Councilman Reid said firmly. “There’s no need to debate it or guess. I would be dead. Most of us would be taken out by the more unscrupulous top-tier heads to get in good with the new alliance of your families.”
“Yes,” Wyatt said firmly. “And their power—their PR would soar. They’re so different than the other top-tiers that they were able to bring usbackinto the fold. We learned the council was worse than the new generation of top-tier heads and—the council would never recover from that and fall.”
“You cannot be serious. You would never,” someone whispered, Mrs. Moon I thought, but I wasn’t sure, my blood rushing to my ears.
“I would in aheartbeatto keep her safe,” Wyatt told them, his voice ice-cold. “Just as Conrad would let her die if he can’t have her. No one here doubts that he would absolutely do that. He’s already laid the foundation.” He snorted when some people seemed confused. “He wasn’t planning on outing her as being athreat.”
“He was always planning to out me,” I said firmly, already knowing that too. “It’s why he focused on my dating history and more in the announcement. He was setting it up for others to put it together. Hewantspeople to start saying that I’m a goddess witch so he can brag that he was my priest—it’s not even subtle, and then I’d be trapped with the council as my only option.”
Wyatt turned and kicked Conrad under his chin before anyone could react. “Except I had already declared to the council that I was her acting priest. Not knowing doesn’t make you free from consequences, and there arelawsabout trying to replace a priest or priestess of a blessed magic. Outing one against their will, you disgusting piece of shit.”
“That’s enough,” Councilman Hanson snapped.
“Oh, I’m just getting started,” Wyatt chuckled darkly. “Because I want you out over this after you promised her that you had this handled and went back against your word for power. So instead of making demands, you should be throwing your son to me for whatever I want to save your own ass.”
“Agreed,” Tracey purred, several others saying the same.
“I warned you that I had enough on Daddy to take your family down, Conrad,” I mocked with a dark chuckle. “Funny how many bad,badthings you learn when you understand familiars and they don’t know to keep their mouths shut.”
Councilman Hanson finally looked scared.
Wyatt focused on those with them. “We’re not inept and needyouroversight of all people when you’re so misguided. He’s blasting us that he could easily cut through my magic? Howmany red flags would having her dorm room laced with high-level magic give people? The goal—theagreed-upon goal—was to keep her under the radar.
“We were honest. We were transparent.Unheard ofbecause she has a good heart and hadfaithin this council because of Henry Millen. Well, that’s all gone. Now we do it the jaded way of theadultssince all you do is look down on her. Hell, those of us with penises will be her gatekeepers now.” He pointed to himself and then Taylor. “Her priest and head of security.”
“Damn fucking right,” Taylor muttered. “And I would punish Conrad before he has an accident that none of you will ever trace.”
“Taylor,” Councilman Reid hissed.
“No, Dad. Not this time,” he snapped. “Ignoring themiracleshe gave to me and all of mine giving us the bonds with our familiars back and hope to repair what we broke, his plan would have gotten you and Mom killed. So yeah, I want his fucking head. If you want to be noble and keep your hands clean, fine, stand aside and I’ve got enough dirt to handle this.”
And that worried a lot of people because Taylor Reid wasterrifyingand our whole world knew it.
“Now that you understand whereyouall stand, we’ll let you know how things will go from here depending on how you handle this situation,” Wyatt told the council when no one seemed to know what to say next. “Or I walk into the Wyatt estate with Bevin—on camera and announce to the world that the council is too corrupt to trust because they tried to force Conrad on her.”
“While I share your upset, we can’t remove him from the council without risking us all,” someone interjected when it was clear we were leaving on that note.
“Then figure out something equally harsh or make some sort of backroom deal to have him retire early while finding someonebetter to take the seat,” Wyatt warned. “Start grooming the right replacements so the top-tiers don’t have a chance to name themselves instead of this push for nepotism. I would think the headmaster of Morrigan who turned it around would be a good call.”
I wasn’t shocked when Headmaster Kerwynn cursed under his breath.
Wyatt came closer to me and gave a slight nod of his head for where I should go, moving his hand closer but careful not to touch me. I was grateful for that and when we went back to my house.
“I need to shower and a minute,” I told them, knowing there was a lot to handle and think about.
But first I needed to scrub the feeling of Conrad’s hands off of me even if it was hours later. I used Tracey’s bathroom since I didn’t like mine with all of the stuff from my parents’ house. She wouldn’t mind anyways.
My skin was red from the loofa I’d used for too long when I was done, but I did feel better. Everyone was looking at me with too many questions, but I held up my finger, realizing there was something to handle first.
“I was a bit disappointed I didn’t receive a call from you given how well my camp has been sharing information,” I said to Jean when she answered my call.
“I figured you were a bit busy, and… I don’t like being on speaker without knowing who is there, Bevin.”
“That’s fair, but it’s no one to worry about, and honestly it was an oversight after my shower,” I admitted with a sigh. “And people I would tell anyways so best to just have it out in the open.” I shrugged even if she couldn’t see it.
“Fine, but warn me next time to be friendly,” she begrudgingly accepted. “I didn’t have anything to add, youclearly had your hands full, and then… Something took over my schedule.” She sounded worried, not just tired.
“Security related?” I rubbed my eyes when she didn’t reply. “So that’s a yes. I might help with that. Do you have anything you want to share since we’re on the phone? I assume you answered because—”
