But the coven was stuck with him. And he was going to do his damnedest to make sure that they got the best possible version of him. He was going to be analytical. Strong. Forceful.
Cold.
Noctis could be his only focus now.
“It’s a duty I don’t take lightly.”
“You should be able to have things in your life outside of duty, Silas. We both should.”
Not true, he thought. This was the least he could do. To live the life his father always dreamed of him having, the life his father fought for, the life Silas never appreciated. He owed this to his father’s legacy, the one that had been cut off at the knees by his mistakes.
“In the wake of what happened with Sylvia,” he said, blowing past her statement, “Noctis decided to do some investigating into recent activities at Aestas. We learned about the death of Lily Woodson, as well as the fact that Byron Chambers was selling altum. That you attacked him for it. And that you and Sylvia offered him a deal to cover it up.”
Katherine shifted in her seat. She looked uncomfortable, but she didn’t bother denying it. There’d be no use—it was true, and they both knew it.
“We also learned that Sylvia had been stealing magic from ordinaries for years, and that you were aware of her activities.”
Katherine opened her mouth to speak, but Silas cut her off.
“I am going to let you remain in charge of Aestas. Only because the West Coast is dealing with the problem of unsettled witches, and I respect that you are uniquely qualified to handle it.”
She breathed a sigh of relief at that, and the openness on her face was so beautiful that it was a stab to his heart. He didn’t want to hurt her, but the words he was about to say certainly would.
He barely knew her, he reminded himself. If she hated him, then so be it. He’d get over it.
Wouldn’t he?
“But your coven hid a lot, Katherine,” he said. “You hid a lot. You lied. To me.”
Silas hated how broken those last words sounded.
“I am not going to commit any Noctis resources to assisting Aestas. You will get no money to rebuild your coven headquarters.”
Katherine blinked, then nodded. “That’s fair.”
And then he dug the knife in. “And I’m taking your spellbooks. Until you prove to me that you’ve turned things around.”
Katherine’s jaw dropped. The lack of funds she could manage, but taking her spellbooks would sink Aestas. Covens were built on being able to provide spells to their members. If they couldn’t do that, witches would flee, searching for somewhere that could serve them better.
And Noctis would provide that somewhere. In the form of a new coven—one that Anika was setting up right now.
Sylvia had tainted Aestas. So Silas would build a better coven in its ashes.
“You can’t do that.”
“You know that’s not true.”
Katherine’s eyes narrowed. “So you’re going by the book again now that it serves you? Where was your commitment to following the rules when it came to killing Sylvia?”
Silas picked at the skin on his thumb, keeping his hands under the desk so Katherine couldn’t see. He wasn’t proud of the way he’d acted. Of the things he’d said to Katherine.
He wasn’t proud that he hadn’t succeeded.
“As head of Noctis, it is up to my discretion to enforce and ignore rules as I see fit to best serve the interests of the country’s witches.”
“Niles told me what you did to Libertad’s spellbook,” Katherine sneered. “Whose interest was that serving?”
Silas peeled off another piece of skin. “Ms. Barnes, it is not my responsibility to explain myself to you.”
