Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
‘Well, no, but it just doesn’t make sense. Unless she was hinting at you making Emberlyn an ally. It actually might be a good idea,’ Kerr mused. ‘It’s like with Millicent – you didn’t approve of her, but you knew it was smart to stay on her good side. I think the same applies to Emberlyn. Especially when you’re going to need her to make those elixirs for you.’
True. And if Ripper held out an olive branch and suggested an alliance, she might be less likely to try to contest the will and reclaim the land.
‘Also, as of today, you’ll both be dealing with the same problems from the same people,’ Kerr added. ‘Makes sense to team up. You two don’t need to be on opposite sides of the fence just because of your personal feelings about witches in general.’
‘It’s not about witches in general. I don’t like the coven because they rally around their own instead of making them face consequences, and I don’t like witches who use magick to avenge slights.’
He’d heard of Emberlyn’s many ‘exploits’. She’d infested homes with toads, turned pool water to blood, covered cars in slugs, given people the hiccups for twenty-four hours straight, and even once somehow blocked every toilet in Bellcrest.
Okay, yeah, some of it had been amusing. And yeah, he could understand why she’d been driven to make her point. It was no different from him showing his claws to those who thought to challenge him. She’d done darker deeds, such as lumbering people with chronic hip pain and making their teeth rot and fall out one by one. But, to be fair, she could probably have done a lot worse – if the demonstration she’d just made was anything to go by, at least.
Only witches had been victims – she seemed to have no issue with werewolves. And, aside from when she’d been a child herself, no kids were ever harmed. But it still made her a wild card, and Ripper wasn’t comfortable having those in his life.
‘Still, an alliance would be good,’ Kerr persisted. ‘I don’t know for sure that she’ll be up for it, but you can at least run the idea by her, can’t you?’
Undecided, Ripper twisted his mouth.
‘Talk to her. Feel her out. See what vibe you get from her.’
Ripper exhaled heavily. ‘You know, I originally thought that Millicent left Emberlyn to me in the will because she wanted others to assume that her granddaughter would be under my protection so they’d leave her be.’
‘But . . .?’
‘But after seeing Emberlyn’s little show of power just now, I don’t think Millicent was too concerned about her safety. I think she was hoping that Emberlyn wouldn’t get pushed into a corner.’
Again, Millicent’s words echoed in Ripper’s mind . . . ‘That girl has the ability to commit every magickal heinous act you can imagine.’
Kerr turned to him, his brow creased. ‘You’re saying Millicent created a monster, regretted it at the end, and took measures to help prevent that monster from losing it?’
Ripper shook his head. ‘No. I’m saying Millicent created a monster, relished that fact and wanted Emberlyn to have allies just in case she destroyed half the fucking coven.’
‘Oh.’
‘Yeah. Oh.’
CHAPTER FOUR
Feeling the familiar ‘vibe’ of the manor settle over her, Emberlyn let out a long breath. It was like having a warm, weighted blanket tucked around you. Nostalgia crashed down on her in the best way.
‘I missed this place.’ She could see the glitter of her magick everywhere; it was still in the process of saturating the walls and flooring.
Kage and Paisley were glancing around the grand entrance hall, their expressions awed.
‘I always wanted to come inside, but my parents made me promise to only go as far as the porch,’ said Paisley.
Kage nodded. ‘I think they were worried that Millicent would sacrifice us in a ritual or shove us into another dimension, never to be seen again.’
Snorting, Emberlyn placed her purse on a circular table and brushed her fingers over a plant that rested on it. While Emberlyn doubted that Millicent would have harmed the twins, the old woman would have delighted in scaring them for the fun factor.
Much as the twins’ parents Ethel and Thad weren’t fond of Emberlyn, they hadn’t protested the friendship for two reasons. One, Paisley was weak in magickal terms, and they knew that Emberlyn protected her. Two, the twins weren’t very popular among the coven either, purely because Chilgrave witches tended to consider multiple births a bad omen.
Still, Emberlyn hadn’t been welcome at the twins’ home, and their parents hadn’t wanted them to come here, so there’d been no sleepovers or tea parties. Restrictions had been put on their friendship, and yet it had survived and remained strong.
‘I just knew that the manor would let you in,’ said Paisley, smirking.