“Covens can have as many people as they want, but certain numbers make for stronger magic,” Arthur said, exchanging a look with Corbin. Behind them, Rowan shifted uncomfortably and stared at a spot on the bookshelf. “When my parents were in the Briarwood coven, there were eleven members. We’re supposed to have at least five people in our coven, each onespecializing in a different element. We need a wielder of each element to complete our circle and work complex spells. We need a fifth witch to have access to all the elements.”
Maeve pointed around the room, her finger landing on Rowan, Arthur, Corbin, and then me. “Earth, Fire, Air, Water…seems like you’re all set to me.”
“Don’t forget the fifth element,” I croaked. “Spirit.”
Maeve sighed. “I was hoping you’d forgotten about that.”
“Just because your science books don’t talk about spirit, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.” I rubbed my cheek. “According to Rowan, it was spirit that marred my beautiful skin.”
Maeve collapsed into the chesterfield beside me, rubbing her temple. “So you’re telling me there is some mythical fifth element that can melt people’s brains?”
“My brain isn’t melted,” I cried. “It’s just a little bollocksed up.”
“We don’t know all the details about exactly what spirit can do,” Corbin said. “There aren’t that many spirit users around. Elemental magic is passed down genetically, and spirit users tend to be the witches who get burned at the stake. Some spirit users can speak to the dead, some see the future, others poke around in people’s heads and alter their thoughts or visit their memories or dreams, which was probably what this Blake fairy was trying to do to Flynn.”
“Your mother was a spirit user,” I piped up.
Corbin shot me a look, but I ignored it. I have a Phd in ignoring Corbin.
“Mymother?” Maeve shook her head. “My mother wasn’t a witch.”
“Do you know that for afact?”
“Flynn’s fooling around,” Corbin said quickly. “You can’t believe anything he says.”
The relief on Maeve’s face made my heart sink. Maybe Corbin had a point about her. She was dealing with this whole fae thing pretty well, but that was entirely different from finding out that she wasn’t what she thought she was.
Maeve’s fingers gripped the arm of the sofa so hard that her knuckles turned white. “I was literally just figuring out how to resolve this whole fae realm thing using theoretical physics, and now you tell me there’s a mysterious fifth element that certain people can manipulate? When it rains, it bloody pours with you lot.”
I laughed at her use of the wordbloody. “Be careful, love. We’ll turn you into one of us.”
If only she knew how true that was.
“If that means I get to eat jam scones every morning, then count me in.” Maeve let go of the sofa and took a few steadying breaths. “So you just need to find this fifth magic user and then you’ll be able to close the wormhole—I mean, the gateway? But shouldn’t this spirit user be the son or daughter of the last member of the coven? Can’t you just look them up on Facebook?”
“It’s not as easy as that. Many of the witches in the last coven are dead.” Corbin looked nervous. I glanced at Rowan, who still stared at the bookshelf, his lips moving as he counted the volumes along the shelves. “I was lucky – my parents taught me about magic and showed me how to control my powers. But the other guys grew up being forced to suppress their abilities, or not even knowing their magic existed. I spent most of my adult life searching for them and helping them control their powers.”
“We haven’t always been easy to find,” Arthur said.
I was pleased when he didn’t elaborate.
“Finding our fifth is proving particularly difficult,” Corbin said, rubbing his shoulder where the fae attacked him the other day. “Both their parents were members of the Briarwoodcoven, but they died twenty-one years ago and their infant son vanished. There’s no record or sighting of them since. I keep an eye out for news reports across the world that might suggest an unintentional use of spirit magic, but so far, nothing I can connect to our fifth. But perhaps it’s time to renew the search—Maeve, what’s wrong?” He broke off as Maeve bent over the table, carefully studying the article with a weird expression on her face.
“I just thought of something,” she said. “Could that Blake guy have actually been human?”
Corbin shook his head. “You said he came out of the sidhe. Humans cannot cross over into the fae realm, so there’s no way.”
“But we saw them take the baby back with them, so they must be able to now. Maybe that’s why you never saw this guy before – maybe he’s been in the fae realm all along, but he couldn’t come through the gateway.” She wet her gorgeous lips with her tongue. “That would explain why he had this… spirit power. He’s actually a human with elemental magic living in the fae realm.”
“That’s…” Corbin looked completely flummoxed, which I had to admit was a very good look on him.
“And it explains how I was able to hurt him!” Maeve exclaimed. “A hit with that shovel probably wouldn’t have touched a fae, not with the speed they move. But Blake went down like a sack of potatoes.”
“Fiddle-de-dee,” I sang, which was my standard response whenever someone brought up potatoes. My head pounded, and a wave of exhaustion swept over me. Battling the fae and having my brain probed sure did a number on my virile, manly body.
“It makes sense, but it alsodoesn’tmake sense,” Arthur said. “You said the fae referred to him as a prince. If he’s an Unseelie prince, how could he behuman?”
Corbin went to a bookshelf and started pulling books down. “We’re already dealing with something highly unusual – theincrease in fae numbers, the baby-stealing, and now the Seelie and Unseelie working together. A human fae prince could be completely plausible. We need more research…”
