Chapter 703: Poor Mia
"We use your crystal." Mia gulped down a spoon full of soup, not even noticing the sad look on Estelle's face as she set bread beside the fallen coven leader's bone-thin hand. Once inside the pavilion, safely tucked into our area and behind wards, Mia shed the heavy cloak hiding her from me. She looked even more emaciated than before, the light showing the thin veins running under her near-transparent skin, the way her eyes sank into dark pits, two shining blue lights the only sign she was in there.
I'd seen pictures of drought victims who looked healthier than Mia. Was she this thin when I saw her only yesterday? And, if so, how did I miss it?
I sat back and shook my head as Sassafras crouched on the edge of the table and stared at Mia with his glowing amber eyes, tail beating a soft rhythm against the wooden top.
"Mia," I said, "I can't interfere."
"You can." She reached for me, faster than lightning, squeezing the bones of my hand until they ground together. Her thin power crawled over my skin even as Sassafras growled low in his throat, Shenka pacing out her irritation behind me. "The Council has given you carte blanche, remember?" To protect witches. Replacing one coven leader with another didn't really fall into the description. As much as I hated Andre Dumont.
I was about to say so when Mia gulped two big swallows of milk before filling her mouth with a giant bite of bread. "But you won't have to," she said around the bits, reminding me of Demetrius. How damaged was she?
"Why is that, exactly?" Shenka's grating words made me wince, but Mia ignored her.
"You can use your sorcery," she said. "Put the Dumont magic in the crystal. But I'll be holding it." She sat back suddenly, hugging herself and giggling. "They'll think I did it. Don't you see? Perfect." Her eyes sparked with blue fire. "And when you have it in your possession, you simply transfer it back to me."
There were so many holes in her plan I didn't even know where to begin.
The Enforcers would stop her. Us. Mom would. Any other Council Leader, I was sure. And Mia didn't have sorcery.
Besides, she was gone around the final bend if she thought I'd ever let her touch my crystal.
Just to name a few bumps on her road to Crazyville.
We. Need. To. Talk. Shenka spun and left the room, Sassafras hissing at me before following her. I rose as Mia's face crumpled.
"You'll help me, won't you, Syd?" She reached for my hand again, pressed it to her cheek.
Okay, so Shenka said she still harbored hate for me. But Mia had been my friend once.
How could I just let her suffer?
It took a lot to pull my hand free, Estelle waving a plate of chicken pasta under the girl's nose before Mia released me, diving into the food like she hadn't eaten ever. I nodded to the twins as they hugged themselves in matching movements, twin set fronts folding over their thin chests as they watched me go.
What a mess.
Shenka spun on me the moment I entered our little living room, speaking almost before my power could seal us from prying ears and eyes.
"You will go to your mother right now," Shenka said in a voice vibrating with fury, "and you will turn Mia in for conspiring to interfere with another coven."
It was the smart thing to do. Shenka was right.
"Syd." She shook from her anxiety and pent-up rage, waves of it rolling over me through our connection. "You don't owe her anything."
"You must think of the family." Sassafras's words cracked like whips, cutting through my half-daze of what the hell. "This damaged child has no place with us, Syd. And her need for revenge will only bring trouble to the coven."
I nodded. Spoke before I could hold my tongue. "Do you both really want Andre Dumont in the leadership of that family?" Was risking everything worth kicking his ass out of power?
"You are totally deluding yourself about her," Shenka spit, sparks flying from her finger tips as she waved her arms around her, temper shattering into motion. "Andre Dumont is a scumbag and a heartless ass, but he is a hundred times better than Mia." Shenka stopped moving, focused on me. "A thousand."
"Agreed," Sassafras said.
Agreed, my demon snarled.
Agreed, Shaylee sighed.
Sydlynn, my vampire sent. You already know what you must do. And while your loyalty is one of the things well all love about you, as commendable as it is, there comes a time when you must think of the good of the whole, not of the individual.
Especially an individual as screwed up as Mia, my demon sent.
It was the cringing unhappiness of the family magic that finally sealed the deal. I nodded to Shenka, heart heavy. Left her there as she watched me go, Sassafras following me to the exit of the main pavilion before his power touched mine.
We've taught you to protect those you care about, he sent. No matter how they feel for you. Time to let go of young Mia, Syd. And let her fate unfold.
He didn't follow. Let me walk away, my power reaching out, searching for one who needed to know, to hear from my mouth, what I was about to do.
I found Quaid with two full Enforcers. They bowed to me though he glared. But he must have felt the sadness in me, because his anger faded to concern.
"Might I have a moment with Trainee Tinder?" I held out my hand to Quaid while the two Enforcers grinned.
"Of course, Coven Leader," the tall woman said. Her companion, an older man with a thick blonde beard, winked.
Let them speculate. I only wished I was here to steal him away for a tryst.
Quaid and I walked the edge of the perimeter while I gathered my thoughts.
"Is this about earlier?" He kept his head down. "That Steam Union sorcerer. Is he good for you?"
I so wasn't having this conversation with him. "Mia's here," I said, surprised by the crack in my voice.
Quaid paused in mid step before squeezing my hand. "I heard," he said.
I pulled him to a stop, staring out over the dark trees, flares of Enforcer power trailing across the night sky as they patrolled the area. A quick weaving of magic gave us privacy as I ran my thumb over the back of his hand.
And told him everything.
Quaid didn't speak, move, even seem to breathe until I finished telling him about Mia and Shenka and the plan his damaged sister brought to me. When I stumbled to a halt, my words breaking at the end, he exhaled softly before turning to me, pulling me to his chest, his warm robe draping around me as he slipped me inside, next to his hard body. I felt his heart beating against me, the heat of his skin through his t-shirt, taste the chocolatey deliciousness of his magic in the back of my throat.
This was his sister we were talking about. His last family. The Moromonds killed his parents, under orders from his own grandmother. Mia was all he had left.
And family, while important to me, meant everything to Quaid.
"You have to turn her in," he said, shocking me to the core.
I looked up into his dark eyes, saw the pain in him, felt it through our twining magic as my demon embraced him, begged him to stay with us.
"Quaid," I whispered. "If I do, Mom will be forced to arrest her."
He nodded. "I know," he said. Stepped back from me while my demon whimpered her loss. "But why am I doing this," he held out his robe, shook the front of it, "why am I working so hard, giving up so much," choke, "if I'm not willing to uphold the law?"
"I'll keep an eye on her," I said, words rushing over themselves as I realized I'd hoped he would feel as I did, that he would convince me to keep his sister safe.
"No," he said. "We have to bring this to Miriam. Now." He reached for me, face grim, magic crawling with anger. "Tonight."
It was so hard to take his hand, to follow him, my reluctant feet dragging as though I were headed to my own doom, not sending an old friend to hers.
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