Chapter 714: It's Complicated
I picked up Shenka and Sassafras on the way to see Mom. Neither of them questioned my reasoning or asked where we were going until we sat in Mom's office. And not alone. Our little group had assembled yet again, Eva Southway's sorcery blocking off the room for privacy.
Because it didn't really matter at this point if the rest of the conclave knew we were talking. Belaisle's little show and Iepa's matching tell had blown the lid off everything.
When I laid out the way I saw things to Mom and the others, my mother sighed and sank back into her chair.
"While I agree with you," she said, "what you're suggesting is complicated."
Uncle Frank snorted. "That's a nice way to put it," he said. "Syd's about to start an international witch war in front of every High Council on the plane and you think it's complicated."
I rolled my eyes at him. "It won't be seen as interference if it works," I said. "Margaret will be free to say so."
"Wherein lies the issue at hand," Sunny said. "I don't mean to counter you, Syd, but what if you fail?"
No one said anything, though the ground under my feet trembled as Odhran and Niamh both scowled.
When the silence broke, it was the Unseelie Queen who shattered it. "There is no success without risk," she said. "I agree with Sydlynn, in this instance. It's worth trying, if only to ensure the Brotherhood no longer has control over one of the High Councils."
And all the witches underneath her, even without direct taint. An entire territory owned by the Brotherhood, able to act and react within our race, within our governing bodies, unchecked.
And ready to spread, if I knew Belaisle. To take over all witches, exactly what he wanted. Subtle and under the radar. Because someone like him would rather slip his way through a crack like a cockroach than actually attack head on.
The idea we could lose just by our own race's fear of taking action made my stomach ache.
It was then I understood why he brought up the idea of witches coming out. Not to encourage them. But to ensure they burrowed deeper into their private little groups, segregating them further as they ensured their coven's safety by minding their own business, secure in the fact they'd talked it out.
Oh. My. Swearword.
Evil and brilliant. He knew witches better than they knew themselves.
Mom said they were complacent, more interested in their petty little lives than the grand scheme. My job wasn't to destroy the Brotherhood. Though that would come.
My job was to make the witches pay attention.
How often had I heard that particular pair of words used together, aimed at me? Gram. Sassafras.
I was as guilty as everyone else of losing my focus. Sure, my problems and interactions were big picture. But I still didn't see the forest for the trees. My disasters kept me so wrapped up in what was happening to me and my family-and to the planes-I failed to recognize I was losing the real fight.
To wake up the witch nation. Before it was too late.
Okay. So how to manage something no one had ever done, not in the centuries since covens went into hiding?
Lost in me me me again. So much I almost missed it when Meira spoke up. "Have we managed to examine the others?" My mood lifted a little as Mom's smile appeared.
"We have," she said. "Thanks to Eva and her people."
"Surprising," the Steam Union leader said. "Europe is the only territory the Brotherhood affected."
Well, not exactly true. But Mom and her Council were free now, weren't they?
No time for personal back pats.
"The most dangerous part of this," Shenka said, voice quiet as though nervous to interrupt, "is the fact some of the younger witches are actually buying into what Belaisle is selling."
Hang on. Didn't I just have this conversation with myself?
"They'll back down," I said. "Witches always do."
Shenka's frown told me she disagreed. "Our coven has long been indoctrinated in radical ideas," she said. "It was my grandmother's wish, and my mother's, that witches be free." Shenka's voice rose in volume as her courage increased. "And they will maintain that goal. As will some of the more forward thinking."
A few rebels. I had to love them, wished I could make every witch like them, even as the desire to take them and shake them swamped me with need. "Thanks to Tallah," I said.
Shenka flushed, red tint flaring under her dark skin. "I'm well aware of my sister's faults," she said. "But we were raised to believe we could be liberated to use our magic in the open one day. And while I understand such a wish is foolhardy-as long as the Brotherhood is involved-it's still something I hope for myself." She paused as I let my magic hug her, apologetic. "She is motivated, has Miriam's blessing to pursue it during conclave."
Mom's hands settled on her desk. "If only I'd known the monster I was making. Even a few voices, a handful to step outside the boundaries, can reveal us to the normals and set off a chain of events we aren't prepared to face."
"That's Belaisle's fault," I said. "But now that it's out in the open, we need to cage it up again."
"Do we?" Shenka spoke up again. Hesitated. "We've been underground for so long, suppressing who we are. But this is the twenty-first century. The Dark Ages are long gone." She chewed her lower lip. "And the days of the Inquisition and the power of the Brotherhood over the church."
"My dear," Oleksander said, leaning over to pat Shenka's knee. "I can tell you, without a shadow of doubt, the moment you expose yourself to normals, you will be hunted and trapped, enslaved." He nodded his big head. "Studied and bred for more power. You understand?"
She sighed, sagged. "I know," she said. "But not if we used magic against them as defense."
Against normals? I shuddered. "You realize any plan of Liander Belaisle's is a bad one, right?"
Shenka's dark eyes were full of sorrow. "I just... I'm worried, Syd."
Mom stood and gestured to the others who rose. "I'll deal with Tallah," she said. "And I will speak to the other leaders about this nonsense." Shenka looked hurt. "I'm sorry," Mom said. "It's not nonsense, Shenka. But it is unthinkable."
My second backed off, head down, while I did my best not to storm off, find Tallah Hensley and beat some freaking sense into her.
Seriously.
"For now," Mom said, "our focus is on Margaret Applegate." She fixed me with a steady stare. "You have a plan?"
I didn't, not really. But Piers was way ahead of me.
"We do," he said, stepping to my side. "The sorcerer second of Eloise Brindle is the lynchpin to Belaisle's hold over Applegate." He smoothed his long, blonde hair with one hand, the other falling on my shoulder. "Syd gave me the idea to check." I did? "The power core of control, over Applegate, is no longer Belaisle's, but sits with Vasyl Krajnik."
That was good news, wasn't it?
Eva looked irritated to the point of snapping. "You are to ask permission before acting."
"Leave the boy," Oleksander said. "He's done well."
I'll pay for it later, Piers sent to me. But it's worth it.
"If we can free Eloise," Sassafras said, "you think Applegate will follow?"
"I know," Piers stressed the word as he addressed my demon cat, "if we break Vasyl, the controls over the entire territory will fall."
Big responsibility Belaisle laid on the other sorcerer's shoulders.
Meira's amber eyes glowed with fire. "You're thinking this is too easy?"
Fear crawled through me, not just about this, but about her. Ameline's face flashed in my mind as I stared at my sister.
Piers hesitated. "Perhaps," he said. His hand tightened on my shoulder. "If so, we're walking into a trap."
So what else was new?
Mom stared at her desk top for a long moment before looking up, face set. "Do it," she said. "But Syd must stay out of it."
I opened my mouth to protest, but she shook her head.
"The Steam Union are sorcerers," Mom said. "And have their own laws. Which means they are technically outside the witch network."
"I'm a sorcerer," I started.
"You're also a witch," Mom finished. "You can try sophistry all you want with me, missy. I refuse to give anyone reason to charge you with anything. All of your excuses and attempts to section off who you are and what you mean to different races is a smoke screen. You're on thin ice and you know it."
"She's not the only one stretching things, Mir," Uncle Frank said. "The sorcerers are at conclave, have agreed to follow conclave law."
Eva shrugged and smiled. "What's the worst that can happen? You all kick us out?" She nodded to Mom. "We'll do what we can."
"I can suppress my family magic," I said, fear tingling stronger, like a premonition of disaster waiting to happen. "It worked before." In Europe. Well, kind of worked. With a lot of talking and blustering and people who loved me threatening to blow up part of the Ukraine.
Mom's blue eyes held, not a scrap of softness in them. "You," she said, "will stay out of it. And that, Coven Leader Hayle, is a direct order from your Council."
Damn her.
We can handle it, Piers sent.
He had no idea.
***
