Seren shot her sister a rueful look. “I’ll let her eat you too.”
As if content with the order of things, Tisiphone curled into a small ball by Seren’s legs, her large head resting on top of her scales as she watched. Arabella cleared her throat.
“Most people don’t get a familiar until their second or even third year.”
“You have Juniper,” Seren reminded her.
“Only for a few months, but Headmistress Sinclair said it was because my magic was stronger than most witches.”
The implications of Arabella’s words were too much when there were more important factors to consider.
“What did Calder do to you?” Seren asked.
Arabella’s beautiful brow furrowed as she remembered. “He gave me a choice.”
Seren frowned. “Why would you trust a word he said after I told you not to?”
Arabella frowned as she considered, petting the top of Juniper’s head as he watched Tisi as if he expected her to strike at any moment.
“I trust him,” she smiled at Seren, anticipating her response. “I know how he seems, but most of it is an act. He’s right when he says we have a connection. It’s hard to explain…”
Arabella seemed to drift off in thought, but Seren was quickly reminded of a pair of stormy eyes. How her magic had recognized his in a way she couldn’t explain. Was it possible that was what Arabella was referring to? More importantly, she needed to find out what it meant. Not knowing was one of the most uncomfortable feelings and Seren didn’t mean to suffer from it for long.
“Have you ever felt that with anyone else?” Seren asked.
Arabella’s smile was haunting as she reached out her magic towards Seren who on instinct let her own magic answer. They watched as the tendrils of power danced together, meeting and accepting one another. It was eerily similar to the way her magic felt when it was with his. Seren pulled her magic back as Arabella did the same.
“What does that mean?” Seren asked.
Shaking her head, her sister pressed a kiss to the top of Juniper’s head. “I don’t know, but I do know that it meanssomething.”
Seren sighed, feeling frustration at the unknown clawing at her. “I never pegged you as driven by ambition.”
Her sister’s lips thinned before she met Seren’s gaze. “It’s more than ambition, Seren. Cal thinks I might be the vessel and if that’s true imagine the good I can do. Imagine what I can do for you and Mother. I could make Lynoria a better place for witches. He gave me the choice to use the wand to unlock my powers. I said yes.”
Seren snorted despite the way the words made her shiver. “I should have known your ambition would be driven by altruistic good intentions.”
Despite the strangeness and uncertainty between them, Arabella gave a small chuckle and Seren’s chest felt a little lighter even as she knew her next words would erase that.
“But the vessel? Why would it be you? You know the stories about that family. How the last war happened because of one’s obsession with the three. He’s using you.”
“It makes sense. Everyone is always telling me how I shouldn’t be able to achieve this sort of success or power as a rarity. They accuse me of cheating, but I’m not, would not,” she explained.
Seren very nearly made the argument that she was just as strong if not stronger, but she knew it didn’t matter now. Arabella had agreed to the spell and there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that she knew why.
“I’m sorry,” Seren said so quietly that she hardly recognized her own voice.
Tilting her head, Arabella studied her. “For what?”
It had been something Seren had never said aloud and she wasn’t sure she was ready to now. It was easier to think her sister was just obnoxiously good, but they all knew there was more to it.
“For how Father always held you to an impossible standard. He never expected as much from me. It used to make me jealous, like maybe he didn’t think I was worth the time, but knowing why you agreed to Calder’s plot…I’m just sorry.”
The light in her eyes dimmed and she watched as her sister withdrew into herself. How many times had they both been caught doing something they shouldn’t and only Arabella was lectured? Even when Seren brought up her own involvement, her father would dismiss her and lecture Arabella on the need to begood. Seren always knew she should have stood up for her more, but while their father had been a mostly gentle man, there were times when there wasn’t enough courage in Seren’s body to speak up.
Even now, Seren regretted saying the words that were meant as a peace offering after seeing the way Arabella withdrew into herself. Desperate to not have to sit with the discomfort a moment longer, Seren cleared her throat.
“Do you really think you are the vessel?” Seren asked.
