I wasn’t sure that was the word I would have used. Then again, it wasn’t like it was the wrong word, either. Maybe I was clinging too much to Mother’s ghost.
I cocked my head, thinking about the question. “Um, a little, I guess,” I said, trying to be as honest as I could be. “To start with, she was just full of woe and worries. Which, in hindsight, were kind of correct. Everything she said would happen... has.”
What I didn’t say out loud was everything had happened because of me. I was the one who chose not to listen to her. I was the one who decided not only to put myself in danger, but my sisters as well.
This was all my fault.
Mother was right.
Courtney shifted in her chair, drawing my attention.
“What’s our father like?” she asked.
I snapped my head out of my pity-party and regarded Courtney with a curious stare. She wanted to know about our father?
I leaned back against the comfortable couch cushions. “He’s... intense,” I said. I wasn’t exactly sure how else to describe him. “I can see why Mother went for him so long ago, however. He’s not charming but there’s something magnetic about him.”
Courtney made a ‘go-on’ gesture with her hand.
I laughed, then sighed. I should have known I’d have to do a full de-brief with my sisters. I should have prepared something to make this part easier. “He has dark hair, and dark eyes. He wears capes and robes, and looks super regal.”
“Does he speak... you know, like... differently to us?” Courtney asked. Her voice was small, almost shy, which gave me pause.
“Not really.” I winkled my nose, trying to remember. Everything was starting to fade now. I was paranoid I wouldn’t be able to hold onto the memories the way I hoped to. “He is very proper and is... a little withdrawn.”
“Withdrawn?” Bella repeated. There was a note of curiosity in her voice now.
“Yes, well, maybe that’s the wrong word,” I said. I nodded my head to one side and then the other. “He tries really hard to keep a lid on his passion. In their world, he’s more than just a High Warlock. They treat him like a king.”
“What do you mean?” Bella asked. All pretense of indifference was gone. She leaned forward, hands on her thighs, eyebrows raised to her hairline. I wanted to laugh at her eagerness.
I told them all about the pressure on him to go into an arranged marriage. The way the blood lines and breeding were manipulated to make sure that the next High Warlock would be under the control of the Council. The w
ay the Council had the real power even though it was assumed it was our father. I told them that any threat to everything they had already built would be enough to be regarded as treason, which meant I was going to be arrested and probably put to death because of it.
When I’d finished telling them everything I’d gone through, from the trial, to the actual court trial and the way our stepmother had outed me on purpose, my sisters were fuming. Courtney’s face was so red, the color seeped down to the back of her throat, while Bella’s lips were pressed so tightly together, I was surprised she didn’t make herself bleed.
“That fucking bitch!” Courtney slammed her hands on the table and stood up.
I laughed, I had to. Because Courtney was right.
I put a hand out to both of them. “I am glad of only one thing, and that is that I never told anyone about you,” I said. I locked eyes with Bella and then with Courtney. I needed them to know I did everything I could to protect them, and I would continue to protect them no matter what. “Well... I did tell our father, but after he denied any connection to me, he isn’t about to explain that there’s three threats to the Council instead of just me.”
“I still don’t understand how we are a threat to them,” Bella said. There was a big wrinkle on her forehead. I wanted to hold her in my arms and tell her that unfortunately, the world wasn’t black and white.
I sighed. “Yeah, I know,” I agreed. “I think it’s a fear of the unknown more than anything, but I do know that there’s never been an heir that wasn’t a male, nor born from the arranged marriage the Council had deigned appropriate. We are... like, way out of left field for them. They want to maintain their power at all costs, and if I’m honest...” I chewed on my lip for a moment before saying, “If I was High Warlock, they are the first thing I’d get rid of.”
Courtney burst out laughing, then grinned. “No wonder they wanted to get rid of you.”
“Courtney...” Bella said, her warning clear.
I shook my head. “No, she’s right,” I said. I didn’t want to sugar coat things. My sisters needed to be aware that this wasn’t a game. This was serious. “We didn’t grow up in their realm, and I see nothing but problems with a system that commands martial law over every magical being in the known universe. The bigotry... the rules... the absolute power. It’s wrong. And they’re right... I am a threat to them. We all are. Because I can tell you that none of us would simply stand by and let the Council torture and wage war on every whim. We’ve got far too much of our mother in us.”
Bella sighed. “You, maybe...”
She pinched the bridge of her nose and looked down as though she was embarrassed, ashamed that she didn’t have much of our mother in her.
I squeezed her hand.