"Margaret," Crystal finally said, drawing everyone's attention to where she stood.
"Margaret, like your Brutus?" Jen's whispered voice held sparks.
The woman in question turned her eyes to Jen, calculating before she turned back to Crystal and walked toward her with her hands out.
"Crystal," her smooth voice was higher pitched, lending her a youthful quality. When she stopped directly in front of Crystal, they watched silently as she slowly placed her hands into the woman's outstretched ones. There was no friendship here. Their eyes didn't soften, their mouths didn't turn up in an,oh thank goodness it's you.
But there was history in the way that their hands clasped and let go, the way that Crystal's eyes shuttered in protection and the other woman's sought hers out.
"Thank you for coming," Crystal finally said.
"Wait, you called on this cheek-kissing Judas? On purpose?" Bess's tone was filled with shock and derision.
The woman swung her gaze to where Bess stood with her arms crossed and eyes hard. She tilted her head, her thick hair shifting over her shoulder as she narrowed her eyes. They were wider apart than was usual, making her face seem open and wide. "Interesting," she hummed. "A lot of power in this ring."
Ursula and Eloise shared a look and both stepped closer to Bess as Margaret stared at her.
"Spirits feel welcomed here and the earth clearly bends itself to you." She was looking around the ground and up to the tops of the trees and the sky. They watched her map out their sacred place.
"No thanks to you for binding Crystal's magic," Bess said.
Both Ursula and Eloise sighed.
Her dark eyes swung back to the teenager. She walked toward her slowly, and Ursula put a protective arm around her shoulder which Margaret's eyes clocked, but it didn't deter her until she stood directly in front of Bess, looking over her face, her eyes scrutinizing and calculating.
"You're young."
The statement made Bess frown, uncertain how it was meant but Ursula spoke up.
"Back up."
The command was strong and Margaret raised an eyebrow before she did just that. She said through a half smile, "Be careful with much power in bones so young."
Ursula squeezed a confused Bess to her tighter.
"Margaret, you have a few people here that belong to The Covenant."
Her wide eyes found Crystal again and she nodded. "Yes. Astra leads The Covenant's sector for illegal magic. She's quite smart and ambitious."
"The only illegal magic here is theirs."
There was a flash in her eyes. "Bold statement. Could it be born from our bad blood, Crystal?" She stepped toward Crystal again. "I know you harbor anger with me, and I understand it. But our world needed stronger boundaries."
"Our world didn't need rules about who is good enough, by your definition, for magic."
"But if we don't have rules, then just anyone can use magic."
"You know that's not how magic works," Crystal responded evenly, calm. They watched her with her relaxed shoulders and head high, her voice strong but unbothered. "We always took care of dark magic and its wielders. You wanted to control whohandled pure magic and that never was ours to control, to give or take away."
"Difference of fundamental opinion."
Crystal hummed. Old arguments, the grooves of which had been carved out between them long ago.
"Bad blood aside, your mentee has overstepped. And more interesting to you, has used dark magic."A flash in Margaret's eyes showed how dangerous Crystal's words were."Astra would not use dark magic. That is not up for debate, regardless of fundamental disputes."
What wasn't said, but tucked between her careful words and tone was an implication of Astra and her great mentor finding disagreement.
Crystal wondered how deep those grooves went.
