Page 128 of Solar Shadows

“Of course there is.”

“My parents were behind the attack on The Coral,” he said.

Oh, goody gum drops. Another anvil of darkness. “What?”

“I don’t know the details yet, but the High Coven have been flooded with calls and emails from Team Kingwood pinning the blame on rebels led by…” He hesitated. “By my mum and stepdad.”

Emily and Peter? Seriously? Just when I thought they couldn’t get any scummier after the whole thing with cursing Daniel. Now they wanted to join the ever-growing hate train?

Riley broke down and I held him through it. As much as the goddess gave us, she always loved to toss those spanners our way.

All part of being us, I guess.

Riley calmed down sniffling. “Have you seen the email?”

“What email?” I asked, rubbing his left bicep.

“From Erin. She’s sent two now, actually.”

He showed me the first one about the shimmer witches and Winter Palace.

“Let’s hope they get burned for real,” I seethed,clutching his phone tightly in my hand. “Then I’m going to smear that man’s brains across whatever wall I kill him next to.”

Aurora darkness, power up. Fuck it. Tony and his cronies fucked me over, therefore they were marked for death. Only, I needed to rein my anger in. I’d behaved recklessly on the street, getting myself stabbed.

I had to be better.

I had to be smarter.

The most infuriating thing was this sense of powerlessness. Like we were always one step behind, not as strong as we could be with Preston. Limping into battle, often getting our arses handed to us.

We had to turn those darn tables in our favor.

The second email said that the mansion was now under a serious lockdown. Stefan wasn’t allowing anyone in or out now that the protections were restored and the sleeping bodies cleared.

Apparently, the High Coven hit the chaos Tony triggered at the mansion with a massive sleeping spell. Ironically, Riley woke up from being punched at that exact moment, the magic not affecting him.

I wasn’t going to let go of the guilt overthatanytime soon.

After things got sleepy, a fresh batch of witchcops moved in, removing the sleepers, using potions on the right people to wake them up—like Drake, Erin, Jake, Dean, and the Brambles.

Erin also instructed us to avoid the news and social media unless we hear otherwise. The situation was bad, our names not under the most positive of spotlights.

We were to meet at breakfast for further discussion, the fact that both Piper and Tony were using Hecate Crystals to steal essences, create magic, and generally come at us a massive concern.

Fine by me to wait until morning. I couldn’t handle it tonight.

Changing the subject, Riley showed me his new Moon marks. “Always adjusting to these threats,” he said. “Do you think we’ll get new powers to fight Tony’s new magic?”

“Fingers crossed, honey.”

He nodded. “Can we go eat something?”

My belly rumbled a yes. “I’ll meet you at the kitchen in fifteen minutes. I just need to do something first.”

“Okay.”

I hugged him goodbye and headed for the gym, hovering outside the door, too nervous to face Ollie, but I sure as shit wasn’t turning back.